Keys to the Game Saturday, October 11, 2014 By Kevin Monroe

East Carolina at South Florida

7 pm | Raymond James Stadium (cap. 65,890) | TV: ESPNU

By Kevin Monroe
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The Pirates arrived in Tampa to a sunny 87 degrees on Friday. Somebody forgot to tell Florida that it was almost the middle of October. The weather will still be sunny and 80-plus at kickoff time today. Those kind of conditions bode well for East Carolina's Air Raid passing attack. Offensively the Pirates continued to play well last week, but defensively they struggled a bit. ECU is favored and will win this game if it follows this script:

BRING ENERGY TO TAMPA

Raymond James Stadium is the home of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but the NFL team shares the facility with USF. On Sunday afternoons it's not unusual to see the stadium packed to its 65,000 seat capacity. On Saturdays its a different story. The Bulls have struggled to get 20,000 fans in the stadium and their 2-3 record won't entice them to come today. The Pirates can't afford to let an empty stadium bring them down. They must rise to the occasion and make their own noise.

STAY IN RHYTHM

There is no better rhythm passer in college football than Shane Carden. When Carden gets time to throw and the offense is clicking, he is capable of completing double-digit passes in a row with no incompletions. It's not just Shane producing gaudy numbers. When the receivers see him in one of those zones, they step their game up and catch everything they can get their hands on. Getting out to a fast start offensively and maintaining that quick pace is very important to the success of the ECU offense.

CONTAIN MARLON MACK

The Bulls have struggled offensively this season, averaging only 283 yards of production per game. The offensive bright spot is freshman running back Marlon Mack. Mack is rushing for 107 yards per game and 5.4 per carry. He has 5 of the teams 9 offensive touchdowns. Mack has run the ball more times (99) than quarterback Mike White has thrown it (80). That type of stat is unheard of in this age of spread offenses and pass happy teams. The Bulls go as Mack goes. If ECU can slow him down, it can win this game.

BOTTOM LINE

The Bulls are fighting to stay relevant in the 2014 season, it's Homecoming and the team sits at 2-3 through 5 games. Their wins came over Football Championship Subdivision foe Western Carolina by 5 points and by a 17-14 margin over struggling American Athletic Conference rival Connecticut. If the Pirates bring their own energy, get out to a fast start and into a good offensive rhythm — and not allow Mack to hurt them running the ball — they will prevail. Expect fireworks in Raymond James Stadium. After all, it is the home of the Bucs.

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PAGE UPDATED 10/11/14 03:39 AM.