Keys to the Game Friday, October 30, 2015 By Kevin Monroe

East Carolina at Connecticut

7 pm | Rentschler Field (40,642) | TV: ESPNU

By Kevin Monroe
©2015 Bonesville.net
All rights reserved.

The East Carolina Pirates come into today's American Athletic Conference game at 4-4 while the Connecticut Huskies are 3-4. Both teams are well into their conference schedules and are in desperate need of an AAC win after coming off league losses.

The Huskies opened the season 2-0, but have lost four of their last five. Their only victory during the downturn came over winless Central Florida. The Pirates have fared slightly better, winning three of their last five. But this ECU team, which competes hard every week, has lost some close contests – including some narrow misses against very good teams.

This is only the second meeting between ECU and UConn. The Pirates took the first one last season at home 31-21. This time ECU will have to find a way to win on the Huskies' home turf.

The Pirates can win today's game if they follow this script:

ESTABLISH THE RUN

ECU is averaging 139 rushing yards per game. That isn’t a bad number, but the Pirates have the backs and the talent up front to be averaging 175 to 200 yards per game. Symptomatic of that shortfall, alternating quarterback James Summers is one of the best rushing weapons in the conference but he has been bottled up lately.

ECU has to establish the run in this game early on and continue to run until UConn proves it can stop it. The Huskies are giving up 184.5 rushing yards per game. Last week against Cincinnati, UConn gave up more than 300 yards on the ground, including over 100 to two different running backs. The week before that, South Florida had similar success against the Huskies with well over 200 yards rushing and two backs with around 100 yards.

ECU's Chris Hairston, Anthony Scott, Shawn Furlow and James Summers all have the ability to have big rushing performances tonight, but the offensive line will be the key.

MAINTAIN OFFENSIVE BALANCE AND RHYTHM

If the ECU offense can get the running game going, that will certainly open up things in the passing game. The factor that has been hurting the offense lately is a lack of rhythm. Drives tend to stall when the offense can’t get into a rhythm.

I mentioned the threats in the running game. The Pirates' passing game threats are even greater. Receiver Isaiah Jones has stepped in to replace Justin Hardy as the go-to guy with 61 receptions and 701 yards through 8 games. Tight end Bryce Williams is the big target on third downs. Both ECU QBs like to find Bryce because he is hard to miss with his 6’6" frame. Trevon Brown is ECU’s deep threat – when the ball is thrown downfield, more often than not it’s being thrown to Trevon.

ECU is running the ball on average 35 times per game and passing 39 times per game. That is great balance, but the rhythm needs some work. Maintaining long drives, moving the chains and getting that balance of run and pass in sync will put up points and dominate time of possession. Getting this aspect of the game fine-tuned will help the Pirates win this game and future games.

DOMINATE THE LINE OF SCRIMMAGE

The Pirates are giving up 171 yards per game rushing while gaining an average of 139 yards on the ground. That means opposing teams are getting more done at the point of attack. It’s important tonight that ECU is better up front on both sides of the ball. Some injuries on the offensive line have hampered the Pirates, but the ECU defensive front has been dominating at times on pass rushing downs. The "struggle" has come against the opponent's running game. I use the term struggle lightly because the Pirates have actually been pretty good against the rush lately, but they can be even better. If they want to finish this season on a 4-0 run, they will need to be better than the foe on the line of scrimmage – starting tonight.

BOTTOM LINE

The Pirates play tonight under the lights in East Hartford for the first time. In addition to the fans at Rentschler Field, the game will watched by a national television audience. ECU still has an outside shot at the conference title if Temple loses some games down the stretch, but the most immediate objectives are winning each game and becoming bowl eligible.

The Pirates will win tonight’s game if they establish the run early, get into a good offensive rhythm and control the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball. Tune in. It should be a good one.

E-mail Kevin Monroe.

PAGE UPDATED 10/30/15 03:10 AM.