Keys to the Game Saturday, October 17, 2015 By Kevin Monroe

East Carolina vs. Tulsa

12 pm | Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium (50,000) | TV: ESPNN

By Kevin Monroe
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East Carolina comes into today's American Athletic Conference contest with Tulsa at 3-3, while the Golden Hurricane has a 3-2 record. The Pirates are 1-1 in the AAC and Tulsa is 0-1, making this a pivotal game for both both teams in terms of their conference championship ambitions. Though ECU is in the East Division and Tulsa is in the West, all league games are counted in the divisional standings.

ECU is coming off a close loss at Brigham Young. Between the travel across country to Provo, UT, the altitude of the field and the talent of the Cougars, the Pirates were in slightly over their heads. That being said, they fought to the very end and had a chance to win late, but just ran out of time.

Tulsa is a good team offensively, averaging over 36 points per game, but it has struggled defensively, giving up over 35 points per game. The Pirates can win today's game if they can get solid pressure on the quarterback, defend the big play and win the turnover battle.

PRESSURE THE QB

Over the past few weeks, ECU's front seven have really turned up the pressure on opposing quarterbacks. Against Southern Methodist, the Pirates harassed QB Matt Davis all game long. Outside linebacker Montese Overton got four sacks by himself against the Mustang signal caller. Newcomer Yiannis Bowden has exerted his presence in the pass rush game in the last two weeks, picking up 3.5 sacks. ECU has 17 sacks on the season, and 9.5 of them have come in the last two games.

Tulsa QB Dane Evans is not a runner and has been sacked 14 times this season. He has 36 rushes for a total of -3 yards. If the Pirates can turn up the heat, it will cause Evans to rush throws and give more opportunities to the defensive backs to make plays on the football.

DEFEND THE BIG PLAY

If Evans is given time, he has proven he can make plays down the field with his arm. He is averaging two touchdown passes per game and his TD to INT ratio is 10 to 3. Evans has three main receivers in Keyarris Garrett , Josh Atkinson and Keevan Lucas, each of whom is averaging around 100 yards receiving per game. The trio is also averaging more than 15 yards per reception. These three receivers are all big play threats. The Pirates have continued to struggle defending deep balls down field. The ECU defensive backs seem to be in position, but they are having trouble making plays on the ball down field.

Tulsa also has a couple big play guys at running back. As a team, the Golden Hurricane is averaging about 4.0 yards per carry and 200 yards rushing. ECU allowed a few big plays in the air and on the ground last Saturday against BYU. They can’t afford to do that today.

WIN THE TURNOVER BATTLE

Through five games, Tulsa has protected the ball pretty well, giving up only three interceptions and four fumbles. Pressuring the passer and stripping the ball from receivers and running backs must be a priority for ECU's defenders. Offensively, the Pirates have 12 turnovers on the season (6 INTs, 6 fumbles). It’s going to be imperative that ECU take care of the ball today. Tulsa is very good on offense and is very capable of taking advantage of gift-wrapped extra possessions.

BOTTOM LINE

This should be a high scoring game with two very good offenses trading blows. Defensively both teams are giving up more points than they would like. The team that can make some plays defensively and get off the field on third downs will have the best chance to win this game.

The Pirates are excited to be back in Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium for the first time since their September victory over Virginia Tech. The environment for today's Homecoming game will be electric. You won’t want to miss this one.

E-mail Kevin Monroe.

PAGE UPDATED 10/17/15 02:15 PM.