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Keys to the
Game Friday,
October 30, 2015
By Kevin Monroe |
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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 07:33 PM.
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