After coming off an emotional and down right huge win againt Marshall to become bowl eligible for the first time in five years’, the Pirates of East Carolina(6-4) return to action on Saturday to play Rice(5-5) in Texas.
Many thought coming into the season that this would be an easy win for ECU, but alot is riding on the line for both teams.
Rice enters the game searching for one more win to become bowl eligble. The Owls took a huge step towards bowl eligibilty last week when they pulled an unthinkable upset of Tulsa in overtime.
Rice is lead by quaterback Chase Clement who has completed 136 pass attempts on the season for 1525 yards and 20 touchdowns and only four interceptions. Clement is not only a great passer, he is a great rusher as well. Clement has carried the ball 100 times for 455 yards and four touchdowns.
Clement will look to utilize his best play maker in wide receiver Jarett Dillard. Dillard has 71 receptions for 958 yards and 16 touchdowns on the year.
ECU Head Coach Skip Holtz had the following to say about Dillard in his weekly press conference.
“He is powerful, elusive and he runs extremely hard said Holtz. He is very hard to tackle. He has got an awful lot of talent. I have really been impressed with every time he gets the ball. He is running with a great attitude right now.”
With bowl eligibilty already obtained, ECU is looking to compete for a C-USA championship. A win on Saturday would cement ECU the C-USA east title, as well as a berth in the championship game. Who would have thought at the beginning of the season, or even a month ago, that this game would have major impacts on the C-USA race?
Coach Holtz had the following to say about the approach to playing Rice.
“It is what we say going into every game said the second year coach. We need to stop them on defense and we have to be able to score on offense, but then you get into the flow of the game and you make a determination on how you are going to play it. Right now it is too early to say what approach we are going to take or how we are going to do it.”
Scoring on Rice could be diffcult. Their defense has really stepped up of late. Holtz also commented on Rice’s stellar defense.
“They are very aggressive said Holtz. They are second in the league in sacks. They are really doing a lot of great things to create pressure. They are not just sitting back and reacting they are the ones that are turning and they are trying to take the fight to the offense. Their linebackers are very active and very athletic. They are not dropping them into pass coverage they’re locking up man coverage on the back. They are trying to get in your Quarterback’s face and create sacks. They take a very aggressive approach and changing the field with the number of turnovers they have.”
For either team to win, they are going to have to score points. This game is looking to be a classic. If ECU is going to come out victorious, then James Pinkney will have to bring his “A” game.
