East Carolina started the season on fire but the Pirates have since fallen apart. Take the points and the Memphis Tigers Saturday afternoon on the road at East Carolina.
It’s not too difficult making a case against East Carolina as a favorite of more than a touchdown these days. The Pirates were the talk of the college football world in early September, after notching impressive upset wins over Virginia Tech and West Virginia in their first two games of the season. Since that time, however, East Carolina has completely fallen apart, bad news for a senior laden team with their BCS busting dreams are now a thing of the past.
East Carolina’s defense carried them to those two early season upsets. That defense has not been the same since star linebacker Brandon Cotton got hurt against Tulane. East Carolina’s last two opponents have rushed AND passed for more than 200 yards against them. In their last three games, they’ve allowed 30, 41 and 35 points, despite coming up with a whopping eight takeaways during that span. Memphis gained nearly 500 yards of offense and 40 points last year against a better Pirates defense than the one they’ll face here.
Since those two national TV wins to open the season, East Carolina hasn’t even sniffed a pointspread cover. They barely outlasted Tulane in a four point win over the Green Wave. Then, they lost outright as favorites against NC State, Houston and Virginia, dropping their record to 3-3. This is a banged up, unfocused .500 football team right now; a long, long way from realizing their BCS aspirations. I don’t think that Skip Holtz’s squad will recover from their recent dreadful performances this week.
Memphis outplayed Louisville on national TV last Thursday Night, but they came up short on the scoreboard in a seven point loss. Still, the Tigers came away from that game confident and focused after outgaining the Cardinals 481-299. QB Arkelon Hall threw for 350 yards in that ballgame, while running back Curtis Steele moved the chains on the ground. The four touchdowns that Memphis put up against a Big East defense was their lowest offensive output in the last month! This team can put up points in bunches, plain and simple, loaded with skill position talent.
The Tigers are 4-1 SU in their last five on the road in Conference USA play; the lone loss coming by a single point at Marshall. In fact, over the last few seasons, we’ve seen Memphis beat just about every quality team in this conference at their house: Houston, Southern Miss (twice), Tulane, Rice, and yes, East Carolina. We don’t need the outright win to cash our ticket here, but I wouldn’t be shocked if we get it Take Memphis.
Free Pick: Memphis +8 (-110)