Quick Observations about East Carolina

I am in the midst of a bunch of travel this week, but I had a little while to watch East Carolina. Here is what to expect.

1) ECU runs the same 3-4 with a cocked nose that we have seen in past Pirate iterations. Their outside linebackers can either put a hand down and play DE in a four man front or stand up and be an edge player. I really like their nose tackle #56 (former Ocean Lakes prospect Demetri McGill.) McGill is a big body and he keeps his feet moving to slide off blocks. He slants and creates confusion. ECU relies heavily on bodies moving around to confuse the offensive line and McGill is the catalyst in confusing centers. H

Early against South Carolina, the Pirates really struggled against the zone read. On the Gamecocks first touchdown, OLB Kiante Anderson #96 crashed hard on the tailback dive. #22 Terrell Richardson was scrape exchanging and had the quarterback on the keeper. He overran the play wide, and the South Carolina QB walked into the end zone. On the next Gamecock touchdown, Anderson was off the line of scrimmage and playing wide, yet both he and the defensive end both crashed hard on the dive. The quarterback again walked in with ease. Given how Fuente cross-keys the linebackers, Evans could have a big day running the ball.

2) Quarterback Phillip Nelson was really careless with the football in the redzone. Three of the five ECU turnovers came inside the 20 yard line. The first was egregious. The Pirates ran a rub route, with the outside receiver running a slant and the slot running a corner route. The slant was open, but Nelson threw the corner route. He underthrew it badly. The second INT was a curl route at the right pylon. Against tight coverage, that throw needs to be well to the outside so the receiver catches it or the throw is out of bounds. He underthrew the ball short and to the inside and the Gamecocks corner picked it off.

In the passing game, the offense is a mix of Duke last year and ECU. I saw a ton of rub routes against man coverage like ECU has traditionally done. I also so screens, quick levels passes, and quick stop routes like we saw from Duke. Duke's running game is better, and ECU resorted to using James Summers (our tormentor from last season) back as a wildcat QB to sustain some running game.

I like VT in this game. It will be a big test for the offensive line and our secondary- match ups that ECU has won the last two seasons.