College Football – E. Carolina Set to Dominate UConn (Thursday)

Connecticut Huskies at No. 18 East Carolina Pirates (-27.5, 55 o/u)

Pillaging: (metaphorically) that’s what the No. 18 ranked East Carolina Pirates (5-1, 2-0 American) have planned for their Thursday night tilt against the (metaphorically) unarmed Connecticut Huskies (1-5, 0-3 American).

Coming off a bye week, the Pirates last game was a win at South Florida where Ruffin McNeill’s squad had to come from behind.

Coach McNeill said, “In this (league), we know we’re going to have to overcome some adversity. We know we’re going to have to persevere in some things, mistakes that we may make. To do that, it takes a strong character within your team.”

He’s hoping quarterback Shane Carden can rebound from a (relatively) tough game against the Bulls; Carden passed for a season-low 250 yards with one TD and one pick. Carden’s numbers weren’t awful, but they were well below his season average of 354 yards per game. The Pirates will also be hoping that running back Breon Allen can stay hot. While Carden was struggling against South Florida, Allen picked up his game, running for 124 yards.

Carden said, “They were giving us the run game, and I think we have a pretty good run offense that gets overlooked by the passing game. We pass the ball a lot. But when we need to run the ball, we can run the ball pretty well.”

As for Husky fans, the college basketball season can’t start soon enough.  The Huskies have not won since September 6, when they eked out a 19-16 win over the Stony Brook Seawolves, who, I assure you, have a Div. 1 football team. UConn’s last contest was a 12-3 loss against Tulane during which the offense gained only 217 total yards.

Huskies head coach Bob Diaco is hoping to avoid the team’s fifth straight loss. He said, “I’ve said this ad nauseam, we are focused on ourselves and the things that we need to do in getting better, each player and each coach getting better every day. If it doesn’t necessarily fit into the opponent but if it needs to be done and coached and taught right now, then we are doing it.”

Odds are this game will not be pretty. Laying the points and taking the Pirates to cover makes the most sense.