East Carolina
vs.
South Carolina
College Football Pick
By Jason Green
9/17/16
East Carolina is off to a solid start on the season winning their first 2 Games including beating a big Conference team in NC State 33-30 in their last Game. Their offense has put up 85 points in their first 2 Games and they rank 13th in the nation in passing yards per Game.
South Carolina lost their last Game and their offense has struggled to Scoreon the season totaling 27 points in their first 2 Games.
These teams met last in the 2014 season where South Carolina beat East Carolina 33-23.
Not only has East Carolina won their first 2 Games, but they covered in both as well. South Carolina failed to cover last week in the loss. ECU covered last week as a 6-point underdog to a Power 5 team in NCST and can they knock off another Power 5 team this time on the road?
The Pirates are led by QB Phillip Wilson, who has passed for 695 yards with 6 TD and only 1 INT in 2 Games. What is even more impressive is that he has a completion percentage of 81.3%. He has 3 guys that have at least 100 receiving yards and the guy the USC secondary must key on is Zay Jones, who has 253 yards while the next leading target has 139 yards.
ECU RB Anthony SCott is an all purpose back, who leads the team with 161 rushing yards with 2 TD and is also the 2nd leading WR and has 3 receiving TD’s. The Gamecocks were shredded on the ground in their loss to Mississippi State giving up 290 rushing yards. They have a tall task in this non-Conference match up, as the top 2 RB’s for ECU are each averaging over 7 yards per carry.
South Carolina has not found their groove on the offensive side of the ball so far on the young season and in the loss to MSU in their last Game they only had a total of 243 yards. Their ground Game was non-existent rushing for 34 yards and RB A.J. Turner has to help out the passing Game and keep the ECU defense honest. Brandon McIlwain and Perry Orth have split time at QB and look for McIlwain to get more snaps in this Game after passing for 126 yards with 2 TD and 0 INT in the MSU loss.
The Pirates did win their last Game, but they gave up nearly 500 yards, 282 in the air and 215 on the ground. If their D struggles again their offense will have to bail them out by lighting up the scoreboard.
East Carolina has covered the spread in 13 of their last 16 non-Conference Games and in their last 5 non-Conference Games the total has gone Over every time.
South Carolina is a solid 4-1 ATS in their last 5 non-Conference Games, but they are only 2-5 ATS in their last 7 Games facing a team that has a winning record.
Jason’s Pick: Imagine, if you played at betonline and we’re ready to pounce on their openers last Sunday, you could have had East Carolina +7! I pays to have betonline as one of your books! We agree with the line move and think even at +3, there’s some value as this one is a toss up. East Carolina +3