East Carolina Pirates at Navy Midshipmen Preview
The East Carolina Pirates (1-1) are playing one of my favorite matchups this week. They open conference play against the Navy Midshipmen. Why is this one of my favorite matchups? Because it pits two diametrically opposed offensive style against each other. That would be the five wide receiver Air Raid against the ground pound triple option. Victory will likely be determined on who can do their style better. The quick strike Pirates or the ball control Midshipmen? Neither team really has gotten to see the other’s style all that much.
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Opponent: Navy Midshipmen (2-0)
Date: September 19
Time: 3:30 PM
TV: Cbs Sports Network
Venue: Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium (Annapolis, MD)
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X – Stop the Option
The biggest problem that the Pirates will have will be long grinding drives by the Navy offense. Those drives can tire out the ECU defense and keep the ECU offense off the field. ECU will actually aid this problem because their own offense will get off the field quickly, win or lose. Therefore, ECU linebacker Zeek Bigger and his mates need to make Navy go three and out.
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Y – Keep the Blake Kemp Show running
One big thing that resulted in the Florida game that was good was proof that Kemp could run the Air Raid against big time competition. He threw for more than three hundred yards and found Isaiah Jones for more than a hundred of them. This is more of the East Carolina offense we expect as compared to the Chris Hairston show from week one.
Z – The New American Athletic Conference
The AAC looks completely different than we thought it would just a couple weeks ago. UCF and Cincinnati look beatable, and Temple and Houston are on the rise. In this environment, ECU needs to beat Navy to get a leg up on the conference game. The Florida loss did not affect the Pirates hopes in conference play.
Prediction: 28-27 Navy