East Carolina Pirates Football vs Temple: Preview

ECU will try to break a five-game losing streak vs Temple.

Who: East Carolina (3-2) vs Temple (3-1)
When: Thursday, October 3, 2019 – 8:00 P.M. EST
Where: Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium (51,000) – Greenville, NC
How To Watch: ESPN
Line: Temple -11.5
Weather: Clear, 84° at kickoff

Last Week:
East Carolina defeated Old Dominion 24-21

Temple defeated Georgia Tech 24-2

Temple’s Season Thus Far

The Owls opened up their season at home against Bucknell, when quarterback Anthony Russo led them to a 56-12 win with 409 passing yards and four touchdowns. Temple’s second game of the year came at home against No. 21 Maryland. The Owls were able to squeak out a close win 20-17. Their defense held Maryland to just 17 points after scoring 142 total points the two weeks prior. The week following the huge Maryland win, Temple had a down game at Buffalo and lost 38-22. Russo threw three interceptions and their defense couldn’t stop the Buffalo passing attack. The Owls were able to bounce back last week and beat Georgia Tech 24-2 at Lincoln Financial Field. Their defense dominated Georgia Tech from start to finish, not allowing a single offensive point.

What To Expect

Beating Temple is going to be a tall task and the Pirates are going to need to be on their game if they want to come out on top. Temple comes in with the 19th best defense in the country, allowing an average of 283.8 yards per contest. Their passing defense is 10th best, only allowing 151.3 yards through the air per game. The Owl defense is very balanced and doesn’t have one guy who dominates for them but I would keep an eye on 6’2″ 285 lb. defensive tackle Ifeanyi Maijeh. The Brooklyn native has a team-leading 24 tackles, with 6.5 behind the line of scrimmage, and three sacks. Maijeh has also forced a fumble this year too.

The Owls offense isn’t what is winning them games, but it’s not something ECU should take lightly. Going into Thursday, Temple has the 25th ranked passing offense with 292.3 yards per game and the 89th ranked rushing offense with 141 yards per game. Looking at those numbers, the offensive player to watch is obviously Russo. The one game that Temple lost this year was a game that Russo struggled and threw three interceptions. He probably won’t do that again Thursday, but his success will likely indicate the outcome of the game. ECU’s 30th ranked passing defense (191 yards per game) will likely need to force a pick or two to win this one.

Prediction

Mike Houston has made it clear how important this game is to him and the team. He believes that Temple’s tough, blue-collar play-style will provide a great measuring stick for his team. Houston wants his teams to play with a blue-collar mentality and a chip on their shoulder. This could be a win that will really shift ECU’s program in the right direction and move them to 4-2 on the year. It would also be a big win because it leads into a bye week before heading to Orlando to play 18 UCF.

Heading into a bye week, I think that offensive coordinator Donnie Kirkpatrick really opens up the playbook for this game. I think that he will give some weird looks and probably call a few trick plays. The Pirates offense will likely put it all out there to try to get this win, and they will need to if they want to score on this Owl defense. My guess is that the Pirate secondary is able to make some plays, cause some turnovers, and be the difference-maker in this game. I can see Temple struggling the same way that they did during their only road game at Buffalo. My prediction is that this game will be a defensive battle and ECU will pull out a narrow 23-20 win.