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East Carolina at North Carolina State Picks & Predictions

Written September 18, 2008 by Jason Lowry

The #15 East Carolina Pirates look to continue their improbable season when they head to North Carolina State this weekend to take on the Wolfpack. The Pirates are a perfect 3-0 after a upsetting both Virginia Tech and West Virginia they needed everything in the tank to take down Tulane, as they escaped with a close 28-24 win. The Wolfpack season hasn’t been going so good, as their only win came against William & Mary, a school no one takes seriously, and they barely beat them. Last week the offense continued to struggle again as they lost 27-9 against Clemson. So its pretty easy to see why the odds makers have the Pirates as 7 point favorites in this one over the Wolfpack, while the over/under is set at 44.

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The Pirates offense is led by the play of quarterback Pat Pinkney, who has really looked sharp to start the season. Last week was no exception as he completed 22 of 32 passes for 260 yards and 2 touchdowns. With little to no running game Pinkey did make some mistakes, as he threw a pick and was sacked 4 times. Speaking of that running game it managed just 56 yards last week, and if that number doesn’t start creeping closer to 100, this team is going to continue to find itself in tough games week in and week out.

The Pirates defense is plays well and seems to make the big plays when needed. Last week Tulane managed to score two rushing touchdowns, but that wasn’t the story, as they only allowed 76 yards on the ground and gave up just 2.1 yards per carry. The pass defense did struggle moderately giving up 236 yards, but with 2 big interceptions it really helped the defense out. On the season teams are only scoring 16.3 points a game, and giving up just 268 yards a game. The Wolfpack have showed little to no offense this season, so it should be a good game out of this unit. Bet Pirates -7 at JustBet.com

Speaking of the Wolfpack’s offense it has rarely been able to put points on the board, and last weekend the only touchdown they were able to score came on an interception. The offense only managed 288 yards of total offense, and freshman Russell Wilson has really not been much of a threat at quarterback, as he completed less than 50% of his passes last week. The best player of this group last week was easily Andre Brown who combined for over 100 yards on both the ground and receiving.

The Wolfpack defense didn’t look good last week allowing Clemson to gain 428 yards of total offense, and it was pretty well spread out through the air and the ground. On the season the defense is giving up over 366 yards a game and allowing opponents to average over 28 ppg. If things don’t get better on this side of the ball this team will not only struggle this weekend, but in nearly every game they play in the ACC. Bet WolfPack +7 at JustBet.com

Predicted Score: Pirates 26 Wolfpack 19

Get all the winning plays in the NCAA and NFL from professional handicapper Jason Lowry, who is geared up for another winning football weekend.

See what CFN is saying as they have the same winner as we do, but they aren’t so sure on East Carolina covering the spread.

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