NCAA Football

Predicting the Final Score of East Carolina vs. Temple

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By @writered21

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Backed by landing the 23rd spot in the first edition of the college football rankings that were released on Tuesday, the East Carolina Pirates will try to continue their current five-game winning streak when they visit Temple on Saturday (noon, ESPNNews). The Pirates can’t sleep on this game, as East Carolina is currently the highest ranked team outside the Power-five conferences, and the highest ranked conference champion from the “outsiders” as it were lands a spot in one of the six major bowls.

But moving to 7-1 and trying to move up in the rankings isn’t going to be easy for ECU (6-1, 3-0 AAC). Two trends somewhat work against the Pirates on Saturday. First, despite a current two-game losing streak, Temple has played decent defense this season, giving up just 19.6 PPG on the year, good for 18th in the country. This matchup comes at a time where East Carolina’s vaunted offense isn’t playing at the same level as it did earlier in the season, or at least it isn’t producing as many points. Famous for their 70-point explosion vs. North Carolina, the Pirates have been held to 31 or less in their last two games in wins that were more difficult than they needed to be against Connecticut and South Florida.

However, a bigger issue exists for Temple’s defense. The best way to beat East Carolina is to keep the Pirates’ offense off the field. A key to that would be a strong running game, but the Owls (4-3, 2-2 AAC) have struggled when running this season, averaging just 120.9 yards per game (107th in the country). Jahad Thomas leads Temple with 334 rushing yards, 152 of which came in a win over Tulsa. Take that out and Temple’s leading ground gainer is averaging just about 30 yards per game.

So, it stands to reason that the Pirates will see a good bit of the ball, and if that’s the case, expect ECU quarterback Shane Carden to eventually break down the Owls. Carden has gone over 400 yards passing on four occasions this season, including a season-high 445 last week against Connecticut despite the low (for ECU, anyway) 31-point output. It may take a while and this game could be close well into the third quarter as Temple’s defense makes a decent go of it, but expect Carden and top receivers Justin Hardy and Isaiah Jones to eventually lead the Pirates to a comfortable win, even if it doesn’t necessarily light up the scoreboard.

Prediction: East Carolina 31, Temple 17

Ed Morgans is an ACC Basketball Writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @writered21 and add him to your network on Google.

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