West Virginia runs the football, runs the football, and runs it some more.  Every team inside and outside of the Big East knows this.  Yet no team has been able to shut down the West Virginia rushing attack like East Carolina has.  Since the beginning of the 2005 season only six opponents have kept WVU under 200 yards rushing.  The Pirates have done it twice.  Their ability to stymie the West Virginia rushing game has resulted in two close ball games the last two seasons.  In 2005 West Virginia survived a desperation heave in the final seconds to knock off ECU 20-15 at home.  Last season in Greenville, ECU kept the game close until late in the game when West Virginia pulled away for a 27-10 victory. 

East Carolina has started the season slowly, but not for the reason of being a bad football team.  In the first game of the season ECU’s defense kept then top ten Virginia Tech’s offense under wraps allowing only 10 points.  Despite that defensive dominance against a perennial powerhouse, the Pirates gave up 31 and 28 to North Carolina and Southern Miss, respectively.  The Purple lads from down south are now giving up nearly 25 points per game, and scoring only 20.  This could prove problematic against a West Virginia offense averaging nearly double what the Pirates are allowing. 

Head Pirate coach Skip Holtz has sung the praises of the West Virginia offense and its stars Slaton, White, and Devine dubbing them “one of the fastest teams that I have seen on tape in a long time.”

Rich Rodriguez on the other hand is impressed with East Carolina and their ability to slow down the powerful rushing attack the last two seasons.

“They’re very, very active….we’ve had a hard time running the football against them the last two years.”

The front seven of ECU has been very productive against the Mountaineers the last few seasons, and with all of the starters returning from last season, there is no reason to see a drop off.  Nose tackle Mark Robinson, the only Pirate on defense to start all 13 games a year ago is a force inside.  On the outside, defensive ends Marcus Hands and Zach Slate provide solid pass rushing threats.  Hands was one of the most productive pass rushers in his freshman season in 2005 but saw a bit a drop off last season.  Transfer Khalif Mitchell will add some experience and size at 6’6” 320 pounds at the tackle position which should plug some holes against the WVU running attack.  The weakness of the ECU defense is it’s secondary, which lost three starters that helped make ECU one of the best pass defense teams in the conference the last two seasons.

East Carolina brings an offense into Morgantown that is only average about 20 points per game.  This seems low as the Pirates have a talented young quarterback and a number of play makers on the offensive side of the ball.  Quarterback Patrick Pinkney brings athleticism and quickness to an ECU offense that likes to spread the field.  Pinkney is the Pirates top rusher with 109 yards on 31 carries, while running back Chris Johnson has rushed 30 times for 92 yards and two touchdowns.  The passing attack is what West Virginia will need to worry about.  ECU averages nearly 250 passing yards per game and Pinkney has a slue of targets to choose from.  Pinkney has passed for nearly 800 yards this season and is on pace to pass for nearly 3,000 yards.  The West Virginia secondary stepped up the play against Maryland last week, but will have to be sharp to slow down the pass happy Pirates.

The Mountaineers match up well in this game and as of Tuesday are 25 point favorites over the visiting team.  However, the spread on the game could be a little high at this point in the week based on the scores of the last two meetings.  East Carolina has lost both of its games by 10 and 7 points this season.  For the Mountaineers to pull away from East Carolina they will need to be successful running the football against a defense who has shut them down in recent years.  Pat White struggled last week at Maryland, but may need to step up his play if the running game sputters. 

The game time, originally scheduled for 3:30 P.M. ET, is now set for a 12 Noon start.  The game will be televised by ESPN 2.

Prediction:

WVU- 35 ECU- 14

The West Virginia offense will come out smoking on its first drive and put 7 on the board.  The rest of the half however, will be just like the last two games.  West Virginia’s affinity for slow starts will again keep the game close at halftime, but just as in the first three games the Mountaineers will wear down another opponent and pull away in the second half.  WVU will rush for over 200 yards but won’t get over 300.  Slaton will again break the century mark rushing for around 150 with two scores.  White will be much better on the ground and through the air as he rushes and throws for a score.  Noel Devine will again dazzle the crowd on his way to around 70 yards rushing and a touchdown.