[COLOR= rgb(0, 0, 0)]Game Week #2 Discussion Thread:[/COLOR] East Carolina[COLOR= rgb(0, 51, 102)] [/COLOR]
Game: South Carolina Gamecocks (1-0) at East Carolina Pirates (0-1)
Game Time: Saturday September 11th, 12:00 PM at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium, Greenville, N.C.
Broadcast:
South Carolina's 2021 football season continues to Game #2 as the 1-0 Gamecocks travel to Greenville, N.C. to battle the East Carolina Pirates (0-1) next Saturday at 12:00 p.m. noon. at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium. The Gamecocks are coming off of a dominating 49-0 win over struggling FCS member Eastern Illinois. The Pirates lost their season opener vs Appalachian State 33-19 in Charlotte. Still, the FBC Pirates in front of their home fans should be a more competitive opponent than Eastern Illinois in Williams-Brice. The online book houses have East Carolina a slight favorite around -2 to -4, which means if the home team gets a standard 3-point cushion this game is a push, or a pick-em game with no clear favorite. On a neutral field, the "expert" oddsmakers think it could go from being a 1-point Gamecocks win to a 1-point Pirates win. Geez, thanks guys for your wisdom and insight.
So with that wealth of data to steady our course, lets review the upcoming opponent and see what the weaknesses and strengths of the Pirate team may appear to be:
Looking at the Stats:
Last season East Carolina went 3-6 overall and 3-5 in the American Athletic Conference in Head Coach Mike Houston's 2nd season in Greenville. Houston will bring a 7-15 and 4-12 AAC record as ECU's head coach to our game. He also will bring the memories and experiences of defeating South Carolina as head coach of The Citadel in 2015, that I'm sure he has used to inspire his team. Houston left El Cid after that season to take over FCS powerhouse James Madison, where he took the Dukes to the FCS National Championship in his first year there.
Houston would only spend three seasons at JMU, before taking over the program at ECU. Successes are a little slower to come thus far - last season, the Pirates ran a balanced, capable offense: 30.2 ppg, 402.7 total ypg. It was at defense that they struggled: allowing 35.4 ppg, 447.3 total ypg, 65% passing efficiency.
Against the Mountaineers last Thursday, the Pirates allowed 501 total yards - 259 through the air, and 242 via the ground. The App State QB - who is a good one and whooped us last season, completed 20 of 27 passes for 2 touchdowns and 1 interception. 230 of those 242 rushing yds came from two Mountaineer backs, who averaged 7.1 and 8.4 ypc respectively.
The Top Offensive Performers for the Pirates:
East Carolina does return several veteran offensive skill players. To start they bring back QB Holton Ahlers. Ahlers started all 8 games he appeared in last season, throwing for 1,921 yds (240.1 ypg), with 18 TDs and 9 INTs. He was 22 of 40 for 295 yds, 2 TDs, and 1 INT against App. State last week. He also rushed a team-leading 12 times for 14 net yards, and was sacked 4 times.
At RB, the Pirates return their top two rushers from last season in Rahjai Harris and Keaton Mitchell. Harris rushed last season for 624 net yards in 128 attempts, with 4 touchdowns, and Mitchell rushed 88 times for 443 net yards, scoring 1 touchdowns. Against Appalachian State the Pirates struggled with their run game, only totaling 86 net yards on 24 carries, with 0 TDs. Harris yielded just 22 yards on 8 carries, while Mitchell performed better with 50 net yards, but only on 4 rushes for a 12.5 ypc effort. One of his carries went for 39 yards.
Both Harris and Mitchell served even better as receivers: Mitchell had 79 yds on 5 receptions, with 1 TD. He scored his touchdown on a 63-yd reception from Ahlers, so Mitchell is definitely a big-play guy we'll need to stay close with. Harris was 2nd on the team in receiving yds against App. St. with 56 yds on 4 catches.
The Pirates still return two of their three top receivers from 2020 in Tyler Snead and C.J. Johnson. Snead led the team last season with 53 receptions for 524 yds and 5 TDs. Johnson had 405 receiving yds on 19 catches, and led the team with 6 TDs. Against the Mountaineers, Snead had 4 catches for 27 yds, and Johnson had 4 for 34 yds.
The Top Defensive Performers for the Pirates:
As I mentioned above, the Pirate defense seemed a bit shaky last season. Ninth in an 11-member AAC in Scoring Defense, 10th in Total Defense. Allowed the highest rushing yds per carry and the highest passing completion % in their league. And granted, App. State had a pretty potent offense last season and looks to have returned that formula this season.
Still, the Pirates return several top performers here from last season as well. They return their top seven (7) tacklers from last season, headlined by Xavier Smith and Jireh Wilson, and their top three INT men in Ja'Q McMillian, Warren Saba, and Shawn Dourseau. Against the Mountaineers, McMillian led the team with 10 total tackles, and the team overall had 7 tackles for loss, 1 sack, and 1 interception.
Overall it looks like another line of scrimmage battle for the Gamecocks. The Pirates were in the bottom half of their conference in sacks and tackles for loss, as well as in sacks and TFLs allowed. The Pirate offense - particularly their passing game - will perform much better than EIU's did. It appears Kevin Harris and Luke Doty will be ready to go. R.J. Roderick was suspended for the EIU game, but apparently will also be back. There were 5 other players who were suspended, but Todd Ellis stated they were not expected to play much last Saturday anyways.
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