Marshall and East Carolina meet in a major battle for Conference USA divisional seeding. The Pirates own a one game advantage over the Thundering Herd, so this game will decide who will go to the conference championship game.
When East Carolina has the ball:
The Pirates feature a high scoring offense that has been on a roll the last six games, posting at least 30 points in the last six games. They average a big play play on 16% of their snaps, and are averaging 36.5 yards per drive. They've only gone three and out on 24% of their drives, thanks to a stellar season by Shane Carden. Carden has completed 72.8% of his passes for nearly eight yards per attempt with 32 TDs and just seven interceptions. He's made his money on third downs, converting over half of his passing attempts, and better than a third of them when its third and ten or longer. Carden has nine recievers with double digit catches, with most of those passes going to Justin Hardy. Hardy has 95 receptions for 11.9 yards per catch with eight touchdowns on the season. Reese Wiggins though is the onyl reciever with more than 10 catches that is averaging better than 14 yards per catch. On the ground Vintavious Cooper has been the bell cow, averaging 4.9 yards per carry and has found the endzone nine times. The last two weeks he has broken the hundred yard mark, postinf 126 yards and 148.
The Marshall defense though has been rock solid, allowing just 21 points a game and 4.6 yards per play. Opponents are converting under 80% of their red zone attempts, and converting just 32.8% of their third downs. The Herd has allowed just 50% of passes to be completed aginst them, for just 6.2 yards per attempt. Theyve also been able to pick of 14 passes, lead by freshman AJ Leggett. Leggett though has missed the last three weeks, leaving Monterius Lovett and Darryl Roberts to man the secondary. Senior James Rouse has been the leader along the defensive front, leading the team with 12 tackles for loss and three QB hurries. Jermaine Holmes leads the team with 75 tackles, 8.5 of them for loss and an interception.
When Marshall has the ball:
The Thundering Herd hav punded the ball to rack up 38 yards per drive, with their top three rushers averaging over five yards a carry. Essray Taliaferro has carried the ball 159 times for 845 yards and nien touchdowns. Essray has 25 runs of more than ten yards, while backfield mate Steward Butler has had 27% of his carries go for more than ten yards. Butler is averaging 10 yards per carry, and Kevin Grooms has 91 runs for 5.5 yards per carry. The offensive line has doen a great job to open holes, and Marshall has just 6.4% of their plays end in negative yards. Rakeem Cato has been able to take advantage of the good run game, tossing 32 touchdowns and just 7 ints with a 7.9 yards per attempt mark. He's completed better than one in five of his passes for more than 15 yards and has converted 46% of hsi third down attempts.
The East Carolina defense has allowed just 4.7 yards per play this season, and have allowed just an in incredible 69.4% of red zone trips to result in scores. Theyev been stout against the run, allowing just 3.1 yards per carry so far, and just 2.4 in the second halves of games. Montese Overton and Derrell Johnson have both been playmakers, each totalling 10.5 tackles for loss so far. Johnson leads the team with 68 total stops, while second leading tackelr Damon Magazu leads the team with three interceptions. The Secondary has defended 14% of the passing attempts against them.
What's our take:
If you don't watch a lot of mid major football this will be one to tune into. Both teams have the offenses humming and feature solid defensive and special teams units. Playing at hone should give the thundering herd the upper hand and they should be able to cover the -2.5.
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