NCAA Thursday Night Football – Virginia Tech vs. East Carolina
No. 23 Virginia Tech Hokies -13 (5-3) at East Carolina Pirates (5-3)
On Thursday night in a non-conference match up on ESPN the East Carolina Pirates host the 23rd ranked Hokies of Virginia Tech. While this game obviously does not have any BCS implications both teams can greatly improve the bowl they play in with a win in this game. The Hokies’ hopes of playing in a BCS game are now long gone since they have lost 2 games in a row. They currently sit in 2nd place in the ACC Coastal Conference (3-2) tied with Miami (3-2) and trailing both Duke (3-1) and Georgia Tech (5-1), who should represent the division in the ACC title game.
East Carolina has won 2 games in a row and they look like they are on a collision course to play the high-scoring Houston Cougars in the Conference USA title game. The winner of that game will not play in a BCS bowl game, but if the Pirates can win that game and put a win in this game against a ranked team on their resume it increases their chances of playing close to New Year’s Day.
The Hokies look to avoid their first 3-game losing streak in 6 years in this game and they may be a little more motivated against East Carolina who beat them last year.
The Hokies have the advantage on defense in this game, as they rank 29th in the nation while the Pirates only rank 60th. Tech will not be facing a strong Pirates’ offense, as they only rank 86th in passing offense and 56th in rushing offense. For the Pirates to win this game they not only have to play good D, but RB Dominique Lindsay (570 yds 3 TD) has to have a good game, as he is the biggest weapon on offense that East Carolina has.
The Pirates main goal on D is contain the Hokies rushing attack, which is led by RB Ryan Williams (930 yds 10 TD) and is ranked 26th in the nation. If they can do that they will be in good shape since the Hokies only have the nation’s 102nd ranked passing offense. The Hokies have another advantage in this game, as there is a good chance of rain so the team that can run the ball has a good chance to win. Williams fumbled late in the game deep in North Carolina’s territory last week to cost the Hokies the win and he has to hold onto the ball in this game.
The Pirates have only played one ranked team and they lost that game to North Carolina, who the Hokies lost to last week.
In some betting trends for this game The Hokies are only 2-4 ATS in their last 6 games, are only 2-5 ATS in their last 7 road games, and the Pirates are 1-4 in their last 5 games when playing the Hokies.
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