East Carolina (7-5) vs. South Florida (8-4)
What a horrible bowl name. And there's really not much to say about this matchup.
ECU's just about what their record shows, an above-average C-USA team. The Pirates are slowly rising back to prominence, led by seniors QB James Pinckney and WR Aundrae Allison. They haven't really had any blowout wins, but were able to crack 400 yards against Memphis, SMU and Virginia. The Pirates offense was slowed against Southern Miss and Tulsa, but ECU was still able to beat the former thanks to their own defense. Skip Holtz is a good coach! Yep.
USF's been a pleasant surprise in what was only supposed to be a mediocre year. Redshirt frosh QB Matt Grothe has been the bulk of the Bulls' offense, gaining over 200 passing yards and 50 rushing yards a game. The fact that he has three more years left to get better is quite frightening. USF's been somewhat frustrating; they've had big games against teams like UNC and Syracuse, but just completely vanished in bad losses against Cincinnati, Pitt, and to a lesser extent, Kansas.
Not much to say here -- both teams are about what they appear, and both programs are on the way up. South Florida has the #26 pass defense in the country, so the Bulls could neutralize the Pinckney-to-Allison combo. I also think USF has more talent in general, so I'm going with the Bulls.
My Pick: South Florida
Confidence (out of 5): 2
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment