Really looking forward to this game - wish I could make the trip as it seems like you guys usually have a decent crowd and atmosphere. Here's to a great game without injuries .

I wish I could make it up to Murfreesboro for the game. Guess I'll settle for being stuck here and watching it if I can! Go Blue Raiders, and welcome to Middle Tennessee country, ECU!

ECU opening as a 7.5-9.5 point favorite depending where you look.

MTSU is a solid team and it's always hard to win on the road in C-USA. We better not have a let down and bring our A game if we want to escape with a win.

(09-29-2013 12:46 PM)TheEastisPurple Wrote:  ECU opening as a 7.5-9.5 point favorite depending where you look.

MTSU is a solid team and it's always hard to win on the road in C-USA. We better not have a let down and bring our A game if we want to escape with a win.

After watching MTSU v. UNC, I think our O will be able to put up some points. The question is whether our D will be able to step up to the plate as it has the last 3 games. MTSU's O looked pretty decent against UNC in the first half.

A trap game for ecu if I have ever seen one. Hopefully they follow the 24 hour rule and keep playing like they did against unc.

This will not be an easy game for us. It will boil down to their ability to stop the run and our ability to continue some overall good defensive play. Both teams will score.

I'm thinking that the first team to get to 30 wins (which both teams will).

(09-29-2013 01:11 PM)DBpirate Wrote:  A trap game for ecu if I have ever seen one. Hopefully they follow the 24 hour rule and keep playing like they did against unc.

EXACTLY.

Here are some statistical match ups for the game. All numbers are national rankings.

MTSU Total Offense: 92
ECU Total Defense: 56

MTSU Scoring Offense: 80
ECU Scoring Defense: 59

MTSU Rushing Offense: 58
ECU Rushing Defense: 5

MTSU Pass Efficiency Offense: 99
ECU Pass Efficiency Defense: 77

MTSU Red Zone Offense: 119
ECU Red Zone Defense: 19

MTSU 3rd Down Offense: 45
ECU 3rd Down Defense: 110

MTSU Sacks Allowed: 73
ECU Sacks: 10


----------------------------------------------------------


ECU Total Offense: 74
MTSU Total Defense: 101

ECU Scoring Offense: 36
MTSU Scoring Defense: 85

ECU Rushing Offense: 111
MTSU Rushing Defense: 88

ECU Pass Efficiency Offense: 27
MTSU Pass Efficiency Defense: 78

ECU Red Zone Offense: 11
MTSU Red Zone Defense: 34

ECU 3rd Down Offense: 28
MTSU 3rd Down Defense: 114

ECU Sacks Allowed: 107
MTSU Sacks: 22

------------------------------------------------------

Turnover Margin:
MTSU 9
ECU 66

Time of Possession:
MTSU 48
ECU 66

And here are the actual numbers that go with those rankings.

MTSU Total Offense: 370.6
ECU Total Defense: 379.5

MTSU Scoring Offense: 26.8
ECU Scoring Defense: 24.3

MTSU Rushing Offense: 184.2
ECU Rushing Defense: 78.5

MTSU Pass Efficiency Offense: 109.26
ECU Pass Efficiency Defense: 133.04

MTSU Red Zone Offense: 0.619
ECU Red Zone Defense: 0.692

MTSU 3rd Down Offense: 0.457
ECU 3rd Down Defense: 0.478

MTSU Sacks Allowed: 2.0
ECU Sacks: 3.25


----------------------------------------------------------


ECU Total Offense: 400.0
MTSU Total Defense: 445.2

ECU Scoring Offense: 37.0
MTSU Scoring Defense: 30.2

ECU Rushing Offense: 104.3
MTSU Rushing Defense: 183.8

ECU Pass Efficiency Offense: 151.03
MTSU Pass Efficiency Defense: 133.44

ECU Red Zone Offense: .950
MTSU Red Zone Defense: 0.739

ECU 3rd Down Offense: 0.491
MTSU 3rd Down Defense: 0.494

ECU Sacks Allowed: 3.0
MTSU Sacks: 2.80

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Turnover Margin:
MTSU 1.4
ECU 0.0

Time of Possession:
MTSU 30:21
ECU 29:08

LOL! for a minute there I thought MTSU had given up 73 sacks already this year!!!

Word out of our camp is that Logan Kilgore has not fully recovered from the shoulder separation to his throwing arm in week one.

There were several balls that he severely under-threw against BYU. His accuracy and timing have been effected too. He wasn't able to make all the throws against FAU or UNC either. He was eventually benched after trying to throw a fade into the endzone and was unable to get the ball even remotely close to the depth it needed to be in the back of the endzone.

Austin Grammer came in and looked good. There is a lot of curiosity among our fan base on whether Grammer is going to be moved into the starter's role until Kilgore can prove that his shoulder is ok.

Pretty down on our team right now. Hoping for a good game - hope we don't get blown out.

(09-29-2013 03:52 PM)MTowho Wrote:  Pretty down on our team right now. Hoping for a good game - hope we don't get blown out.

I don't think that you'll get blown out. It's your fist CUSA home game and it's your homecoming game. I've picked the Pirates by 14 and I don't think that it will get worse than that. If anything, you might want to expect a lower-scoring game than you might think... something like 34-20 and not a 45-40 shootout.

I'll be thankful for a win by one point if the truth be told.

GO MT BLUE RAIDERS!

I too see a tough game for the pirates. We better take mtsu seriousseriously as they are a good team. Mtsu hangs in with the big boys regularly, definitely no slouch.


If we come in with the same attitude and momentum we had for unc we should be confident in the win. If not its anyone's game.

This game has worried me all season. Whether we won or lost the UNC game this one was concerning. MTSU is a solid football team and it's going to be hard to replicate the performance yesterday.

Hopefully we will not have fans sending tweets to coaches telling them they are overrated again this week....With that said I am not so nervous about our players having some sort of let down for this game. It is a conference game against a solid team in which the coaches can show film of them going into ACC venues and winning games...Should get the players attention pretty quickly. It is always interesting to play teams for the first time, you just do not have a read on how you match-up with them.

I think Stockstill is a good coach and he will have his teams and players ready to go and Ruff has been pretty good at having our team ready to go for road games against conference teams. I suspect it will be a hard fought game for whomever wins.

ECU is best in conference right now. It's going to be tough for MT but we'll see.

(09-29-2013 04:55 PM)ECU-DMB Fanatic Wrote:  Hopefully we will not have fans sending tweets to coaches telling them they are overrated again this week....With that said I am not so nervous about our players having some sort of let down for this game. It is a conference game against a solid team in which the coaches can show film of them going into ACC venues and winning games...Should get the players attention pretty quickly. It is always interesting to play teams for the first time, you just do not have a read on how you match-up with them.

I think Stockstill is a good coach and he will have his teams and players ready to go and Ruff has been pretty good at having our team ready to go for road games against conference teams. I suspect it will be a hard fought game for whomever wins.

This post reminds me; Stockstill had all but accepted the ECU job after Holtz left, but had a last second change of heart. I've always respected him for that. He's gotta be taking this game personally, and will have his players ready. Pirates better take MT seriously.

Were it not for the injury to Kilgore, I'd be really worried about this one for ECU. Hangover game, road game and all. Plus, ECU's offense is not quite what it was last year (though they bounced back nicely against UNC - because they finally ran it). Their D is still a question mark in my book. If Kilgore was playing and healthy, I might well anticipate a hangover loss or at least a close game. With the injury, I don't think so. It'll be competitive, but I would not be surprised if ECU blew them off the field. Same time, I wouldn't be surprised if they lost. I think this is game of the week material in CUSA.