BYU vs East Carolina prediction, game preview, how to watch. Week 9, Friday, October 28
BYU vs East Carolina How To Watch
Date: Friday, October 28
Game Time: 8:00 ET
Venue: LaVell Edwards Stadium, Provo, UT
How To Watch: ESPN2
Record: BYU (4-4), East Carolina (5-3)
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BYU vs East Carolina Game Preview
Why East Carolina Will Win
So where has it all gone wrong for BYU?
The excitement was high going into the season that this might be a special run, but it all fell apart over the last three weeks with the offense sputtering against Notre Dame and Liberty, and the defense a stunning no show against those two and Arkansas, too.
The East Carolina offense works.
Even when it only scored nine points in the loss to Tulane, the passing game wasn’t all that bad. There’s a good enough ground game to keep feeding the ball against a Cougar defensive front that’s getting ripped apart – it’s allowing over 200 yards in each of the last four games.
If that works, the passing attach should fire away at will – the BYU pass defense is allowing everyone to hit their midrange throws.
Why BYU Will Win
This is just the second true road game of the year for East Carolina – it lost the first one to Tulane, and what was supposed to be the second one turned into a neutral site date with USF thanks to the Hurricane Ian.
Yeah, BYU is having a whole lot of problems, but it’s not turning it over, the passing game has the talent to be efficient, and East Carolina gives up a ton of yards through the air.
And home field should matter.
It didn’t against Arkansas a few weeks ago, but that’s Arkansas. Going to Provo is tough, and again, not having other road games should be a problem when dealing with this environment.
BYU could use the energy boost.
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What’s Going To Happen
East Carolina should pose a whole slew of problems for the BYU defense.
The Cougars don’t have a pass rush, they’re totally miserable at coming up with third down stops, and East Carolina is the best team in the American Athletic Conference at connecting on its third down chances.
But really, can the Pirates handle the always nasty road test BYU is for almost everyone?
They can, but the secondary won’t hold up.
It seems like this keeps being said every week, but BYU is way overdue to get the passing game rolling again.
The yards were there against Arkansas, but everything fell flat against Liberty and there wasn’t anything happening against Notre Dame.
East Carolina’s pass defense should be the cure for that in an entertaining game.
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BYU vs East Carolina Prediction, Line
BYU 34, East Carolina 30
Line: BYU -3.5, o/u: 63.5
ATS Confidence out of 5: 2
BYU vs East Carolina Must See Rating (out of 5): 2.5
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