East Carolina @ Cincinnati preview
Paul Brown Stadium
East Carolina’s inability to handle the elements likely cost the program whatever chance it had at gaining access to a New Year's Eve or New Year's Day bowl game. After being denied their best start in school history, the Pirates look to pull into a first-place tie atop the American Athletic Conference on Friday when they visit Cincinnati. East Carolina took a five-game winning streak into Temple on Nov. 1, but lost five fumbles and committed 12 penalties in a windy and rainy 20-10 road setback.
The defeat was even harder to take for East Carolina considering it outgained the Owls by 293 yards and collected 30 first downs to Temple’s 10. The Bearcats, who are tied with the Pirates and UCF for second place one-half game behind conference-leading Memphis, continued their resurgence with a 38-14 victory at Tulane on Oct. 31. Cincinnati dropped three in a row by a combined 70 points from Sept. 27-Oct. 11, but has responded with three straight wins of at least 17 points against teams in the bottom half of the conference.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, ESPN2. LINE: East Carolina -2
ABOUT EAST CAROLINA (6-2, 3-1 AAC): The five lost fumbles were two more than the Pirates had entering the Temple contest while the five total giveaways marked the team’s highest turnover total since committing seven against UAB in 2011. East Carolina, which ranks third-worst in the FBS in penalties (9.3) and second-to-last in penalty yardage (90.3), has been flagged 11 or more times for at least 105 yards in three straight contests. Shane Carden threw for a season-low 217 yards and was held without a touchdown throw for the first time since last year’s regular-season finale, but still managed to pass David Garrard’s school record for career total offense (10,328 yards).
ABOUT CINCINNATI (5-3, 3-1): Munchie Legaux took over at quarterback after Gunner Kiel aggravated a rib injury on the first play of the game against Tulane and matched a career high with three touchdown passes, temporarily supplanting Kiel as the starter. "Gunner is going to have to get 100 percent healthy before we're going to work with him much with the ones. … Munchie played well enough to be the starter (against East Carolina)," coach Tommy Tuberville told the Cincinnati Enquirer. Rod Moore ran for 124 yards and Mike Boone added 113 more, becoming the first set of Bearcats to top 100 yards in the same game since 2003.
EXTRA POINTS
1. East Carolina has outscored its conference foes 41-0 in the fourth quarter.
2. Cincinnati has scored at least 34 points in four straight contests in the same season for the first time since a five-game run to open the 2007 campaign.
3. The Pirates, who rank eighth in FBS in run defense, have held six of their opponents to fewer than 100 yards rushing.
PREDICTION: East Carolina 34, Cincinnati 24