Can Pirates steal a win from Hokies?

East Carolina is in the driver’s seat in the C-USA East Division and takes a brief pause to try for second straight upset of Virginia Tech on their home turf. The Pirates have been off since Oct. 27, after mauling Memphis 38-19 and likes the direction the offense has gone in being more productive. In East Carolina’s last two games, they have averaged 478 yards per outing, be it against far weaker competition than Virginia Tech.

Quarterback Patrick Pinkney is at his best when the Pirates (5-3, 3-4 ATS) have a lead or are within one score when trailing. Pinkney is a dissonant thrower of the football and a far better game manager than playing the role of Captain Comeback. East Carolina is 7-3 in last 10 games at Dody-Ficklen Stadium. (Couldn’t possibly make up that name)

Virginia Tech (5-3, 3-5 ATS) is in unfamiliar territory. It’s the first week of November and they have nothing to really play for other than improving overall record to save face and avoid 2003 campaign that finished with 8-5 record and Insight Bowl loss to California. Bookmaker.com has Hokies as 13-point favorites with total of 52, which is a dangerous number for a potentially unmotivated road fave. This is the first of two road games for Virginia Tech and they are 10-4 ATS as visiting favorites the last five seasons.

Virginia Tech assistant coaches are coming under fire in Blacksburg. Offensive coordinator Bryan Stinespring has been in hot water for some time and has in own website (http://firebryanstinespring. com/). Hokies’ fans haven’t liked his conservative game plans and vent their frustration towards him. Even Bud Foster’s defensive prowess is being attacked in Hokies’ blogs, with defense being abused for 180 or more yards on the ground in half of Virginia Tech’s games. They are hard to comprehend 79th in the country against the rush and 3-8-1 ATS in non-conference encounters.

East Carolina’s best chance is to bottle Hokies running game (allowing 108 YPG) and make them throwing team. QB Tyrod Taylor has made great strides as a passer and Pirates secondary is not going to discourage any team from throwing against them (103rd), however as witnessed last Thursday, the junior signal caller is not polished when slinging from the pocket. Since knocking of Virginia Tech and West Virginia to start the 2008 season, East Carolina is 0-5 SU and ATS in most recent non-league matches.

Even with last week’s upset, Frank Beamer’s club is still 14-4 ATS on Thursday’s and 8-2 ATS in November.

Though the bigger goal is winning another C-USA title, it will be festive atmosphere in Greenville, with ECU looking to take down a vulnerable Hokies bunch. The Pirates are 8-1 ATS when catching 10.5 or more points and coach Skip Holtz will have them in a frenzy. East Carolina is 5-9 SU all-time against Virginia Tech and has covered only twice in last six meetings.

ESPN will provide the coverage at 7:45 Eastern, with the Hokies on 11-0 UNDER run on Thursday nights.