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The American Athletic Conference will take center stage on Thursday night when the East Carolina Pirates host the Florida Atlantic Owls in primetime. ECU head coach Mike Houston is in his sixth season in charge and has guided the Pirates to a 4-4 record overall (2-2 in the AAC). Meanwhile, FAU head coach Tom Herman is 2-6 in his second season at the helm of the Owls, who are 0-4 in conference play.

Kickoff is scheduled for 8 p.m. ET at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium in Greenville, N.C. The Pirates are favored by 7.5 points in the latest East Carolina vs. Florida Atlantic odds via SportsLine consensus, while the over/under is 58.5 points. East Carolina is a -312 money line favorite (risk $312 to win $100), while FAU is a +243 underdog. Before entering any FAU vs. ECU picks, you'll want to see the college football predictions from the model at SportsLine.

The model simulates every FBS college football game 10,000 times. Since its inception, it has generated a betting profit of well over $2,000 for $100 players on its top-rated college spread football picks, and it is a sizzling 18-9 on all top-rated picks over the past six weeks of this season. Anyone following at sportsbooks and on betting apps has seen strong returns.

The model has set its sights on ECU vs. FAU. You can head to SportsLine to see its picks. Here are several college football betting lines for the FAU vs. ECU game:

  • East Carolina vs. Florida Atlantic spread: ECU -7.5
  • East Carolina vs. Florida Atlantic over/under: 58.5 points
  • East Carolina vs. Florida Atlantic money line: ECU -312, FAU +243
  • East Carolina vs. Florida Atlantic picks: See picks here
  • East Carolina vs. Florida Atlantic streaming: FuboTV (Try for free)  

Why ECU can cover

The Pirates are coming off their best offensive performance of the season, piling up 494 yards of total offense in a 56-34 win over Temple on Oct. 26. Rahjai Harris, Anthony Smith and Chase Sowell all accounted for at least 100 scrimmage yards and a touchdown in the victory and five different receivers caught touchdown passes from ECU quarterback Katin Houser.

The Michigan State transfer has now accounted for nine touchdowns (eight passing and one rushing) in his last two starts and has the offense trending upward. Meanwhile, the ECU defense forced three turnovers in the win against Temple and the Pirates are now 4-2 in games where they've generated two or more takeaways. See which team to pick here.

Why FAU can cover

Florida Atlantic is coming off a 44-21 loss to South Florida on Friday and now has to turn around on a short week against a team on a bye. However, it wasn't all bad for Tom Herman's Owls, who put up 485 yards of total offense in the defeat.

Cam Fancher threw for 306 yards and a touchdown while CJ Campbell piled up 168 scrimmage yards and three touchdowns in the loss. However, the Owls allowed the Bulls to gain 319 yards on the ground and they'll need to dial in their run defense to slow down the Pirates on Thursday. See which team to pick here.

How to make East Carolina vs. Florida Atlantic picks

The model has simulated FAU vs. ECU 10,000 times and the results are in. The model is leaning Under the total, and it also says one side of the spread hits more than 50% of the time. You can only see the pick at SportsLine.

So who wins ECU vs. FAU, and which side of the spread hits over 50% of the time? Visit SportsLine now to see which side of the East Carolina vs. Florida Atlantic spread to jump on, all from the advanced computer model that's up well over $2,000 on its top-rated college football spread picks since its inception, and find out.