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The East Carolina Pirates have enjoyed the comforts of home their last two games, but now they must head out on the road. East Carolina and the Memphis Tigers will face off in an American Athletic battle at noon ET on Saturday at Liberty Bowl Memorial. If the game is anything like Memphis' 59-41 win from their previous meeting in November of 2018, the scorekeeper will be kept real busy.
You're bound to get a positive result if you outscore your opponent every quarter, and that's exactly how it played out for the Pirates last week. They put a hurting on the Temple Owls at home to the tune of 45-3. The contest was pretty much decided by the half, when the score had already reached 21 to nothing. East Carolina's RB Keaton Mitchell looked sharp as he rushed for two TDs and 146 yards on 18 carries. One of the most memorable plays of the matchup was Mitchell's 57-yard touchdown rush in the third quarter. Mitchell's sharp performance set his single-game rushing touchdown high for the season.
Meanwhile, Memphis sure made it a nail-biter, but they managed to escape with a 28-25 victory over the SMU Mustangs last week. Memphis' QB Seth Henigan did his thing and passed for two TDs and 392 yards on 53 attempts.
The Pirates are expected to lose this next one by 5.5. They are currently five-for-five against the spread in their most recent games, however, a trend bettors might want to take into account.
The wins brought both teams up to an identical 5-4. Two defensive numbers to keep in mind before kickoff: East Carolina is stumbling into the game with the 201st most rushing touchdowns allowed in the nation, having given up 15 on the season. The Tigers have experienced some struggles of their own as they are 227th worst in the nation in passing touchdowns allowed, with 20 on the season. It's possible one of these Achilles' heels will wind up tripping the losing team up.
