Out wide for the Bearcats secondary to deal with will be junior Blake Proehl and sophomore Tyler Snead. Both Proehl and Snead are neck and neck for the team leads in virtually all receiving categories. Proehl has 38 catches for 395 yards and two touchdowns, while Snead has 41 catches for 354 yards and three touchdowns. Also, C.J. Johnson who had a monster game last season against the Bearcats is leading the team in the yards per catch category at 22.0, he also has 13 catches for 286 yards and he leads the team with four touchdown catches. If UC is able to take away either one of these options for ECU it could make for a really long day for the Pirates offense.
Defense is where ECU really struggles, the lone win against USF was the lowest point total they have allowed on the season with 24. Junior linebacker Xavier Smith leads this defense with 52 tackles and 1.5 sacks on the year. This is a Bearcats offense that has found a good balance with Ridder spreading the ball around while also making plays with his feet and against ECU he should have no troubles moving the ball up and down the field.
The spread currently sits at 27.5 in favor of the Cats and it would be hard to argue with that number. ECU has a nice offense, but not in comparison to what UC just shut down the last three straight weeks and ECU is a defense giving up 459.0 total yards of offense, 37.2 points and they are catching UC at their hottest point of the year. I expect UC to push the gas early and try to get a large lead so they can get some guys out of the game in preparation for the UCF game next week. I have it 49-7 Bearcats and they push their record to 7-0.
