East Carolina vs Coastal Carolina prediction, game preview, odds, how to watch. TicketSmarter Birmingham Bowl, Tuesday, December 27
East Carolina vs Coastal Carolina TicketSmarter Birmingham Bowl Prediction Game Preview
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East Carolina vs Coastal Carolina How To Watch
Date: Tuesday, December 27
Game Time: 6:45 ET
Venue: Protective Stadium, Birmingham, AL
How To Watch: ESPN
Record: East Carolina (7-5), Coastal Carolina (9-3)
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East Carolina vs Coastal Carolina TicketSmarter Birmingham Bowl 5 Things To Know
TicketSmarter Birmingham Bowl Prediction, What’s Going To Happen, History
– Coastal Carolina came close to having a special season, and it could still be a ten-win campaign. It started 6-0 and then 9-1, got rocked by James Madison, and rolled in the Sun Belt Championship by Troy.
Head coach Jamey Chadwell decided he’d rather be working at Liberty, Grayson McCall entered the transfer portal, and now the program is in a holding pattern for the Tim Beck era to begin. On the plus side, McCall is still playing in this before leaving.
– East Carolina had an interesting year. It was wildly inconsistent – good enough to blowout UCF and win at BYU, and flaky enough to get destroyed by Houston and lose to Navy – but it’s still going to be a winning season. The balanced offense knows how to crank up the yards. But …
– East Carolina has been a bowl game nightmare. Since getting by Boise State in the 2007 Hawaii it lost four of the last five and went 4-9 since 1992. It was supposed to play Boston College in last year’s Military, but it got canceled thanks to COVID.
– This is just the third bowl game for Coastal Carolina, with all coming in the last three seasons under Chadwell. The Chanticleers lost a thriller of a 2020 Cure Bowl to Liberty, and last year hung on for dear life to beat Northern Illinois in the 2021 Cure.
– The 2020 Birmingham Bowl – coming at the end of the 2019 season – was a rough 36-6 Cincinnati blowout over Boston College, and the 2020 season version was canceled. Other than that, this has been one of the consistently best bowls of the season. Four of the last five were thrillers including Houston’s win over Auburn last season in the final moments.
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Why East Carolina Will Win The TicketSmarter Birmingham Bowl
Coastal Carolina’s missing parts are more of a problem than East Carolina’s. But even at full strength, the Pirates have the style to give the Chanticleers problems.
ECU is usually dominates the turnover battle, it’s great offensively on third downs, and it’s going against a team that’s struggles on defense at getting off the field.
The Pirates haven’t turned the ball over since October 8th, going six straight games without a mistake and with eight games on the year with no turnovers. Coastal Carolina struggled over the last three games – two losses and a close call against Southern Miss – partly because it gave it up seven times.
Combined the lack of turnovers with almost no issues with penalties, and East Carolina isn’t going to beat itself.
Combine all of that with what East Carolina is about to do against a Coastal Carolina pass defense that was the worst in the Sun Belt, and it’s a nice mix. However …
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Why Coastal Carolina Will Win The TicketSmarter Birmingham Bowl
Grayson McCall, have a day.
Assuming he’s really and truly going to still play in this – and not be off being a Florida Gator or something – he going to crank up huge numbers against a Pirate secondary that allowed a nation-worst 299 passing yards per game.
From Houston and Clayton Tune pushing for 435 yards, to Temple rolling up 527 yards and five scores in a loss, to everyone by Navy and BYU coming up with at least 200 yards, everyone got fat on the East Carolina secondary.
Even with McCall out for a few games with a foot injury, the offense still worked. One of the most efficient passing games in America should be able to fire at will, but …
TicketSmarter Birmingham Bowl Prediction, What’s Going To Happen, History