Previewing Thursday night's game
Tonight's TV game:
Central Florida (8-3) at East Carolina (8-3)
Time/TV: 7:30 p.m. ET/ESPN.
Surface: Grass.
Line: East Carolina by 7. Sagarin difference: ECU by 1.03.
Synopsis: A little more than a month ago, these teams looked to be on a collision course to decide the American Athletic Conference championship on the national stage. They'll still collide, of course, but a puzzling UCF loss to Connecticut means the best the Knights can do is share the crown with Memphis and possibly Cincinnati. The Pirates, who were ranked in the top 25 and harbored realistic hopes of a major bowl bid, dropped back-to-back decisions to Temple and the afore-mentioned Bearcats and cannot claim a piece of the league title even with a win tonight. These bowl-bound squads should nevertheless provide an entertaining contest on the eve of championship weekend. Their stronger units will be matched against each other when the Pirates have the ball. ECU's top offensive weapon is WR Justin Hardy, who has 1,194 receiving yards but surprisingly only eight scoring grabs. QB Shane Carden spreads the wealth around to WR Isaiah Jones and also makes extensive use of TB Breon Allen. But the Knights' defense is sound with all-star candidates at every level. Leading the rush against Carden will be DE Thomas Niles, while LB Terrance Plummer, S Clayton Geathers and CB Jacoby Glenn will try to keep the big gainers to a minimum. The UCF offense isn't as explosive, but WR Breshad Perriman warrants attention from the Pirates' secondary, likely CB Josh Hawkins. Knights QB Justin Holman can be INT-prone; he has 13 picks to go along with his 19 TD throws.
Line furnished by Glantz-Culver. Jeff Sagarin's power ratings show the relative strength of teams; 2.44 points were added to the home team's rating to calculate the difference.