Free NCAA Football Prediction: ECU vs. Marshall Odds
Looking for ECU Pirates vs. Marshall Thundering Herd free picks? College football betting sees the Pirates taking on the Herd on Saturday, September 18, 2021, at Joan C. Edwards Stadium in Huntington, W. VA. Cappers Picks provides complimentary handicapping picks all NCAA football season long so stay tuned for more FREE college football game Week 3 predictions like this ECU Marshall free pick.
College Football Handicapping Analysis: Week 3
East Carolina Pirates (0-2) vs. Marshall Thundering Herd (2-0)
Date: Saturday, September 18, 2021
Time: 6:00 pm EST
Venue: Joan C. Edwards Stadium
NCAA Football ATS Spread Odds: ECU +10 / Marshall -10
NCAA Football Moneyline Odds: ECU +450 / Marshall -500
NCAA Betting Total Odds: O/U 58
Week 3 college football sees the Pirates and Thundering Herd meet at Joan C. Edwards Stadium.
The Thundering Herd have come out of the gate strong at 2 – 0 and they are expected to carry that momentum into this weekend favored by 10 points over ECU. The Herd opened the 2021 season with a win over the Naval Academy and they cruised past NC Central last weekend in their cupcake game.
ECU won’t get their cupcake win until next weekend and their non-conference schedule has been rather tough thus far. The Pirates have losses to South Carolina and Appalachian State which are both programs out of their league. Mike Houston has his hands full and we just might see a repeat of their 3-win campaign from a season ago… and that is if things go well from here!?
These two programs were supposed to play last season but Covid-19 played a factor for these two former Conference USA mates.
The Thundering Herd are favored by -10 points in this AAC vs. Conference USA matchup.
ECU Pirates
Well, 0 – 2 can only be spelled out as Oh and two! Oh, has it been tough and two losses are to show for a tough non-conference schedule. Naturally, when you play teams out of your league your season stats will be ugly and they are for the Pirates. Ranked under or near 100th in pretty much every category on defense and offense, the Pirates have no depth and no players expected to be making the All-AAC team in 2021.
WR Tyler Snead was 2nd-team All-AAC a year ago and he leads the squad with 9 grabs but sits third on the team with only 62 yards. Here is the only issue on offense for the Pirates… depth anywhere. ECU essentially has only 4 receivers and Jsi Hatfield, Snead, Rahjai Harris, and C.J Johnson are it.
Keaton Mitchell is the team’s featured back but he is 2nd on the team in receptions with 7 because Holton Ahlers is just not a very good QB.
Ahlers is barely completing over 50% of his passes and he has 3 INTs to only 2 TDs in the passing game. He tries to utilize his legs when he can but he is simply not a real dual-threat anything. The Problem is also behind the fact that 3 freshmen QBs are his backups so there are no options with any experience.
Marshall Thundering Herd
When Charles Huff took over the program there were many questions about how he would change the offense and what was next for this team. So far, so good, and Huff is 2 – 0 headed for a possible 3 – 0 being favored in this third tilt of 2021.
Huff was an assistant at Alabama the last couple of seasons and that was apparently enough to give him his first head coach gig. He has certainly seen a gamet of programs as offensive coordinator, but he threw his name in the hat and they called his number.
So, the third-ranked passing attack in the nation belongs to the Herd thus far and the 582 yards per game sure look obnoxious too (Good for 6th in the land). Can we use last week’s stats though? I mean, NC Central got smoked by Marshall and the Herd ended the night with 463 passing yards and 237 rush yards en route to a 44 – 10 win.
Three different QBs combined with 15 different receivers and Marshall could have put me in there and we would have been just fine too LoL
Grant Wells will be the starter again and he will be the guy in big situations for the Herd this season. Wells put up over 2,000 pass yards a season ago and is already up to 680 yards through the air. He has no problem tucking in a ball and moving the chains with his legs either.
NCAA Football Handicapping Trends
- Pirates are 9-19 ATS in their last 28 road games.
- Pirates are 1-3-1 ATS in their last 5 games as an underdog.
- Pirates are 4-12-1 ATS in their last 17 non-conference games.
- Over is 5-0 in Thundering Herd last 5 vs. AAC.
- Over is 21-6 in Thundering Herd’s last 27 non-conference games.
- Over is 8-3 in Thundering Herd last 11 games as a favorite.
Free Week 3 NCAA Football Pick
Are 10 points supposed to scare any of us off of this line? Not me!
4* Free Week 3 NCAA Betting Pick:
The Herd get the nod as double-digit favs at home
4* Free Week 3 NCAA Betting Pick: Marshall -10
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