ECU football faces strong Rice team on the road on Saturday looking for first win there in program history

GREENVILLE, N.C. (WITN) - ECU football takes on Rice Saturday on the road. The Pirates have lost both times they have played the Owls in Houston. They are 3.5-point underdogs going in. Quarterback play has been the talk all week on both sides of the ball.

“JT Daniels has an elite arm. In the pocket, he does a really good job. They have some playmakers I mean McCaffrey may be the best receiver we have seen this season,” says ECU head football coach Mike Houston, “A combination of a really good quarterback, a solid offensive line, then playmakers that have big play ability all around.”

The ECU offense will look to go toe to toe with the Owls and to build off of a nice game last weekend where three quarterbacks got on the field and led scoring drives. Both Mason Garcia and Alex Flinn are expected to be ready to play for the Pirates first conference game. While Rice is new to the conference they are a familiar opponent.

“East Carolina fans know Rice from the Conference USA days,” says Coach Houston, “I’ve known coach Bloomgren for 20-some years, when he first got into coaching, and I was a young high school coach. I know him very well, know what he is about, so there is some familiarity even though it is a new team.”

The game is scheduled to kickoff at 7 PM and is being streamed on ESPN+.

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