The Cavaliers notched their first road win of the season last week with a 37-0 romp over Duke in Durham. Virginia coach Al Groh hopes that his squad can once again travel to the Tar Heel State and emerge with a victory. The Cavaliers are 3-5 under Groh on the road against non-conference opponents.
"We don't think much in terms of the environment whatsoever," Groh said. "If you do that, you are building in built-in reasons why you can't win. I don't hear business men going to a different city and saying, 'Just because I'm conducting a meeting in Pittsburgh instead of in Boston, I probably can't close the sale.'"
The Pirates are coached by Skip Holtz, the son of Lou Holtz, a legend who coached Notre Dame to its last national title in 1988. Skip Holtz was hired before the 2005 season to come to Greenville and turn around a program that had won a combined three games over the previous two years. East Carolina finished 5-6 in Holtz's first campaign.
The Pirates opened this season by losing two games on the road at Navy and UAB before coming home to beat Memphis. In their most recent performance two weeks ago, East Carolina hung tough at home against No. 4 West Virginia for a half before falling 27-10.
The Pirates use a spread offense that commonly features three and four wide receiver sets. East Carolina's passing offense is ranked third in Conference USA as the Pirates have averaged 268.8 yards through the air per game. Senior Aundre Allison leads East Carolina's receiving corps with 19 receptions for 264 yards and two touchdowns.
Running the offensive show for the Pirates will be senior James Pinkney. He has passed for more than 2,000 yards in each of the past two seasons and has also rushed for seven career touchdowns.
Virginia's defense, led by ACC defensive player of the week Marcus Hamilton, will have its hands full containing East Carolina's multi-faceted attack.
"It's going to be a tough task," Hamilton, who made two interceptions against Duke, said. "They do a lot of different things that we're going to have to defend. They have a lot of receivers who they can interchange that are very good, and their quarterback is very mobile, athletic, and he has a strong arm."
Defensively, East Carolina is strongest against the pass. The Pirates have the fourth-best pass defense in Conference USA (179.2 yards per game) while their rush defense is ranked 11th (second from last) as they have allowed 193.8 rushing yards per game.
East Carolina's defense picked off five passes during its 35-20 win over Memphis Sept. 16. For the season, the Pirates have eight interceptions.
Virginia quarterback Jameel Sewell, who will be making his third career start, will need to stay focused on making smart passes to negate East Carolina's proclivity to make interceptions.
"Their secondary is very much a veteran secondary," Groh said. "It's certainly something for us to be very alert to. We do have a young quarterback, and he needs to understand that there are people on the other side that want to catch his passes as much as his guys do."
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