Conference USA Bowl Preview - New Orleans Bowl

East Carolina vs Louisiana-Lafayette

R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl
December 22nd 12:00 PM ET on ESPN

A battle of giants, defensive game, and a trench battle. These are all things that describe the exact opposite kind of game you should expect to see between ECU and LA-Lafayette. There’s no hiding it these teams like to throw. ECU comes into this matchup knowing the air attack is their best weapon. There’s only one problem. LA-Lafayette’s safety Rodney Gillis is known for his interceptions. Having the tenth most interceptions, which is five, in the country is kind of a big deal. Gillis will be taking away the deep passing threat for ECU which will make for quicker passes right off the snap, but don’t worry ECU’s defensive has a trick up their sleeve too. That happens to be defensive back Chip Thompson. Now Thompson isn’t the star of the defense, but he might put more effort into playing the game than anyone else out there. This year he has had 29 solo tackles now that might not be impressive to read, but if you watched how he stayed on the pursuit to get a tackle you’d see why I’m impressed.

Here’s something I usually wouldn’t bring up but it almost seems like I have to this time. That’s the kickers, that’s right the KICKERS. ECU’s kicker Warren Harvey has 85 points this year forty-six of them from extra points but the rest from field goals. He has made thirteen out of eighteen of them, now I know what your thinking” oh so what” here’s what. The five he missed were more than forty yards away, and his season long is fifty four yards that’s only about ten short of the record (NCAA). LA-Lafayette’s response to that is their kicker Brett Baer. Baer has 100 points this year 49 of them are from extra point conversions and has made the rest from seventeen field goals out of the possible twenty. Baer also has made six field goals from over forty yards out and one from 52.

While the special teams do matter, what this game is really going to come down to is the offense. Whoever can get good drives together will win this game, and ECU’s quarterback Shane Carden is no stranger to that. Carden has thrown for twenty-one TDs this year along with 2838 yards. The sophomore quarterback got his moment to show what he’s made of after the pirates were taking a beating from South Carolina. Since then he hasn’t disappoint the fans. He’ll be looking to get some passes to wide receiver Justin Hardy. Hardy is no doubt the heart of the receivers for ECU having 1046 yards on the year with ten touchdowns, that’s even more yards and touchdowns than their leading running back. So don’t be surprised to hear Hardy’s name a lot.

Don’t worry those Cajun boys aren’t coming into this game without a gunslinger of their own. LA-Lafayette’s quarterback Terrance Broadway, who is also a sophomore, has produced some pretty good numbers this year with over 2500 yards passing and 16 TDs from passing. The keyword in the last sentence was “PASSING”. This year Broadway has had over 661 yards and eight touchdowns from rushing. That’s right he’s a scrambler and a good one too, because of his offensive line. He has had the opportunities to get right down the middle of the field and that’s why he has those big numbers. LA-Lafayette is on a three game win streak coming into this game, but in my mind it’s a five game win streak the fourth win being a 20-27 loss to now ranked #3 Florida. The Cajuns scored twenty points on the third ranked defense in the country, one of only three teams able to.

In closing expect to see a lot of pocket passing from ECU and some mixed passes from LA-Lafayette, even a few runs here and there. There’s going to be a lot of punts and kicks. The pirates will do their best but eventually foil.

My Prediction is the Cajuns taking the win 38-21