Give Me Liberty, or Give Me Death!

by:The Fake Gimel Martinez12/08/08

So, you're lamenting the Liberty. It costs more to drive down there. You'll have to get a hotel room. We're playing a C-USA team. "Meh!" you exclaim.

Would you Meh! a win? Do you remember football wins? I know, its been a while. We haven't seen one since October 18th. (Yeah, we won in Starkville on November 1st, but very few people actually SAW that win. *shakes fist at Big Blue Sports Network angrily*)

We may have a better chance of winning against East Carolina than Boston College. Take a look at the NCAA Statistics of BC and ECU:

NCAA Ranking(After 12/06) Boston College East Carolina Statistical Advantage
Rushing Offense 63rd (143.00 yds/gm) 83rd (128.31 yds/gm) BC
Passing Offense 93rd (175.46 yds/gm) 64th (207.69 yds/gm) ECU
Passing Efficiency 103rd (104.14 rating) 53rd (126.95 rating) ECU
Total Offense 94th (318.46 yds/gm) 83rd (336.00 yds/gm) ECU
Scoring Offense 61st (25.54 pts/gm) 78th (23.77 pts/gm) BC
Rushing Defense 7th (92.15 yds/gm) 50th (138.08 yds/gm) BC
Pass Efficiency Defense 7th (98.71 PE rating) 38th (115.90 PE rating) BC
Total Defense 6th (273.38 yds/gm) 43rd (334.77 yds/gm) BC
Scoring Defense 19th (18.54 points/gm) 33rd (20.77 points/gm) BC
Sacks T-21st (2.62 sacks/gm) 44th (2.23 sacks/gm) BC
Sacks Allowed 49th (1.69 sacks/gm) 65th (2.00 sacks/gm) BC
Turnover Margin 33rd (.46 TO Margin) 41st (.38 TO Margin) BC

While ECU slightly leads BC in several offensive categories, BC has a clear statistical advantage in the defensive categories. The Cats' will be stronger on defense come January 2nd -- Jarmon, McClinton & Lumpkin should all be healthy and ready to go. Offensively, we will probably be without Randall Cobb, and definitely won't have Dickey Lyons Jr., Derrick Locke and DeMoreo Ford. ECU's good but not top-10 defense is a much-better matchup for us.

Another thing to consider is the quarterback mobility. Of all things this year, mobile quarterbacks have given Kentucky's defense massive fits. I haven't seen ECU or BC play any games at the end of the year, so I have no idea how much they use the option or how well their quarterbacks scramble. But looking at ECU's and BC's individual stats, we might determine how much their QBs are used in the running game.

ECU's quarterbacks (Pat Pinkney and Rob Kass) combined for 89 rushing attempts for 48 net yards gained and scored 1 rushing TD. BC's quarterbacks (Chris Crane and Dominique Davis) combined for 119 rushing attempts for 234 yards and 9 rushing TDs. For comparison's sake, South Carolina's QBs (Garcia and Smelley) combined for 104 rushing attempts for 166 net yards and 2 TDs.

BC's Crane was averaging 19.9 yards per positive rushing attempt (not sacks). Crane was injured for the year and replaced by redshirt freshman Davis, who is averaging only 3.0 yards per positive rushing attempt. ECU has interchanged Pinkney and Kass through the year, and Pinkey averages 3.8 yards per positive rushing attempt, whereas Kass averages -0.3 yards per positive attempt.

Given this info, we can assume that BC has better scrambling quarterbacks than ECU. Which is great for Kentucky's defense. That means not only can Jermey Jarmon eat at great Memphis restaurants, but he can also eat the QBs. Perhaps he can introduce Pat Pinkney to Zinc Man, Iron Woman and Protein Pal!

Now, before you get confused, let me explain something: See the "Fe" on Iron Woman's outfit? "Fe" is the symbol for Iron on the Periodic Table. Isn't that clever?

(Yes. The above image has nothing to do with anything, but I felt like it was my duty as a Kentuckian to show you it. Hat tip for the Kentucky Cattlemen image: ChrisV82.)

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