NCAA point spread numbers had East Carolina going 8-5 both straight up and against the NCAA football point spread in 2007. The team was 7-5 in terms of NCAA point spread over/unders in 2007. The Pirates also pulled off the upset in the Hawaii Bowl against Boise State surprising many NCAA point spread experts. NCAA football point spread numbers show that East Carolina had a successful season under head coach Skip Holtz.
The one disappointment was the inexcusable loss to Marshall in NCAA football point spread results that may have cost them the East title in Conference USA. East Carolina got a huge year out of running back Chris Johnson who had 1,423 yards on the ground according to NCAA point spread numbers. The defensive player of the year for East Carolina in 2007 according to NCAA football point spread stats was S Van Eskridge.
There is no doubt that East Carolina will miss Johnson in NCAA point spread results. Johnson left after graduation and will try to make it in the NFL. The good news according to NCAA point spread experts is that Holtz is still there and he did an excellent job in 2007. The Pirates will look to Jonathan Williams or Dominique Lindsay to plug the gap and keep the running game going. In addition to finding a replacement for Johnson the Pirates must improve their pass defense. It allowed almost 300 yards per game according to NCAA point spread stats and that will not get it done in 2008. The pass defense was 116th in the country according to NCAA point spread numbers which tells you just how bad it was. Overall, the defensive numbers were dragged down by the pass defense as the team allowed over 431 yards per game, 96th in the country according to NCAA point spread numbers. The defense was 84th in points allowed according to NCAA point spread stats.
The offense was 68th overall in total yards according to NCAA point spread numbers but considering the rushing attack ranked 35th, there is cause for concern now that Johnson is gone.