• Last year's record: 9-5 (6-3 Conference USA)
• Coach: Skip Holtz (29-22 in four seasons at ECU, 63-45 in nine seasons overall)
• Last bowl appearance: 2009 Liberty, lost to Kentucky 25-19.
• Strengths: Quarterback, senior leadership on offense and defense, experienced offensive line.
• Weaknesses: Not buying into all the expectations that surround the program. Running game also needs to be productive to take pressure off QB Patrick Pinkney.
• Best returning players: QB Patrick Pinkney, C Sean Allen, WR Jamar Bryant, RB Jonathan Williams, K Ben Hartman, LB Dekota Marshall, DE C.J. Wilson
• Best newcomers: CB Leonard Paulk, RB Brandon Jackson, SS Jack Schultz, WR Jacobi Jenkins
• Key losses: LB Nick Johnson, LB Pierre Bell, RB Norman Whitley, DE Zack Slade, TE Davon Drew
• Keys to the season: Not relying on Pinkney all the time. Establishing a running game is a must, and the defense has to play as well as it did last season.
• Big games: Sept. 12 at West Virginia; Sept. 19 at North Carolina
• They'll beat… Appalachian State, West Virginia, Central Florida, Marshall, SMU, Rice, Memphis, Virginia Tech, Tulsa, Alabama-Birmingham and Southern Mississippi.
• They'll lose to… North Carolina.
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