UNC Faces Tricky Pirate Offense

Records: East Carolina is 2-2, 1-0 in Conference USA. North Carolina is 2-3, 2-1 in the ACC.

Series: North Carolina leads 6-1-1

Personnel: East Carolina -- None reported. North Carolina -- None reported.

The key matchup: North Carolina has formulated a very wise game plan this season, one the team could ride to a winning season and beyond: Play stifling defense and limit mistakes on offense.

The most essential part of that game plan is stopping the run, something the Tar Heels have done better than just about every other team in the ACC.

They are ranked second in the conference in rush defense, having allowed an average of 113.6 yards on the ground per game and 3.3 yards per carry.

Greeting them Saturday will be the complex East Carolina offense, featuring running back Leonard Henry and quarterback David Garrard, who has struggled so far this season but is still dangerous with his arm and his legs.

The 6-foot, 197-pound Leonard ranks fifth in the nation in rushing with 137.5 yards per game and is averaging 9.6 yards per carry.

"We definitely feel like he's a big-time player," said UNC linebacker David Thornton. "He can break it and score on any given play, so we definitely respect him as a back, and we know we've got to do a great job of tackling him the whole game."

The Pirates use a wide variety of sets and motions to keep opposing defenses off-balance, and the Tar Heels will have to keep their wits about them and adjust accordingly to what they see on the field in order to keep the clamps on Henry and Garrard.

Traps, pulls, trick plays: Anything and everything is fair game when the Pirates have the ball.

"The biggest challenge is being able to make adjustments," Thornton said. "Because once they make motions and they trade tight ends and things like that, they want to see how the defense will respond. And if the defense is chaotic in the motions and doesn't respond well, then they're going to keep doing it the whole game."

If the Tar Heels can shut down Leonard early on, Garrard, who has completed 50 percent of his passes for 834 yards, six touchdowns and five interceptions this season, will be forced to throw. Then UNC can blitz the rest of the game at will.

Final analysis/prediction: This promises to be an emotionally charged game, especially on the visiting side.

North Carolina fans might have trouble grasping just how important this game is to ECU and its fans. The Pirates' supporters will come in enormous bunches. And they will be loud.

Of course, the Tar Heels have been dealing with hostile crowds for much of the season: at Oklahoma, at Maryland, at Texas. If the game had as much symbolic importance for the Tar Heels as it does for the Pirates, then maybe UNC would be in trouble of getting overanxious. But it doesn't, and they won't.

If the Tar Heels' defense plays even close to the level it has the past few weeks, there is no reason UNC should lose this game.

ECU, ranked in the preseason

top 25, came out with a thud in a season-opening loss to Wake Forest and still hasn't fully recovered.

Meanwhile, the skies are looking abnormally sunny in Chapel Hill. The two-quarterback system has worked better than anybody could have anticipated. A winning season looks more and more probable each week.

The Tar Heels simply have too much going for them to hit a road bump now.

UNC 24, ECU 12.