The 18th-ranked East Carolina Pirates can become bowl eligible Thursday night with a win over the visiting Connecticut Huskies (1-5, 0-3). The home Pirates will be heavily favored for the nationally televised “black out” game against a Huskies team that ranks 127th in the country in points per game at 12.8. Connecticut is also the only team in the nation that hasn’t covered the spread this season.

Similar to the majority of the teams in the American Athletic Conference (AAC) this season, the Huskies have played passible defense, but the offense, quarterbacked (typically) by Chandler Whitmer, has struggled mightily as evidenced by last weekend’s ugly 12-3 loss at Tulane.

When Whitmer (71-128, 856 yards, 5 TD, 3 INT) has been able to get up and down the field this season, the ball has generally gone to senior wideout Geremy Davis, whose 33 receptions, 431 yards and three touchdowns have accounted for about half of UConn’s passing totals. But Connecticut will give ECU its best shot on Saturday if it does what it wants to do on offense: work the clock and establish the running game — the second consecutive ECU opponent with that identity (South Florida).

“They run the ball and have a pro-style offense,” said ECU head coach Ruffin McNeill. “(UConn Head Coach) Bob (Diaco) is like (USF Head Coach) Willie (Taggart) — he’s establishing his personality within his team.”

The Huskies have used four running backs this season and three of them (Max DeLorenzo, Arkeel Newsome and Ron Johnson) have rushed for over 100 yards, although it hasn’t been pretty; no back is over four yards per carry.

“Defensively, they’ll be an odd-front like us — multiple fronts with stunts, coverage changes and blends,” explained McNeill. “On special teams, they’re very solid and well-coached. We’ll have to be sound in each area.”

ECU could play less than sound in all three phases and still come away with a victory against the overmatched Huskies, whose lone win came at home by three points over FCS-opponent Stony Brook. The Thursday night Dowdy-Ficklen atmosphere won’t help UConn either.

“It’s a special night for our fans. I’m excited to see the stadium,” said McNeill. “I know [turf manager] Joey [Perry] has something special going on the field, but I don’t want to see it until game day. I know it will be a great venue. The team is expecting a large, packed stadium. I expect our fans to be in early and give us a lot of energy and excitement.”

The ECU players to focus on as always are senior quarterback Shane Carden and his bevy of weapons, most notably Justin Hardy. The senior wideout is chasing Oklahoma’s Ryan Broyles’s (2008-11) career receptions record of 349; Hardy is currently at 313 career catches, meaning he will need 5.2 receptions per game (assuming he stays healthy and ECU picks up one more win to earn a spot in a bowl) to break the record. A big game against the Huskies would certainly help reduce that already manageable number, although Connecticut’s pass defense may be its biggest strength (31st in the nation at 203.4 yards per game).

Limiting the damage from ECU’s fourth ranked offense in the nation by reducing its chances will be priority number one for UConn. But the Huskies can stay in the game if ECU continues its tendency to commit penalties. The Pirates committed 12 fouls for 148 yards in their previous game against USF, and the referees could have easily flagged a few more holds on along the offensive line. ECU is 12th in the nation with 8.6 penalties per game. Surprisingly, teams that are also enjoying solid seasons such as Baylor, Marshall, BYU and USC have committed more penalties than the Pirates.

McNeill mentioned that he devoted some extra practice time to correcting the penalty issues.

“We pride ourselves on being penalty-free. We require discipline off the field, such as classroom discipline,” he said. “We expect it to carry over onto the field, too.”

If the Pirates can put together a clean 60 minutes, expect ECU to win big after 11 days of preparation.