Just five games into the football season, East Carolina has a chance to take a stranglehold in Conference USA’s East Division.

With league victories over Southern Miss and UTEP already, the Pirates (3-2 overall) have a chance to run their record to 3-0 in C-USA play on Thursday night at Central Florida (2-2, 0-0 C-USA), but they’ll have to strike a perfect balance between rest and preparation.

“We have to prepare and we have to push them in practice, but at the same time it’s a fine line because we have to be smart so that they’re healthy for the game,” third-year ECU head coach Ruffin McNeill said at Monday’s press conference of the short week, which saw the Pirates break from tradition with a Monday night practice.

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