The Marshall Thundering Herd (1-0) square off against the East Carolina Pirates (0-1) on Saturday, September 9, 2023 at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium. Marshall comes in off a 21-17 victory over Albany which is actually not very impressive considering they were -23 point favorites. They face an East Carolina team that lost 30-3 to Michigan, but they actually did cover as a +35 point underdog. In 2021, the last time these two programs met head-to-head, ECU won 42-38 in a barnburner, and although most of those players are gone, you better believe these programs remember devastating losses such as those. Steam has come in here on Marshall. ECU has offensive issues. Marshall has a good defense. This actually is a great public fade as well which we like. We think Marshall will hear a lot of noise about how they took Albany lightly, and they will come out and play very well here, and we like the Thundering Herd to roll on Saturday.