One of the big keys for ECU will be getting the most out of the run game. The passing game has always been the Pirates' forte and a lot of that will depend on keeping defenses honest on the ground.

Running backs coach Jason Nichols has a group of four guys on top with Hussein Howe, Darius Pinnix, Trace Christian and Anthony Scott that he feels he can depend on.

"Those four I feel good with any one of those four going into the game right now to be honest. They all bring a little something different to the table. We're going to continue to grind here the rest of this week and one of them is going to be the starter and we're going to go with that guy and be ready for the season," Nichols said on Tuesday.

"I want to try to find a guy that we can get hot and ride him and take him throughout the season and see how he can go. I don't want to do a lot of musical chairs like we had to do last year just trying to find a guy," said Nichols, "I think we've got four right now that could probably go in there and get the job done. It's just what do you want. One runs inside zones well, one has the speed to take it to the house and the other is an all purpose back so it's kind of a little bit of everything."

Darius Pinnix has lost 10-15 pounds and is noticeably faster. Nichols said this weekend's scrimmage is important because the closer they get to game day the more important it becomes to "lock in and treat everything like we're ready to go play."

"I think our running backs are doing great across the board. I think Trace Christian, Darius Pinnix, Anthony Scott and Hussein Howe are all ready to go. They're prepared and they're ready. We've just got to get our communication one hundred percent locked down," Scottie Montomgery said when asked about the running back's progress, "I was really pleased with a couple of days ago with the way our offensive line lived on the double teams. We've got to be able to do that every single day. I thought our best running the football was a couple of days ago after the scrimmage (on Sunday).

"We're really not concerned about who the guys are right now because they're all at a certain level. We know that it's all going to clear itself up in the next week or so. Do I think we'll have a feature back? Yeah," said Montgomery, "I think we'll have feature back and then a guy or two that will come in an do the job as we see fit. Right now they're very adequate at what they do. We just have to make sure we find all the star power and put it on the field at the same time."