It’s East Carolina week for South Carolina and no ones knows the Pirates better than Sammy Batten (FO_SammyBatten), a longtime college football writer for The Fayetteville Observer in Fayetteville, N.C.

SDS asked for the scouting report on the Gamecocks’ Week 2 opponent and here’s what Batten had to say:

Introduce East Carolina and its pass-happy offense to our South Carolina readers and what they might expect Saturday night at Williams-Brice Stadium.

Batten: ECU’s offense will be very similar to what the Gamecocks faced against Texas A&M. It’s the old “Air Raid” philosophy that Mike Leach installed at Texas Tech with a few wrinkles added by ECU offensive coordinator Lincoln Riley, who learned the system directly from Leach as an assistant at Tech. Riley is one of the very bright young offensive minds in football and has really come into his own since arriving in Greenville with head coach Ruffin McNeill from Tech. The Pirates’ version regularly employs the no-huddle approach to push the tempo and wear defenses down. The passing game is centered around completing the short- to medium-range passes, but Riley isn’t afraid to call the deep ball when the secondary starts creeping up to cover the shorter throws.

Unlike some “Air Raid” teams, the Pirates actually are very effective running the football. They produced a 1,000-yard rusher last season in now-graduated Vintavious Cooper while quarterback Shane Carden was setting a bunch of single-season passing records. Cooper is gone, but ECU has a quartet of backs — all who are capable of contributing in the passing game as well — who are rotating into the backfield this year. A restructured offensive line had some issues protecting Carden in the opener against N.C. Central and that may be the Achilles’ heel of this unit.

The Pirates have been mentioned as one of several non-Power 5 conference teams that could throw a wrench into the bowl selection process at the end of the season. Is East Carolina an 11 or 12-win threat?

Batten: The potential is there for a double-digit win season again for the Pirates, who won 10 a year ago while playing in Conference USA. The American Athletic Conference will be a bit more challenging, especially a road test at preseason favorite Cincinnati and the regular-season finale at home against Central Florida. The litmus test for the Pirates is their non-conference schedule, which, after South Carolina, includes Virginia Tech and currently nationally ranked North Carolina. Should ECU represent itself well against South Carolina, then manage to knock off Tech or UNC, or both, they are more than well equipped to win six or more league games. If the Pirates are able to make it to nine or 10 wins by the end of the regular season and win the AAC title, they’d be in good position to earn the major bowl slot awarded to the top team outside the Power Five conferences.

Playing in the ACC is also going to give ECU more national exposure they didn’t receive in Conference USA. So, I don’t see ECU as a threat to challenge for a berth in the playoffs, but certainly a national ranking and bid to one of the six major bowls now part of the playoff system is realistic for this team.

Outside of quarterback Shane Carden, who are a few players to watch for the Pirates?

Batten: Well, senior receiver Justin Hardy is one of the nation’s best. Hardy had 114 catches a year ago and well over 1,000 yards receiving. He’s Carden’s go-to guy when the Pirates need a first down. But sophomores Isaiah Jones — the son of former Dallas Cowboys linebacker and ECU All-American Robert Jones — and Davon Grayson are also quality receivers. A new addition to the receiving corps is freshman Trevon Brown, a 6-2, 210-pounder who plays bigger than he’s listed. True freshman Anthony Scott had an impressive debut with 61 yards rushing on seven carries in the opener and gives the Pirates a home-run threat at running back. Defensively, linebackers Zeek Bigger and Montese Overton are really excellent athletes who are now starting to come into their own as juniors.

What are you expecting to see in Saturday’s game after South Carolina’s inexperienced secondary was exposed in the opener last week vs. Texas A&M?

Batten: First of all, I expect South Carolina’s secondary to be much improved because I know their coaches are going to demand it. And having played against an offense already in A&M that’s similar to ECU should make them more comfortable this time around. But it really boils down to the Gamecocks’ defensive front getting pressure on Carden. If they are able to do that, the secondary can make some mistakes and not surrender the big plays they did against A&M. With that said, I do believe the Pirates will get their yards throwing the ball. They are a well-tuned offense and much more mature than the one South Carolina thoroughly manhandled in the 2012 visit to Columbia. I’m not sure, however, they’re capable of putting up the numbers the Aggies did last week because I do expect the Gamecocks will clear up some of their defensive issues before next Saturday’s kickoff.