BYU vs. East Carolina: Game Day Preview Plus Score Prediction
Sep 20, 2025, 12:01 AM
GREENVILLE, N.C. – Could BYU vs East Carolina be a potential upset to watch in week four college football action?
BYU football has been flying high this season with a 2-0 record and is fresh off a bye week.
East Carolina had a significant confidence boost after knocking off regional rival Coastal Carolina last week, 38-0 in Conway.
BYU is making its second all-time appearance in Greenville. The last meeting was in 2017, a game where BYU had the worst offense in college football against ECU’s worst defense. It was the bad defense that came out on top eight years ago.
East Carolina has won the last two meetings in this series. BYU’s lone victory was in 2015, before Kalani Sitake became the head coach.
BYU vs. East Carolina
Location: Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium
Kickoff: 5:30 p.m. (MDT)/7:30 p.m. (EDT)
TV: ESPN2
Radio: KSL NewsRadio (102.7 FM, 1160 AM) — Extended pregame begins at Noon
Three Game Day Thoughts
1. Feed LJ Martin the rock
There is always a lot of talk about the quarterback position at BYU, and there still is with Bear Bachmeier as the starting signal-caller.
However, BYU in 2025 goes as far as running back LJ Martin will take them.
Through the first two games of BYU’s season, Martin has rushed for 241 yards on 26 carries. He’s averaging 9.3 yards per carry and has put together three runs of more than 40 yards already this season.
East Carolina is seventh nationally in rushing defense, allowing only 58.7 yards per game this season. But they haven’t faced a running back as talented as Martin.
Martin had 18 carries in BYU’s win over Stanford. That should be a good benchmark for BYU to try to reach again, maybe even 20 carries.
2. BYU has the advantage in the trenches
BYU gets some good news along the offensive line today with the return of starting left guard Weylin Lapuaho.
The two-year starter for BYU has been after getting a scope on his meniscus. He’s back in the lineup and ready to go against the Pirates.
Lapuaho joins Isaiah Jatta, one of the country’s highest-rated offensive tackles according to Pro Football Focus’ grades, Michigan transfer Andrew Gentry, and Bruce Mitchell, along with BYU’s talented offensive line.
On the defensive line, BYU is hopeful to have Oklahoma State defensive tackle transfer Justin Kirkland make his debut with the Cougars. Kirkland missed fall camp after dealing with a knee injury. He participated in practices during the bye week in preparation for the Pirates.
BYU has to set the tone on both sides of the line of scrimmage. The Pirates have good size, but BYU has probably the better talent and depth. That needs to show up tonight for BYU to win this game.
3. Big opportunity for East Carolina
It’s not often that Group of Five programs get the chance to host Power Four teams at home these days. It’s also rare for the Power Conference team to travel two time zones for the game.
Former BYU athletic director Tom Holmoe kept the game after the Pirates played the Cougars in Provo in 2022.
Based on the buzz around Greenville, ECU fans sense the opportunity to host a big opponent at home.
East Carolina is asking fans to paint Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium gold. It’s also “Family Weekend” at ECU, so that should add to the total crowd.
Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium has produced 14 games in its history with 50,000 fans or more. The record is 51,711 in 2022 against NC State. We will see what the crowd turns out to be, and then what potential impact they can have on the game.
Two BYU vs East Carolina Questions
1. Will the energized crowd have any impact on BYU QB Bear Bachmeier?
Bear Bachmeier is preparing for his first road game start as a college quarterback today at East Carolina.
BYU has been piping in loud music throughout the week at practice to try to simulate what the true freshman signal-caller might experience here in Greenville. That’s nothing new.
BYU offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick on what the staff is doing to prepare QB Bear Bachmeier for his first college experience on the road. pic.twitter.com/RI0goGWZ9z
— Mitch Harper (@Mitch_Harper) September 17, 2025
What was noteworthy was that BYU offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick said the music was “deafening.” Walking up to practice on Tuesday, I found it to be louder than in previous years.
Bachmeier has done a nice job in his first two starts. The one area where he can improve is holding onto the ball for too long.
ECU is number one nationally in turnover margin. They would probably love nothing more than to speed up Bachmeier and force him into some mistakes, something he hasn’t done yet this season.
If Bachmeier can have a clean game in a hostile road environment, it could be a nice step in his development and the potential ceiling of this BYU team in 2025.
2. How will BYU’s secondary perform against East Carolina’s pass-happy attack?
East Carolina quarterback Katin Houser is a talented signal-caller. He’s passed for more than 300 yards in two of the Pirates’ three games this season. The only game he didn’t throw for 300 was last week in the win over Coastal, and he still tossed for 293 yards.
More than 65% of Houser’s passes are on play action and screens. The BYU secondary must be prepared for the up-tempo passing attack led by Houser.
BYU turned to Tre Alexander and Evan Johnson at cornerback two weeks ago against Stanford. It’s a cornerback group by committee, with Mory Bamba being the third option. We also saw San Diego State transfer Tayvion Beasley, an inside corner, getting some run in the Stanford win at NICKEL.
There’s no doubt that BYU has talent at cornerback. But who will be the star? There’s no Jakob Robinson-type player at corner this season. A strong performance today against ECU could start to give us a picture of who could potentially emerge as that star at cornerback.
One Score Prediction for BYU vs East Carolina
This is a tough game to predict as we haven’t learned much from either of these squads yet. One area I do believe will show up is BYU’s defense, particularly in the front six or seven, depending on the looks they throw at ECU.
East Carolina will probably get yards, but BYU’s defense will hold tight and limit the Pirates from scoring often.
I would expect that BYU opens up the passing playbook for Bear Bachmeier this week, however, the tone-setter has to be LJ Martin.
If BYU can get its ground attack rolling with Martin, which I believe they can, BYU’s offensive staff will have no problem eating up the clock and shrinking the game down.
I’m calling for a big day on the ground for Martin and BYU’s defense generates two interceptions on Houser, to come away with a two-score victory in Greenville.
Score prediction: BYU 24, East Carolina 13
Mitch Harper is a BYU Insider for sports.ksl.com and hosts the Cougar Tracks Podcast daily on KSL Sports YouTube and KSL NewsRadio (SUBSCRIBE). Harper also co-hosts Cougar Sports Saturday (12–3 p.m.) on KSL NewsRadio.
Follow Mitch’s coverage of BYU athletics in the Big 12 Conference on X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram: @Mitch_Harper.
