BYU Cougars vs East Carolina Pirates Prediction, Odds and Picks for Today, 09/20/25

While there are plenty of games that should captivate college football fans across the nation on Saturday, one of the more under-the-radar games that should have your attention is the Big 12 vs AAC contest in which the East Carolina Pirates will host the BYU Cougars in a compelling clash that should produce plenty of fireworks. BYU seems to have adapted to life without former quarterback Jake Retzlaff pretty well, as true freshman Bear Bachmeier has stepped in as the leader of this offense and played mistake-free football over the first 2 weeks of the season.

The Cougars have largely relied on their solid ground game (24th in EPA per rush) to lead the way against lesser competition, and Bachmeier hasn’t had to do all that much as a result. However, that will change this week in his first road start against an upstart opponent that is playing very well and boasts one of the more underrated environments in the sport. This is a massive step-up in class for the young quarterback, and I’m not sure how well he fares in this spot.

As for the hosts, the Pirates were a team that I was looking to back heading into the season, and I’ve largely been impressed with what they’ve accomplished thus far. NC State’s offense has proven to be quite good to this point, and East Carolina was able to limit CJ Bailey and the Wolfpack to just 24 points, with only 7 of those points coming in the second half. The defensive metrics for the Pirates aren’t staggering by any means, but it helps matters that BYU’s passing offense has been mediocre to this point (54th in passing success rate). The Cougars are also 98th in points per quality drive, which would give me real cause considering their first 2 games were against Portland State and Stanford.

On the other side of the ball, the Pirates will likely have the better quarterback in this game, as Katin Houser has impressed this season, throwing for nearly 1,000 yards through 3 games while tossing 5 touchdowns to just 1 interception. I expect this one to be a close contest from start to finish, and it wouldn’t surprise me at all if the Pirates won outright. BYU has the slightly stronger statistical profile, but the Cougars have yet to be tested. With that in mind, this game should be decided by one possession either way.

BYU vs East Carolina prediction: East Carolina Pirates +7.5 available at time of publishing. Playable to 6.5

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