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FACTS & STATS: Site: Milan Puskar Stadium (60,000) -- Morgantown, West Virginia. Television:ESPN360. Home Record: ECU 1-0, WVU 1-0. Away Record: ECU 0-0, WVU 0-0. Neutral Record: ECU 0-0, WVU 0-0. Conference Record: ECU 0-0, WVU 0-0. Series Record: West Virginia leads, 17-3.

GAME NOTES: The West Virginia Mountaineers are out for revenge after being upset by the East Carolina Pirates last year and they will try to return the favor this weekend at Milan Puskar Stadium. WVU has come out on top in 17 of the prior 20 meetings with ECU, but the Pirates got the best of the Mountaineers last season. These two teams met in the second game of the 2008 campaign as well, with ECU knocking off then eighth-ranked WVU by a convincing 24-3 margin. The Pirates, who upset Virginia Tech the prior week, moved into the national rankings following that win and went on to have a successful season that included a Conference USA title.

ECU returns a good deal of experience and talent from last year's group and it opened the 2009 season with a 29-24 triumph over a dangerous Appalachian State squad this past weekend. The win improved the Pirates to 3-2 in openers under head coach Skip Holtz, as they now face their first real challenge in WVU.

Speaking of the Mountaineers, they moved on following last year's loss to ECU and finished a solid 9-4 under head coach Bill Stewart. The Mountaineers return several skilled players and they made their presence felt in last weekend's opener, a 33-20 triumph over Liberty.

WVU is 12-0 all-time versus ECU in Morgantown and that will certainly give this team more confidence if any was needed.

ECU's scored all 27 of its points in the first half of last weekend's opener and the overall effort wasn't that great considering the team was playing a FCS program in ASU. The Pirates though, did show good balance in rushing for 189 yards and throwing for 206 more. Dominique Lindsay, making his first start at tailback, paced the ground attack with 105 yards and a score on 15 carries. While Lindsay's first career 100-yard effort was a nice surprise, the team wasn't all to pleased with the effort of quarterback Patrick Pinkney. The sixth-year senior was a vital part of last year's success, but in last weekend's opener he completed only 12-of-27 tosses for 131 yards and a touchdown. He was also picked off twice and the team certainly doesn't expect many performance like that from Pinkney. Dwayne Harris, the team's leading receiver with 58 catches last year, paced ECU with four receptions for 37 yards in the opener.

Defensively, the Pirates seemed to be in control until the fourth quarter, when they gave up 17 points and had to hold off ASU in the 29-24 victory. ECU limited ASU to only 246 total yards, including just 102 on the ground, while recording three sacks. C.J. Wilson was held without a sack, but he did finish with six stops, including one for a loss. The defensive lineman is a premier pass rusher and garners a lot of attention after racking up 10.5 sacks and 18.5 TFLs last season. Jeremy Chambliss guided ECU with 7.5 stops last weekend, while Van Eskridge had 6.5 tackles. Last season, Chambliss made 60 stops for the Pirates and Eskridge did even better with 91 tackles and four interceptions.

The Mountaineers were able to move the ball successfully versus Liberty last weekend, rolling up 195 yards on the ground and 243 through the air. Tailback Noel Devine got off to a fast start, as he rushed for 112 yards and a touchdown on 17 carries. It marked the ninth 100-yard rushing game of Devine's career, as the speedy back is looking for a second straight 1,000-yard campaign. Quarterback Jarrett Brown began his first full season as a starter with a solid performance, completing 19-of-26 tosses for 243 yards. The dual- threat also toted nine times for 69 yards and a score, providing another dimension to the ground attack. Jock Sanders was his main target with eight catches for 95 yards and he figures to be in line for another big year after leading the team with 53 catches in 2008.

On the defensive side of the ball, WVU held Liberty to only 89 yards rushing, but was a bit exploited through the air, surrendering 210 passing yards. Liberty was also able to convert 22-of-33 pass attempts with only one interception and the success through the air was surprising considering the Mountaineers return three starters in the secondary. WVU managed only two sacks in the game, with 1.5 of them coming from Julian Miller, who also finished with seven stops and three TFLs. J.T. Thomas also finished with seven tackles, to go with a 0.5 sacks and 2.5 TFLs, and he is expected to be a big contributor after posting 65 stops last season.

Both teams took care of business in their openers, but things are about to get a lot tougher. The Mountaineers have waited a year for this game, so expect them to come out fired up. ECU though, is talented and experienced and certainly can go on the road and win this game. However, WVU's one-two punch of Brown and Devine should be able to make the difference and lift the Mountaineers to victory in front of what should be a frenzied crowd.

Sports Network Predicted Outcome: West Virginia 30, East Carolina 24