Welcome to the 2025 college football preseason
Offseason hibernation is over. The days are getting longer, but time is getting shorter until Ireland gets introduced to Farmaggedon. Now is the time to start learning about teams for the 2025 season, whether it’s the new QB for the reigning National Champion Ohio State Buckeyes or who has the best chance to win Conference-USA. This series will cover my top 100 preseason college football rankings for 2025 as we count down 100 days until Week 0. We will dive into a new team each day as we draw closer to the college football season.
Countdown to Kickoff: Day 89
Coming in at No. 89 in our 2025 preseason rankings: East Carolina Pirates.
East Carolina is coached by Blake Harrell, who is in his 1st full year with the program after leading the Pirates to a 4-1 record in 2024. The Pirates finished last year with a record of 5-7 and 5th in the American.
East Carolina returns 44% of production from the 2024 team: 57% on the Offense and 31% on the Defense. According to 247Sports, the Pirates finished the 2025 cycle landing 23 recruits and ending the recruiting cycle with the 74th overall ranked class, which was good for 4th in the American. Along with their high school recruiting, East Carolina has brought in 22 players through the transfer portal and has a portal ranking of 109. 42% of the 2025 roster will be made up of new additions.
Offensive Coordinator John David Baker, heading into his second year with the program, will lead the offense that put up 31.2 points per game last season (33rd nationally). The Pirates finished 2024 with 70.3 plays per game (52nd) and a pace of 21.8 seconds per play (4th). The offense averaged 36.3 runs (66th) for 174.5 per game (42nd), along with 32.4 pass attempts (47th) for 256.2 yards per game (36th). The offense was balanced, with a 52%-48% run-pass play call split. The overall offensive success rate was 43%.
Up front, East Carolina brings back 48% of its offensive line production from last year, including four clear-cut starters for 2025. Katin Houser returns for his second year in the program and aims to improve the average pass success rate from 43% in 2024. In 2024, Houser finished with 24.1 fantasy points per game. In 75% of games, Houser passed for at least 147 yards and 15.6 fantasy points, with a season high of 58.35 and a low of -1.5.
The Pirates return 45% of the receiving production in 2025, with Anthony Smith being the main returning contributor. In 2024, Smith totaled 799 yards, 6 touchdowns, 41 receptions, and averaged 11.8 fantasy points per game. In 75% of his games, he scored at least 6.2 fantasy points. His best game was against Temple, where he caught 4 passes for 101 yards and 1 touchdown.
The ground game returns 37% of rushing production from 2024. With the departure Rahjai Harris, London Montgomery and Marlon Gunn Jr., are expected to be the lead backs for 2025. Harris’s skillset, mixed with the game script, led him to 206 carries, 1166 yards, and 11 touchdowns. Harris finished with 15.8 fantasy points per game. He surpassed 9.8 fantasy points in 75% of his games, totaling 47 rushing yards in those starts.
East Carolina enters 2025 with the 81st-ranked strength of schedule. The Pirates will play in front of their home fans 6 times, with back-to-back home games in Weeks 13 and Week 14.
Our model predicts a 6-6 record for the Pirates. Our model gives the team a 75+% win expectancy in 3 games, a 50-75% win expectancy in 4 games, a 25-49% win expectancy in 1 game, and a <25% win expectancy in 4 games.
According to their conference championship odds of +2000 at DraftKings, the Pirates are predicted to finish 7th in the American.
Thanks for reading! Be sure to return tomorrow as we continue the countdown with Team 88.
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Returning Production for all teams can be found at Punt and Rally
Stats for all players can be found at College Football Team Stats | TeamRankings.com
