The survivor, Bill J., was the chief pilot for the carrier's new MD11 operation and an instructor.
I've read that he was in the jumpseat. No doubt giving "IOE" to the flying crew, though maybe they were also planning to swap seats for the second leg.
Yes the #2 can cause a pitch up when it fails. Combine that with an aft CG and I guess that could cause the tail strike that was reported.
It has also been rumored that the #2 had some issues upon delivery to the airline.
But here's what I see:
a good weather day,
a long runway,
a sea-level airport,
an aircraft that flies just fine on two engines,
a crew with ~7 years experience on the aircraft (though, as pointed out,
unknown recency of experience),
tire marks visible leading off the runway onto a flat field,
followed by an immense conflagration/explosion, even though they were
quickly met by many many fire trucks.
The wreckage to me just looks too devastating for the V1 cut/ overrun scenario. If it WAS an engine failure, why couldn't they get it stopped?