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American Schedule |
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THURSDAY |
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BYU at UCF |
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SATURDAY |
Cincinnati at Miami
Tulsa at Temple
Houston at Memphis
ECU at USF, 7 pm
UConn at Tulane |
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FOOTBALL SPECIAL
FEATURE |
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Fifteen Questions
for Breon Allen |
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 East Carolina
running back Breon
Allen is listed at 5
feet, 8 inches and
190 pounds. He once
referred to himself
as "Fun Size" and
teammates have made
the nickname stick.
The transfer from
Snow (Idaho) College
had 62 carries for
321 yards and five
touchdowns in 2013 ...
More from W.A.
Myatt... |
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Pictured: Breon
Allen came to ECU as
a juco All-America
in 2013 and saw
action in 10 games
as a backup to
All-Conference USA
performer Vintavious
Cooper. Allen is
making his own bid
for honors this
season, rushing for
380 yards through
five games,
including a 211-yard
outing against North
Carolina. (ECU Media
Relations photo) |
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FOOTBALL |
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Pirates focused on Pirates |
Just like George Jefferson, the
Pirates are moving on up! That’s a
reference to the theme song from the
70s television show called ‘The
Jeffersons,” which was a spin-off of
“All in the Family.” It fits the
Pirates this week for sure. ...
More from Brian Bailey... |
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MULTIMEDIA |
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Audio: The
Brian Bailey Show |
  The
Brian Bailey Show
airs on Pirate Radio
1250 on Mondays at
6:30 p.m. Brian's
guest this week was
ECU associate head
coach and inside
linebackers coach
coach John Wiley
(right):
Replay
show... |
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Audio: Coach Ruff
Presser |
  ECU
coach Ruffin McNeill
spoke with the media
at his weekly press
conference on Monday
(courtesy of Pirate
Radio 1250; file
photo):
Select
clip... |
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FOOTBALL |
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Kevin's Keys to the Game |
East Carolina
will have a second straight
home game this week when it
faces Southern Methodist.
The Mustangs have had a
rough start to the 2014
season, going 0-4 with
losses to North Texas and
three nationally-ranked
teams in Texas Christian,
Texas A&M and Baylor.
...
More from Kevin Monroe... |
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FOOTBALL |
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American opts for eight
officials |
The NCAA Football Rules
Committee is allowing every
Football Bowl Subdivision
conference the option to use
eight-person officiating
crews in 2014. The American
Athletic Conference is one
of four FBS conferences to
follow the Big 12's lead by
trying eight officials
instead of seven. ...
More from Greg Vacek... |
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By
Al Myatt
©2014 Bonesville.net
All rights reserved.
View ECU's Football
Schedule
Two games after a big win has occasionally been a letdown
time for the East Carolina football team.
It happened just a year ago when the Pirates
were overcome 36-33 in triple overtime at
Tulane, the second contest after the elation
of
a 55-31 win at North Carolina.
There have been other instances.
The second game following one of the most celebrated wins
in program history, a 27-23 comeback victory over Miami in Raleigh in
1999, the Pirates were humbled at home, 39-22, by Southern Miss.
In 2008, two games after
a 24-3 home win over West Virginia,
host N.C. State
topped ECU 30-24 in overtime.
The challenge to avoid a repeat of history will be there
for the No. 19 Pirates (4-1) at South Florida (2-3) at 7 p.m. on
Saturday (ESPNU).
One difference this year is that ECU had an open date
after
a 70-41 triumph over the Tar Heels
that vaulted the Pirates into the polls to get the nonconference portion
of the schedule in perspective and focus ahead on the program's first
campaign in the American Athletic Conference.
Both ECU and the Bulls are 1-0 in the AAC.
USF bounced back to top Connecticut 17-14 six nights
after a 49-17 loss to N.C. State on Sept. 13 in which the Wolfpack
totaled 589 yards of offense.
The Bulls have had an open date since falling 27-10 at
Wisconsin.
The Dangerfield approach
ECU seems to be getting the Rodney Dangerfield treatment
from USF. The late comedian, who played a featured role in the movie "Caddyshack,"
used his "no respect" line as a preface to many of his jokes.
This is homecoming for the Bulls, generally an occasion
reserved for lesser opponents. USF may not have had a lot of options in
that designation since the Pirates are its only home foe between Sept.19
and Nov. 1.
Bulls defensive end Eric Lee was asked about
record-setting ECU quarterback Shane Carden and voiced no respect in his
appraisal.
"Nothing special," Lee said, according to a Tampa Bay
Times report. "He's short. ... "
USF coach Willie Taggart wasn't on the same page with
Lee.
"Who is he talking about, the backup?," Taggart said.
"Was he watching the (East Carolina) film?"
The Pirates haven't earned any respect at this point in
the series with the Bulls. ECU is winless (0-4) against their former
Conference USA adversaries.
USF
won the first meeting 46-30 in
Greenville in 2002, the year after Pirates quarterback David Garrard had
completed his eligibility.
ECU
lost 38-37 in two overtimes at
home in 2003
and 41-17 in Tampa in 2004. The
debacle at Raymond James Stadium was followed by an announcement from
then-ECU athletic director Terry Holland that John Thompson would not be
coaching after the conclusion of the season.
Skip Holtz followed Thompson and had the Pirates in a
bowl game two seasons later,
a 24-7 loss to USF in the 2006
Papajohns.com Bowl in Birmingham.
After winning C-USA championships at ECU
in 2008 and
2009, Holtz was hired to coach
USF.
USF history
The Bulls have had a relatively compact football history.
This is their 18th season on the gridiron and 15th on the
Football Bowl Subdivision level.
USF played in C-USA in 2003 and 2004 before joining the
Big East in 2005.
Jim Leavitt coached the Bulls for 13 seasons and had just
one losing record. Since Leavitt was dismissed for allegedly assaulting
a player, USF has had just one winning season. Leavitt is now
linebackers coach for the San Francisco 49ers.
Holtz, now at Louisiana Tech, went 8-5 in 2010, 5-7 in
2011 and 3-9 in 2012.
The Bulls were 2-10 in their first season under Taggart,
2-6 in the AAC.
USF has an enrollment of 47,646.
Personal homecoming for Rick Smith
ECU defensive coordinator and secondary coach Rick Smith
left ECU with Holtz to coach at USF. He returned to the Pirates last
season after three years in Tampa.
Smith recruited many of the Bulls' current players,
including Lee.
"I recruited some of those guys and also coached them,"
said Smith, a native of Tallahassee and a Florida State graduate who
still recruits in his home state. "I know they'll probably play a little
bit harder because they're playing against me."
Smith said USF has some stellar tight ends among its
offensive personnel.
"They make sure you have enough hats in the box to stop
the run," Smith said. "You have to adjust to their shifts and motion. As
coach (John) Wiley (inside linebackers coach) stresses, we have to
communicate. You have to communicate how many backs are in the
backfield, how many tight ends are in the game. When they move somebody,
you have to re-communicate.
"Once we get the communication part down, hopefully, we
can execute the defensive call."
ECU got significant reps for reserves last week against
Southern Methodist with the intent of improving depth for the AAC
schedule.
ECU breaks prolonged pattern
This column
mentioned last week that the Pirates dropped their
first Southern Conference game to Furman in 1965 and also lost their
inaugural C-USA contest to Southern Miss in 1997.
That made
a 45-24 win over SMU in
ECU's first AAC matchup all the more significant.
East Carolina also came up short way back in its football
history in 1947 when Lenoir-Rhyne was its first foe in the North State
Conference. The Bears prevailed 27-9 in Greenville.
ECU's last game as a member of C-USA resulted in
a 37-20 bowl win over Ohio
in St. Petersburg, which is in the neighborhood of Saturday night's
contest.
One of the landmarks at Raymond James Stadium is a
representation of a Pirate ship, which fits the theme for the
structure's NFL inhabitants, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Maybe that will be a good omen for the purple and gold
Bucs this weekend.
Some things, as ECU coach Ruffin McNeill says, are too
coincidental to be coincidental. Perhaps his Pirates can put together
another productive voyage along the gulf.
Noting the receivers
Cam Worthy will be back for his first game since hauling
in six passes for 224 yards at Virginia Tech. Worthy had two big gainers
on the final drive in
a 28-21 win over the Hokies.
He had to sit out two games for a university suspension
that stemmed from a summer run-in with a residence advisor.
"We may move him to the Z," McNeill said of Worthy. "He's
been playing what we call X. ... Then we'll put Davon Grayson and Trevon
(Brown) at X."
X and Z are both outside receiver positions.
McNeill said inside receiver Jimmy Williams, who earned a
scholarship after the UNC game, may be involved in some screens as the
Pirates look to stretch the field.
"We've got to get Cam back," McNeill said. "He's a quiet
leader, like Justin (Hardy) is a quiet leader."
Hardy is coming off an eight-catch, 120-yard,
three-touchdown effort against the Mustangs.
Hardy had "RIP, Pops," written on the toe of his right
shoe for the SMU game. His dad, Sam, passed away since Hardy walked on.
Penalties decline
ECU had an uncharacteristic 13 penalties for 114 yards at
Virginia Tech. The count was nine flags for 74 yards in the UNC game.
The Pirates had five infractions for 53 yards against
SMU.
"We had zero (yards in penalties) at the half," McNeill
said of last week's numbers. "We did better. We want to cut it down even
better than that.
"I'll be happy if we've got two to three."
