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Reynolds, Navy too much |
ANNAPOLIS, MD — East Carolina seems to bring out the best in
Navy. Maybe it's that old
thing with pirates and the
Navy that ultimately led to
Blackbeard's demise.
The factor that produced a
45-21 win for the Midshipmen
at Navy-Marine Corps Stadium
on Saturday was more about
Navy senior quarterback
Keenen Reynolds and ECU's
inability to stop him or
keep pace with his offensive
production.
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More from Al Myatt... |
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Al Myatt's
game day
photo gallery... |
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Ruff post-game
audio |
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ECU
coach Ruffin McNeill
spoke with reporters
on Saturday after the
Pirates' loss at Navy
(recorded by Al Myatt):
Select audio clip... |
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By
Brett Friedlander
©2015 Bonesville.net
All rights reserved.
VIEW MOBILE VERSION OF THIS PAGE
The East Carolina football program takes great pride in
its philosophy of playing anyone, anytime, anyplace.
As well it should.
That aggressive approach to scheduling has helped the
Pirates claim plenty of high-profile victims over the years, including
Miami when it still had its swag, West Virginia when it was ranked among
the nation’s top 10, South Carolina of the SEC and most recently,
Virginia Tech in Blacksburg.
More importantly, it has helped ECU build and promote a
national brand strong enough to earn entry into the American Athletic
Conference – by far the strongest of college football’s so-called “Group
of Five” and a major upgrade from its former home in Conference USA.
But because of the more challenging competition
associated with that new affiliation and the increased television
exposure its ESPN contract affords, perhaps it’s time for the Pirates to
think about scaling back their future nonconference schedules.
This is not to say they should go the route of in-state
rival N.C. State and put together an embarrassingly weak slate all but
guaranteed to produce four wins and insure bowl eligibility. It’s just
that – from both a competitive and financial standpoint – it’s no longer
necessary to load up on the kind of Murderer’s Row this year’s team is
in the process of facing.
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Even last year’s veteran unit, led by a third-year
starting quarterback and the most prolific pass receiver in FBS history,
would have had a hard time holding its own through a gauntlet featuring
back-to-back road tests at Florida and Navy, a home date with Virginia
Tech and two more road games at Southern Methodist and Brigham Young in
the first six weeks of the season.
If there’s really such a thing as too much of a good
thing, ECU’s current schedule is it.
So how to make it better?
That all depends.
If athletic director Jeff Compher is holding out hope for
another round of conference realignment and a possible move into the
Power Five – perhaps as an Eastern travel partner for future opponent
West Virginia in the Big 12? – then the maximum exposure gained by the
current scheduling format has some merit.
Even if it ends up costing the Pirates bowl eligibility
every now and then, as is the very real possibility this season.
A more realistic approach, however, would be to limit ECU
to just one national “name-brand” game per season while filling the rest
of the nonconference slots with games that could benefit the Pirates in
more tangible ways.
Specifically, recruiting.
That’s the reason they’ve already locked up a commitment
from Saturday’s opponent, Virginia Tech, to play nine times over the
next 10 seasons.
“We hit that area hard and we battle each other,
especially in the Virginia Beach area and the Richmond area,” McNeill
said earlier this week. “Even when you get into that D.C./Alexandria,
Virginia area, it’s really big for us. … It means a lot in a lot of
different ways.”
Outside of the Hokies, that one big-time national game
and the occasional renewal of rivalries with N.C. State and North
Carolina, ECU’s future schedules can easily be completed with opponents
such as Wake Forest, Marshall, Old Dominion, Appalachian State and
Charlotte – teams capable of providing a challenge without taking too
much out of the tank for conference play.
With openings yet to be filled starting in 2018, there
are a lot of upcoming decisions to be made.
Whoever Compher and McNeill decide to schedule, this much
is certain: No contractual agreements should be signed without requiring
at least one return game at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium. If a high-profile
program such as Florida doesn’t want to come to Greenville, or at the
very least a nearby neutral site such as Bank of America Stadium in
Charlotte, then find someone else to play.
The Pirates have long since graduated from the days of
having to take “guarantee games.”
That doesn’t mean they should shy away from their
philosophy of playing anyone, anytime, anyplace. They should just start
doing it a little less often.