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Audio: Ruff Presser |
ECU
coach Ruffin McNeill
addressed members of
the media on Monday
in his weekly press
conference. (Audio
courtesy of Pirate
Radio 1250; archive
photo):
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clip... |
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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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View
Al Myatt's
game day
photo gallery... |
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Coach
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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FOOTBALL |
Kevin's Keys to the Game |
East
Carolina will face Navy
today in Annapolis in week
three of the young season.
Navy is 1-0 after a 48-10
rout of Colgate two weeks
ago. The Midshipmen had a
bye last week, giving them
time for extra preparation
for their debut game in the
American Athletic
Conference.
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More from Kevin Monroe... |
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FOOTBALL |
ECU takes Swamp lessons to Navy |
East
Carolina took on a talented program
in a difficult environment under
tough conditions and had a chance to
win at Florida last Saturday night
until the ball slipped out of
quarterback Blake Kemp's hands on a
2nd-and-10 play at the UF 13 in the
final seconds. ...
More from Al Myatt... |
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BASKETBALL
RECRUITING |
Recruiting push starts with
backcourt |
Guards
Shawn Williams (left) and Elijah
Hughes (right) each entertained
offers from a number of schools
before verbally committing to
join East Carolina basketball
coach Jeff Lebo's recruiting
class of 2016-17. ...
Thumbnail sketches... |
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By
Brian Bailey
©2015 Bonesville.net
All rights reserved.
VIEW MOBILE VERSION OF THIS PAGE
For the East Carolina Pirates it’s simply a case of moving onward and
upward.
ECU was beaten handily on Saturday in Annapolis, as Navy
rolled up over 400 yards on the ground in a 45-21
victory. The win over the Pirates came in Navy’s debut in the American
Athletic Conference.
The Pirates got off to a bad start in the first half, as Navy scored
touchdowns on four consecutive drives. ECU may have spent a lot of
practice time on stopping the option, but that work failed to pay
dividends when it counted.
“Defensively, I thought we kept fighting,” said Pirate head coach Ruffin
McNeill. “The first half was tough, but we made adjustments in the
second half. With that team (Navy), you have to be ready. Watching the
film, it wasn’t a missed assignment, but you can’t be a hair off on
these guys. They’re that precise.”
Those cut blocks at the line are almost impossible to duplicate in
practice. The Navy lineman have simply perfected the art, and the Pirate
defensive lineman spent the day playing tentatively, worrying more about
staying off the blocks than playing disciplined, assignment driven
football.
Now, the Pirates move on in this tough opening month. Next up is
Virginia Tech, and the Hokies only loss is to defending national
champion Ohio State in that Labor Day Monday night opener.
“Virginia Tech is coming in here,” said McNeill. “Everybody knows how I
feel about Coach (Frank) Beamer. He’s a Hall of Famer , one of the best
in the business and one of the best people in the business. He felt like
this team would be one of his best. They return nine starters on
offense. I know Mike (Brewer) got hurt a little bit. He’s not back yet,
but they’ve got (Brenden) Motley who is mobile, big and has been around
the program.”
Beamer had similar thoughts on McNeill. Beamer spent part of his news
conference in Blacksburg on Monday talking about his respect for Coach
Ruff. He also thought back to what he was thinking last year, when the
Pirates
upset his Tech team 28-21 in Blacksburg.
“The thing that I remember from last year is looking out there and
saying those guys are big and fast,” said Beamer. “They still look the
same from that standpoint. The Kemp kid throws left-handed but it looks
like what they kind of had to me.
Beamer hinted that he knows he’s headed to a hornet’s nest on Saturday.
Nothing would make the pain of the Navy loss go away for the Pirates
faster than a second straight victory over the Hokies.
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Ruff had a message for the Pirate faithful.
“Keep believing and believe in your team," he said. "Believe in the kids
and know that they work hard. This is not our first time being in a
situation like this. There’s no panic button. It’s a confidence button.
What we talk about is always remembering what our base philosophy is,
and that’s staying dedicated to the team first and then staying
dedicated to the vision and accomplishing that mission. We won’t deviate
from that. We have a lot of games left. There’s a lot of ball to be
played.”
Nine games in fact are left to be played in this season. That is a ton
of football.
For the Pirates to turn things around, they have to find a running game.
Controlling the football gives the defense a break. Credit quarterback
Blake Kemp with putting up big numbers against teams that know he has to
throw. If ECU can start churning out some numbers on the ground, that
will open things up even further for Kemp.
“They’re loading the box up on us and making us fight for it,” explained
Coach Ruff. “I want to be able to run the football. When Shane (Carden)
was able to make them pay for doing that, that’s when you see them start
to loosen up the box a little bit. I think guys are challenging
themselves. That group up front has to play like a quarter, not like
five nickels. I want to run the football and I’ve been disappointed that
we haven’t been able to these last few games.”
Finally, you certainly can’t talk about the Hokies without mentioning
Virginia Tech’s success on special teams.
Tech's special teams have scored 54 touchdowns in the Frank Beamer era.
The Hokies returned their 20th blocked punt for a touchdown last week in
the 51-24 win over Purdue.
Oddly enough, the Pirates
blocked a punt and returned it for a touchdown to beat Virginia Tech
in the 2008 game in Charlotte. ECU won that game 27-22 to open that
season.
The Hokies come to town providing another opportunity for the Pirates to
rack up a win against a Power 5 team. ECU will put its four-game winning
streak against the ACC on the line on Saturday.
The game is a sellout and the atmosphere should be electric.
The Pirates have yet to play their best football.
They will most likely need to in order to win this week.
BB