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The good, the bad, and the Huskies |
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13 |
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31 |
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 MONDAY
INFOGRAPHIC: When losses happen,
fingers start pointing. Don't blame
East Carolina's Friday night road
loss to Connecticut on the white
crossbones helmets – the Pirates are
0-3 wearing the alternate helmet.
Don't blame it on the day of the
week – ECU is 18-23 overall in
non-Saturday matchups. The Pirates'
31-13 defeat by the Huskies is hard
to figure. ...
Details and data from Greg Vacek... |
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FOOTBALL |
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Kevin's Keys to the Game |
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 The
East Carolina Pirates come into
today's American Athletic Conference
game at 4-4 while the Connecticut
Huskies are 3-4. Both teams are well
into their conference schedules and
are in desperate need of an AAC win
after coming off league losses.
...
More from Kevin Monroe... |
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FOOTBALL |
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'Play the next play' |
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 It
was not a happy group of East
Carolina football players that left
Bagwell Field after a 24-14 loss to
No. 21 Temple Thursday night. The
Pirate supporters among a crowd of
39,417 at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium were
frustrated, too.
...
More from
Al Myatt... |
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BASKETBALL |
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AAC hoops has its
day |
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 ORLANDO, FL —
The
three-year-old American
Athletic Conference
continues to make a name for
itself. The league currently
has three of the Football
Bowl Subdivision's unbeaten
football teams.
Houston, Memphis and Temple are all 7-0. The Tigers are
ranked No. 16 by the Associated Press, the Cougars are No. 18 and the
Owls are No. 21 going into a high profile matchup on Saturday in
Philadelphia with Notre Dame.
As good as its going on the gridiron, the AAC has been
even better in basketball. ...
Story, pictures & audio
from Al Myatt...
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Pictured: The
American Athletic
Conference
basketball
championship trophy
was on display at
the league's media
day on Tuesday at
the Amway Center in
Orlando, FL. (Photo by
Al
Myatt; more pictures
on this page...) |
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By
Brian Bailey
©2015 Bonesville.net
All rights reserved.
VIEW MOBILE VERSION OF THIS PAGE
Even though they had very little
experience, both James Summers and Blake Kemp seemed to be having fun
after being thrust into the experience of playing the quarterback
position at East Carolina.
Lately that has not been the case, and you can see it in both players’
body language. Right now neither is having any fun as the Pirates are
mired in a two-game losing streak.
Pirate coach Ruffin McNeill also sees it. He thinks both are pressing.
“Those two guys came into the season not expecting to play,” said
McNeill at his weekly news conference on Monday. [Select
press conference audio clip in a new window...] “James
(Summers) was going to be our Justin (Hardy) with the ball and we’ll see
what he can do. Blake (Kemp) was going to be our backup or the third
team guy, but they both hung in there and they both played.
"That position, in this
offense, is critical. We make no excuses, but that position does have to
make plays for us.”
Lately those plays have been few and far between.
Coach Ruff indicated that Summers got most of the reps in practice last
week and all indications are that Summers will be the Pirate quarterback
moving forward.
McNeill’s normal noon presser was delayed a couple of hours as the coach
dealt with a personal issue. Coach Ruff’s long-time friend, former
Oklahoma Athletic Director Donnie Duncan, is undergoing double chemo
treatments in his battle with cancer. Monday’s noon slot was the only
time he could catch up with his friend, in between the treatments, so
understandably, the press conference was pushed back at the last moment.
McNeill spoke in-depth about the program and the adversity he has seen
in this sixth season has head coach.
“I was talking to Donnie (Duncan) and he said, ‘Just be yourself. It’s
90 percent how you handle it and 10 percent is what happens,’” said
McNeill. “Donnie calls it command influence. They’ll watch you and
they’ll go as you go. Because they (the players) care so much about the
team, and us, you... see them pressing a little bit, but we just need to
let them know that it’s okay to make a mistake. You don’t want to make
too many of them, but don’t handcuff yourself. Keep making plays each
day and I approach each day like I have been.”
The Pirates still have plenty to play for, but they have to win two of
their last three for bowl eligibility.
Story
continues after the following ad...
Pirate baseball wraps up fall
East Carolina baseball coach Cliff Godwin wrapped up his team’s fall
campaign this past weekend with the Purple-Gold World Series.
The Gold team dominated the first two games in the series, winning 16-3
in game one and taking game two 11-1. Game three ended in a 4-4 tie
before the rain hit and the game was stopped.
Because of the shortened game, ECU officials announced that the 2015
American Athletic Conference Championship ring ceremony will be held
this Saturday, Nov. 7 during the break between the first and second
quarters of the ECU-South Florida football game.
Year two for Cliff Godwin seems to be off to a great start.
“We are way more talented than we were last year,” said Godwin. “We are
deeper and the older guys know what to expect. They know what to expect
from me and they know what to expect from their tough American Athletic
Conference. It is good and bad. The good is we have the older guys who
are experienced; we just have to get the younger guys caught up with
them.”
The Pirates open the regular season on February 19th against Longwood.
That next weekend sends ECU to Charlottesville for a three-game series
with perennial Atlantic Coast Conference power Virginia.
BB
The
Brian Bailey Show airs on Pirate
Radio 1250 on Mondays at 6:30 p.m.
Brian's guest this week was ECU
baseball coach Cliff Godwin
(right):
ECU
coach Ruffin McNeill
spoke with reporters
after the Pirates' loss
at UConn (recorded by
