|
Game No. 12: Marshall 34, ECU 27 (OT) |
|
|
|
| |
|
Game
Slants
Saturday, November 26, 2011
By Denny O'Brien |
 |
Season of attrition, youth set
stage for future
By
Denny O'Brien
©2011 Bonesville.net
All Rights Reserved.
HUNTINGTON, WV — The most
compelling mystery for East Carolina each Saturday hasn’t been the pending
outcomes of games. To some degree, that’s been a more reliable prediction
than guessing which team would sprint out of the tunnel.
So, with the equivalent of a
one-game playoff awaiting the Pirates at Marshall, you couldn’t help but
appreciate the irony of the stage. One of the more perplexing regular
seasons in recent memory was concluding with the simplest of stakes.
A win over the Herd would
extend the Pirates’ bowl streak to six consecutive seasons. A loss would
bring this puzzling season to a painful and almost merciful end.
It was
the latter that eventually came to
pass, 34-27, via an overtime thriller. After a scoring drive to knot the
score with 14 seconds remaining in regulation — one of many clutch series
we’ve witnessed from quarterback Dominique Davis — the Pirates were unable
to match the Herd in the extra period.
“Overtime, they made the plays
and we were not able to make them,” Pirates coach Ruffin McNeill said after
the game. [Replay
McNeill's post-game remarks...] “We knew we had to come up
here and play a great game. We knew we had to be mistake free. We knew we
would have to make plays and finish plays.”
ECU’s final play was a
desperate heave on 4th and 12 by a scrambling Davis, who eluded multiple
Herd defenders before lofting one into a crowd, and eventually into the arms
of Marshall defensive back Darryl Roberts.
If nothing else, that play and
this loss were microcosms of East Carolina’s entire season. There were
stretches when the offense clicked like we expected it would. There were
other occasions when turnovers killed otherwise promising drives.
Two of those giveaways
occurred when Davis tried to force throws into tight coverage. Both were
snagged by Marshall defensive back Rashad Jackson. Both, as has often been
the case this season, led to points.
There were great plays and
miscues. Special teams surprises and blunders. If the Pirates did it at some
point over the course of the 2011 season, they did it again against the
Herd.
At times during this 5-7
season, the Pirates gave the indication that they could compete on any given
Saturday with any foe on
their challenging schedule not named
Houston. That was definitively the
case
against Virginia Tech,
Navy, and
Central Florida when the Pirates
either won or delivered a more impressive account of themselves than
expected.
On other occasions, like the
performance we witnessed
in El Paso, ECU looked as if it
belonged near the bottom of Conference USA. That version of the Pirates was
often characterized by turnovers, special teams breakdowns, and
miscommunication in pass coverage.
All of the above occurred
against the Herd, yet the Pirates still nearly pulled off a critical road
win. Attribute that to a team that has an abundance of budding talent but is
short on experience and long on injuries.
That isn’t the exact
combination you want on the road and with a postseason bid on the line.
“To play on the road is tough,
and I’ve had an opportunity to play in Huntington a few times,” McNeill
said. “I knew it would be a tough arena to play in. They have great fan
support up here.
“And (Marshall coach) Doc
(Holliday) and I talked about it before the game — we’ve been beat up all
year. In 31 years, this is the most injuries I’ve had. I’ve never had this
many injuries on a football team.”
Chances are, McNeill also
hasn’t had so many inexperienced parts.
That East Carolina finished
the season with five wins is more than what many predicted before the season
began. To do that with so much youth and an overflow of season-ending
injuries is a testament to the caliber of talent and depth McNeill and his
staff have been able to assemble.
While it’s no consolation to
East Carolina, the experience of Saturday’s loss could provide a building
block for the future. These young Pirates should grow from it and have a
better grasp of what it takes to get over the hump.
To do that, the Pirates need
to be a much more consistent bunch. Given the abundance of returnees for
next season, there is no reason they shouldn’t be.
Send
a message to Denny O'Brien.
Dig into Denny
O'Brien's Bonesville archives.
11/27/2011 03:08:21 AM |
