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          Notes, Quotes and Slants
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Pirate Notebook No. 11
Wednesday, September 26, 2001

By Denny O'Brien
Staff Writer and Columnist

Orange Gets Rejuiced in the Dome

©2001 Bonesville.net

It's no coincidence that Syracuse has rejuiced itself over the past few weeks, re-opened that can of good ole Orange Crush.

According to East Carolina head coach Steve Logan, there is a direct correlation between the Syracuse uprising and the return to its indoor home, the Carrier Dome.

"They've got a home field advantage," Logan said. "I think if you go back and look in the back of the press guide, I think their winning percentage there is absolutely obscene. You don't go in there and win too many games.

"They got there confidence back, and they are playing well. I think our task got a little more severe with what occurred up in the Carrier Dome this past weekend."

Syracuse of recent has resembled those Orangemen of old, winning consecutive games over Central Florida and Auburn after dropping its first two contests to Top 10 powerhouses Georgia Tech and Tennessee.

The narrow loss to the Ramblin' Wreck occurred at the neutral New Jersey Meadowlands while Syracuse fell to the Volunteers in Knoxville.

But the return home proved therapeutic for a winless SU team, which out-jousted a solid Central Florida club with a workman-like effort.

"They fought and scratched their way to a victory over Central Florida," Logan said. "I think at the time their confidence level was somewhat in question. I don't know that, I'm just guessing it.

"But I know after this last week, they've got to feel like a million dollars and maybe they've found a lot of definition for their football team. We've got our hands full, there's no question about it."

The Orangemen didn't need to scratch and claw their way past previously unbeaten Auburn. Nope, Syracuse thoroughly pounded, tackled, and sacked the Tigers all night long, en route to a 31-14 home-style victory.

So, it's easy to understand why Logan is a little uneasy about his team's first trip to the dome since 1997.

"I went home and watched that game and they just beat the living fool out of Auburn in every phase of the game," he said . "That was Auburn University, an SEC team, and they've got a lot of talent down there, but it wasn't much of a contest. You've got to believe that Auburn's got great players and good coaches, and they didn't make a dent in them."

East Carolina is certainly no stranger to playing indoors.  The Pirates have taken recent trips to Houston's Reliant Astrodome and to the Louisiana Superdome, emerging on both occasions with easy victories.

But if the Pirates' most recent visit to the Carrier Dome is any indication, winning on Saturday will be anything but a cakewalk.  Logan remembers all too well that last trip to upstate New York — a 56-0 defeat.

"If you get up there and let the panic set in and lose your poise, that thing can get rocking and there's no place that can get any louder," said Logan. "There are many, many times on the headsets that you cannot communicate because of the crowd noise."

Despite ECU's poor showing in the Dome in '97, Logan still appreciates the atmosphere generated by the passionate Syracuse faithful.

"It's incredible — it's exciting. If we're playing well, it can be a fun place to play a game. I've always enjoyed it up there, except for the last time, obviously, when we weren't a very competitive team."

'Cuse Doing it the Old-Fashioned Way

Syracuse's homecoming has meant a return to the basics, a flash of that foundation on which head coach Paul Pasqualoni's program has been built.

Though many offenses have evolved largely into spread, passing attacks, the Orangemen have found continued success playing that old-school style of hard-nosed football. With a tradition of outstanding tailbacks that started with Hall-of-Famer Jim Brown, senior James Mungro is the latest of a long line of bruising ball carriers.

"Invariably, Syracuse has a tailback (like Mungro) that's just a banger," Logan said. "You don't see much of the old-fashioned isolation football play where the guard doubles down on the nose guard and the fullback just leads ahead on the inside linebacker.

"You just don't see that football played much anymore, but yet, you turn their film on and it is their favorite and best play. So our linebackers had better bring an extra mouthpiece or two because there are going to be some violent, violent collisions between the fullback and the inside linebacker."

Mungro followed fullback Kyle Johnson's lead 23 times against Auburn, gaining 142 yards on 23 carries, with a career high three touchdowns. Mungro knows his way around the Pirates, too. In last season's 34-17 loss to the Pirates, Mungro sprinted to 106 yards on just ten carries.

"That young man makes a cut off of that block and you'd better be ready to tackle," Logan added. "He ran right through Auburn — Auburn never stopped him. He was really, really good."

That certainly doesn't bode well for an ECU defense that has had its share of problems combating the run. After three games, the Pirates rank 93rd in rushing defense.

Linebacking Corps Pulling Load for Pirate 'D'

Don't blame the ECU linebacking corps for the Pirates' defensive woes. Led by inside backers Pernell Griffin and Greg LeFever, East Carolina continues its tradition of excellence at the position, which has been the lifeblood of the 'Wild Dogs' defense for more than a decade.

On a defense that has its share of question marks, Logan has high praise for the inspirational play of his linebackers, most notably seniors Griffin and LeFever.

"Right now, they're (Griffin and LeFever) making every tackle on the field, kind of out of necessity because we are not getting much production up front." Logan said. "Both of those guys are seniors.

"We're a 3-4 outfit, and our four linebackers are playing really well. We just need to get a little more help from those kids that have their hands on the ground."

Griffin and LeFever have each garnered C-USA defensive player-of-the-week honors this season.

Griffin got his after a week-one performance against Wake Forest in which he shattered the ECU single-game tackle mark with 24 stops.

In the Pirates' 38-23 victory over William and Mary, it was LeFever that shined brightest, piling up 13 tackles, three of which were for losses, while causing a second-quarter fumble that set-up ECU's second touchdown of the day.

But the performance of ECU's top two tacklers hasn't been enough to overcome obvious deficiencies in the Pirate defense. Though there are things that defensive coordinator Tim Rose can do schematically to better position his three down-linemen, Logan notes that Xs and Os are only part of the equation.

"We're having some problems up front with our tackles and nose guard right now," Logan said. "We're not playing really good football, yet, and I'm hoping that we will at some point.

"There's some things that we can do to help them, but at the same time, they've got to pick the pace up. They're not making the trip to the proper gap, and when they don't, there's a gash a mile wide."

Explosiveness Building Momentum, Confidence

ECU's offense, with senior quarterback David Garrard at the controls, steamrolls into Saturday's game with plenty of momentum. Following a relatively unproductive first half against William and Mary, the Pirate 'O' scored every time it touched the ball in the second half, save for the final possession when it purposely ran out the clock.

Logan likes what he's seeing out of his offense, which has shown that it can move the ball a variety of different ways and with multiple personnel.

"Right now, offensively, I like the things I'm seeing," he said. "We're explosive — we can score from a long ways away, which is my preference.

"I'm not big on time of possession, and I'm not big on long drives. I want short drives and lots of points fast. We have shown that we're moving in that direction."

The Pirates certainly are shaping up to be an efficient bunch on offense, scoring 38 points in just over 17 minutes Saturday against the Tribe. Against Tulane, the Pirates put 51 on the board, keeping the ball just over 28 minutes.

A more extensive look at the Pirate stat book reveals even more compelling numbers:

Against Tulane, the Pirates gained 539 yards on just 67 plays. In comparison, the Green Wave notched 429 yards on 91 plays. That theme carried over to William and Mary, where the Pirates piled up 444 yards on 53 plays, whereas the Tribe's 472 yards took 89 plays.

It's that type of explosiveness that offensive coordinator Doug Martin seeks to achieve. And it's that type of momentum that has the ECU offense feeling pretty good about itself.

"We needed to win going into Syracuse," said Garrard, ECU's all-time leading passer. "We do have a lot of momentum. If we can just keep building on it, and keep moving and moving, we'll do fine the rest of the year."

The task will be tougher against Syracuse,which boasts one of the nation's top defensive lines, led by Big East defensive player of the week Dwight Freeney. Last week against Auburn, the senior defensive end had two sacks, forced two fumbles, and tallied five tackles, three of which were for losses.

Blocking Mr. Freeney will no doubt be put at a premium on Saturday.

Send an e-mail message to Denny O'Brien.

Click here to dig into Denny O'Brien's Bonesville archives.

02/23/2007 01:41:20 AM
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