Keys to the Game Friday, November 25, 2011 By Kevin Monroe

East Carolina at Marshall
Saturday, Nov. 26, 2011 • 3:30 p.m.
Joan C. Edwards Stadium (38,016), Huntington, WV
Television: CBS Sports Network

By Kevin Monroe
©2011 Bonesville.net
All Rights Reserved.

East Carolina can defeat Marshall on Saturday if it achieves these key objectives:

FIX THE KICK COVERAGE

This game is going to be hard fought and hard hitting. Special teams will be very important. East Carolina's coverage teams have really struggled lately, but the kickoff coverage team is usually pretty good. The unit is led by junior Rahkeem Morgan, who always seems to be the first guy down field. Lately, the coverage teams have given up some big returns at very untimely moments. Opponents are averaging 23.2 yards per kickoff return, which isn’t terrible, but the Pirates can ill afford to have a big return against Marshall with so much on the line. Punt coverage has been very lackluster and has been burned by several big returns. Southern Miss returned one punt for a touchdown and blocked a punt and returned it for six. Foes are averaging 19.4 yards per punt return, which is not very good at all. Special teams are such a big part of the game that the team that manages the most return yards will most likely be in the driver’s seat.

CONTAIN VINCE CURRY

The Pirates will face one of the nation’s top defensive linemen in Vince Curry. After getting 1.5 tackles for a loss last week against Memphis, Curry leads all Football Bowl Subdivison players in career tackles for loss with 47.5. He currently ranks 8th on the school’s all-time tackles for loss list. He is also a sack master, having recorded 26.5 quarterback takedowns, which ranks him 4th on the school's all-time list. This has been Curry’s breakout season as he is already credited with 20.5 tackles for loss and 11 sacks in 2011. He will need to receive some special attention from the East Carolina offense on Saturday. On every snap, the Pirates need to be aware of where Curry lines up and make sure that one or maybe two players are assigned to handle him.

MOVE THE CHAINS

The Pirates have struggled with offensive consistency this season. They appeared to finally get things going last week against Central Florida. ECU rushed for 186 yards against the Golden Knights, one of their best performance of the season. The Pirates also passed for 203 yards — which is on the low end of where they want to be — with 4 passing touchdowns. The most important stat of the day was the 18 first downs picked up by ECU. The Pirates managed to keep the chains moving throughout the game. The only negative stats that stood out to me were the 2 turnovers that came at inopportune times and the 3-for-14 success rate on 3rd down. Fortunately, ECU was 3-for-5 in on those 3rd down opportunities in the 4th quarter when it mattered the most.

The offensive line needs to protect the quarterback and open up holes for the runners. Dominique Davis has to be efficient and effective in the passing game, and Davis, Zico Pasut and Torrance Hunt must protect the football and get positive rushing yards on every touch.

BOTTOM LINE

The Pirates have gone to five straight bowl games and must win this game in order to keep the postseason streak going. Marshall is in the same boat, sitting at 5-6 with just this final regular season game remaining. The Thundering Herd also has the extra incentive of a potential East Division title. Having beaten division leader Southern Miss earlier in the season, Marshall gets the benefit of the tiebreaker in the event the teams finish with identical records. If Marshall beats ECU and Memphis beats USM, the Herd will represent the East in the Conference USA championship game against Houston or Tulsa. The Cougars and Golden Hurricane are going head to head today in Tulsa for the West Division title.

Marshall will be very hungry to win this game. It will take a total team effort by the Pirates on offense, defense, and special teams to win the game. East Carolina will have to leave it all on the field in Huntington in order to come away with the victory. ECU will be without emerging standout Jacob Geary at outside linebacker and starting receivers Danny Webster and Lance Lewis, not to mention the numerous offensive linemen that have been banged up all year. It's now or never for a trip to a bowl game.

E-mail Kevin Monroe.

01/03/2012 02:39:24 AM