By
Denny O'Brien
©2012 Bonesville.net
All Rights Reserved.
COLUMBIA, SC — There is at
least one silver lining in East Carolina’s 48-10 blowout loss to South
Carolina Saturday. Of the ten remaining opponents on the Pirates’
schedule, there isn’t anyone that rivals the Gamecocks’ talent.
If there was ever any
doubt about the speed and depth of a Southeastern Conference contender,
it was erased by a South Carolina team that dominated from start to
finish.
That the Pirates won’t
face anyone else that remotely compares to the Gamecocks physically is
the good news.
The bad news for the
Pirates is that any rhythm they built offensively in the second quarter
against the Gamecocks was disrupted quickly after intermission. As a
result, the Pirates are back at square one at quarterback, as the battle
that was waged between Rio Johnson and Shane Carden in the preseason
renewed itself Saturday.
“I thought it was
inconsistent play,” Pirates Coach Ruffin McNeill said about his
quarterbacks. “I’ve said from the beginning that I consider Shane a
starter. We did not hesitate to put Shane in. “I’m not sure if it is a
battle or what have you. We’ll talk about that when we get back.
"It’s too quick after the
game to make that decision, but we have no problem with putting Shane in
the game.”
While starting quarterback
Rio Johnson was far from perfect in the opening half, he was hardly
terrible, either. He finished the first half with 187 passing yards,
though he did throw a pair of interceptions.
Carden had a
less-than-brilliant start — his first pass was intercepted — though he
settled in after his second drive and started clicking. His afternoon
ended with 140 yards passing and a 34-yard touchdown toss to receiver
Justin Hardy.
“When I got my shot, I
just knew I had to make the most of it,” Carden said. “Obviously we
don’t want to ever play like that. We turned the ball over way too much.
“Our offensive line did a
great job. I don’t believe we’ve had a sack in the first two games,
which, with how much we throw the ball, is kind of unheard of. We just
have to take care of the ball better and our offense will play great.”
If you’re looking for
positive points to pick from an otherwise embarrassing afternoon, the
Pirates’ offensive line proved more than adequate against a stout
Gamecocks’ defensive front. Johnson and Carden spent almost their day
upright in the pocket instead of digging themselves out of the turf.
Both had time to move
around the pocket and run through their progressions. Carden’s fourth
quarter scoring toss to Hardy was as much a credit to his offensive line
as it was to his ability to find an open receiver down field.
Carden and his teammates
were just unable to enjoy parallel execution throughout the day.
Any chance the Pirates had
to make this one competitive was extinguished by three first half
turnovers, all of which occurred in the red zone. You simply don’t
overcome those types of mistakes against an SEC opponent, let alone one
that is ranked in the top ten and favored to win its division.
You also don’t win many
games in this sport without stability at the quarterback position. And
with the Pirates set to open their Conference USA schedule next week at
rival Southern Miss, we can, at least for now, list the ECU starter as
unknown.
That’s far from a
comfortable position, but it’s one in which the Pirates are firmly
planted.
The best case scenario for
ECU would be for one of its quarterbacks to firmly establish himself as
the starter this week and further separate himself from the pack with a
good performance in Hattiesburg next week. But so far there has been no
indication that either Carden or Johnson is ready to do so.
Both Carden and Johnson
have had mixed moments of promise with mistakes common to their
inexperience. That has produced inconsistent results from the offense.
If the Pirates have any
chance of kicking the offense into full gear, they must first identify
and establish a starting quarterback. Ideally that would have occurred
sometime in August.
But at least whoever takes
the snaps moving forward will have an easier road than the one he
traveled in the Palmetto State.