Inside
Game Day
Saturday, November 23, 2013
By Al Myatt |
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Rivalry isn’t what it used to
be
Al Myatt
©2013 Bonesville.net
All rights reserved.
RALEIGH — Strange to say after
East Carolina’s 42-28 win at N.C. State on Saturday,
but now the Pirates can focus on their big game.
ECU (9-2, 6-1 Conference USA) plays at
Marshall on Friday at noon for C-USA’s East Division championship. Winning
the league title has been the stated goal of the program throughout the 2013
season.
The matchup with the Wolfpack was a
potential distraction with its rival implications but the Pirates muted the
outside noise and took care of business.
With State mired in a seven-game losing
streak, the status of the series has inverted from the old days when Pack
fans said they had nothing to gain from playing ECU. It was the Pirates who
stood to lose the most in the 28th meeting between the two programs.
With the Wolfpack reeling and its fan
base less than enthusiastic, this edition of the rivalry didn’t seem to have
its usual intensity. To the Pirates credit, they didn’t play down to the
level of their competition.
Offensive coordinator Lincoln Riley,
quarterback Shane Carden, running back Vintavious Cooper and receiver Justin
Hardy were dialed in. The offensive line was an enabler for any means the
Pirates chose to attack. ECU’s lead was 35-7 after reserve running back
Breon Allen scored on a 3-yard run with 5:02 left in the third quarter.
ECU's defense had the Pack in its
tentacles most of the day. Trent Tignor punted well. The Pirates' coverage
units kept State from breaking out.
State did a good job of making the
outcome appear more respectable with two scores in the final minute.
It is noteworthy that this was the first
time that ECU has beaten North Carolina and N.C. State in the same season.
It was also the first time a Pirates team coached by Ruffin McNeill has won
as many as nine games.
But the rivalry with State isn’t what it
once was. There wasn't that almost bloodthirsty edge between the fan bases.
The series used to be played every season
until an incident in 1987 when a security guard was injured as he tried to
keep ECU fans from tearing down the goal posts in Raleigh.
Familiarity breeds contempt, as they say.
Right now, the regional foes meet just
once every three years. The next meeting will be in Greenville in 2016.
Carden played the Wolfpack just once in his career. Hard to build any real
animosity for an opponent under those circumstances.
More out-of-state recruiting can change
the perception of what is a big game, too.
When Chuck Amato was coaching NCSU, his
emphasis on recruiting the state of Florida tended to make State’s games
with Florida State bigger to a lot of the players than those with North
Carolina.
Pack quarterback Brandan Mitchelll, a
senior from Louisiana by way of Arkansas, probably had difficulty
conceptualizing the traditional meaning of playing ECU.
State quarterbacks in the past such as
Johnny Evans from High Point and Jamie Barnette from Roxboro didn't have
that issue. Nor did ECU field generals Leander Green from Jacksonville or
David Garrard from Durham during their college careers.
For a long time, the series with the
Wolfpack from ECU's standpoint was about the Pirates proving that they could
play with an Atlantic Coast Conference team. It was about earning respect
for an institution and a region.
I don’t think playing State these days
has the same meaning in regard to how ECU perceives itself or how the
Pirates feel that they are perceived by others. The university and its
athletic programs can stand on their own merits. A platform such as a
matchup on Tobacco Road has less value today in terms of promoting ECU.
Carden, a junior from Houston, knew
Oklahoma-Texas was a big game as a youth. He learned about the magnitude of
playing State after he arrived in Greenville.
“My freshman year (2010), when they came
in to play at ECU, and we ended up getting that win in overtime, I kind of
realized how big wins against teams like this are — how big it is for the
program,” Carden said. “To be a part of a team that’s able to do that means
a lot to me.”
The series probably had its greatest
significance for the Pirates when ECU was an independent in the matchups
from 1977 to 1996. A win over State could easily make a season worthwhile in
those days when there was no conference framework within which to compete.
Back in 1997 when ECU joined C-USA as a
football only member, then-Pirates coach Steve Logan fretted about how a
game with State would jeopardize his players' focus on the league race.
Logan would love the 2013 Pirates. They
can step out of the league and step up against an in-state ACC foe without
losing sight of their ultimate mission.
In many years the game was played earlier
in the season and both teams had aspirations for the remainder of the
schedule. At this point, State has fallen short of bowl eligibility. They’ll
try to send their seniors out as winners against Maryland next week, but
major bragging rights were missed against ECU.
On a completely different level, McNeill
and staff compete with N.C. State virtually every day on the recruiting
trail.
“I know the alumni appreciate (the
victories over North Carolina and N.C. State),” McNeill said. “Having grown
up in this state, I understand the significance of it. We will see the
results of this and how recruits react.”
That may have been as important as
anything that happened on the field.
Hardy said ECU had a business-like
approach. The State fans who showed up had hope for a while. State answered
an early ECU score before the Pirates got rolling with a succession of stops
and drives.
The ECU faithful were worried about
losing face against a team that tumbled to 3-8. They were relieved as the
Pirates showed themselves to be the dominant team.
Relief is different from rejoicing.
McNeill indirectly indicated that he
expects State to close the competitive gap.
“Dave Doeren is a good coach,” he said.
That might mean a more lively renewal of
the series by the time the 2016 season gets here.
Saturday’s contest ranked pretty low by
ECU-State standards with the Pirates’ 37-34 Peach Bowl win to cap the 1991
season probably at the top of the chart, followed by the 33-27 overtime win
in Greenville in McNeill’s first season as coach in 2010.
Although the game wasn’t one to savor in
an often-emotional series which the Pack leads, 16-12, the reason for its
one-sidedness was ECU’s high level of efficiency and focus.
Those factors, plus some inevitable
belief and momentum generated by Saturday’s performance, will be valuable
when the Pirate ship sails into Huntington, WV, for Friday’s showdown.
That’s the big game.
It has been all season.
E-mail Al Myatt.
PAGE UPDATED
11/24/13 08:54 PM.
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