The real gauntlet begins for Pirates

By Brian Bailey
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With all due respect to North Carolina Central, the East Carolina football season commences this weekend in Columbia, South Carolina.

ECU was an easy winner in the opener. The Pirates scored 52 unanswered points after giving up a touchdown on a fumble by the offense. The defense threw a shutout. It was the first game the unit didn’t give up a touchdown since the 2008 win over No. 8 West Virginia.

After a slow start, the bigger, stronger and faster Pirates wore down the squad from Durham. Only the Eagles' band had any energy after the first quarter.

“I think the keys to our win were our dedication to the team and the focus on the vision,” said ECU coach Ruffin McNeill at his weekly press conference on Monday. “From that game, I saw that, and I was very pleased.”

The Pirates’ first touchdown came off of a trick play. All-American receiver candidate Justin Hardy took the ball on a reverse and fired deep for teammate Isaiah Jones. Jones was so open he was lonely.

“I just wanted to concentrate on catching the ball,” Hardy said. “It was so high and I knew it should be an easy catch.”

Hardy played quarterback his senior year at West Craven High School out of necessity. He joked afterwards that he wasn’t interested in getting any snaps on next week at quarterback.

“I knew he was wide open,” said Hardy. “I just let it fly and I got some air under it.”

“I was excited for him,” said quarterback Shane Carden about Hardy’s pass.

After the trick play, Carden and company went to work with a more standard mode of operation. The game plan as always centered around distributing the football to the plethora of wide receivers on this team's depth chart.

“We’ve got a lot of guys who can really play,” said Carden after his 26-37 performance for 283 yards and three touchdowns.

Hardy caught two of those touchdown passes and continues as Carden’s go-to receiver in this offense. He caught 8 passes for 87 yards and the two scores.

Jones was impressive as well. He had ten catches for 150 yards and the touchdown from Hardy.

“It was fun to get back out there,” said Jones after the game.

I’m one of the only reporters in the area that has covered both Isaiah and his dad, former Pirate All-American Robert Jones, who was a part of the ‘Dream Season’ of 1991. The elder Jones won three Super Bowl rings with the Dallas Cowboys.

I joked with Isaiah that he was extremely nice, like his Mom and not at all like his Dad.

“Dad was a linebacker,” Isaiah smiled as he explained. “They’re all a little crazy.”

The craziness that is the ECU schedule hits full stride now, starting with the visit to South Carolina. The Pirates follow that with a trek to Blacksburg to take on Virginia Tech, and then a home game against rival North Carolina.

It all starts with a Saturday night special in the Palmetto State against the 'Ole Ball Coach.'

“Coach Spurrier is one of the best coaches in this game,” said McNeill. “I’ve followed him since his Duke days, to his national championship run at Florida, to the league (NFL) and now. I know he’ll have his team ready to go.

"Of course we’ll watch the film, but it goes back to controlling what we can, and that’s our preparation and how we plan.”

Spurrier is 2-0 all time in games he has coached against East Carolina. The Gamecocks have also won the last two in the series, and lead the overall set 12-5. The two teams have split the last six meetings.

I certainly don’t think it helped the Pirate cause that the Gamecocks laid a big egg on Thursday night in their opener against a Johnny Football-less Texas A&M squad.

South Carolina hasn’t started 0-2 at home since 1999. That’s the year the Gamecocks were 0-11. South Carolina hosts Georgia after the Pirates visit.

This East Carolina team knows it will have its hands full on Saturday night.

On the flipside, I think the Gamecocks realize the same thing.

BB

E-mail Brian Bailey.