Bonesville Mobile Alpha Rev. 2.1a*

Mobile Home  |  Desktop Home

Teams going in opposite directions

By Al Myatt
©2014 Bonesville.net
All rights reserved.

The last time Southern Methodist came to Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium, the Mustangs were in the midst of a football revival under coach June Jones.

The date was Nov. 26, 2010 and East Carolina was in its first season with alumnus Ruffin McNeill as head coach.

The Pirates erased a two-touchdown deficit in the fourth quarter before Zach Line scored in overtime on a 1-yard run for SMU. ECU absorbed a 45-38 loss as an ensuing interception by Richard Crawford ended the Conference USA contest.

The Mustangs went on to win the West Division of C-USA before falling 17-7 at Central Florida in the league championship game.

That matchup in Greenville in 2010 continues to influence the Pirates program, which was playing a four-front defense at the time.

"They're the team that made us think about going to a 3-4 because it fit what personnel they had," McNeill said. "The front seven philosophy by SMU shaped our thought process, too."

The Mustangs peaked with a 43-10 win over Fresno State in the 2012 Hawaii Bowl. Jones coached the Rainbow Warriors to a 76-41 record from 1999 to 2007 before taking on the rebuilding task at SMU, which hadn't made a bowl trip since 1984. Jones directed the program to four straight bowls.

The Mustangs missed the postseason in 2013, their first in the American Athletic Conference as quarterback Garrett Gilbert was injured and missed the last two games. SMU dropped season-ending tilts with Houston and UCF, finishing one win shy of bowl eligibility at 5-7.

The Mustangs have struggled in an 0-4 start against an ambitious schedule in 2014. They have been outscored 202-12 against a gauntlet that has included Baylor, North Texas, Texas A&M and Texas Christian.

The bombshell along the way was the apparently-unforced resignation by Jones on Monday, Sept. 8, after a 43-6 loss to the Mean Green.

"It was a very difficult decision for me to make, as you can imagine," Jones said in a statement released by the university. "I have devoted my life for the last 50 years to playing and coaching this game and it has been a great journey. This job has a lot of demands, as you know, and along with that journey comes a price that is paid.

"I have some personal issues I have been dealing with and I need to take a step away so I can address them at this time."

Jones didn't elaborate on the personal issues. He was making over $2 million a year.

As the teams prepare for their second meeting in the McNeill era, the stage has changed. The noon kickoff (ESPNU) on Bagwell Field will be the first AAC game for the Pirates.

Wins over Virginia Tech and North Carolina have lifted ECU (3-1) into the polls. The Pirates are currently ranked No. 22 by the Associated Press and No. 21 by the USA Today coaches panel.

"We're looking forward to it," McNeill said. "It's an historical moment for our university. It's homecoming on top of that."

Despite all the peripheral factors, the Pirates are aiming for consistency in their focus.

"We have to do a good job of making sure we continue to do what we've done for five years — just focus on us," McNeill said. "As for what we can control and what we can't, we need to stay with what we can control and that's how we prepare and play and how we approach the day. ... We know SMU will come in and give us their best shot. We can't control that but we've got to get ready to control what we can and that's to make sure we're ready to go on all four sides of the ball — offense, defense, special teams and the sideline with excitement."

The Pirates have had an open date since completing the preconference season with a 70-41 win over North Carolina on Sept. 20.

"We divide the season into four quarters," McNeill said. "That was the first quarter we just finished. The bye week came at really a most opportune time for us to get some guys somewhat healed up, hopefully, for the guys who get the majority of the reps. That was a tough nonconference stretch. We have some guys who we're counting on in the backup roles and competitive depth roles. We got those guys some extra reps where they may not have gotten a lot in those first four games. Then we got some redshirt guys some work.

"We got on the road recruiting. The open date came at a great time. Now we're into the second quarter of our season and the first American Conference game this Saturday."

Jones' resignation surprised everyone with the possible exception of his agent, Leigh Steinberg.

"With June stepping down, it caught me off guard," McNeill said. "They've got an experienced staff. Tom Mason (defensive coordinator, interim head coach) has been down there a long time. June has always recruited great skill position kids. ... Right now, they're going through some growing pains and that's the part we can't control.

"We have to make sure we stay focused on us and make sure East Carolina is ready to go."

Four quarterbacks have thrown 11 or more passes this season as the Mustangs have sought offensive leadership.

"They're doing some rotating there," McNeill said. "I'm not sure of the cause or if they're trying to find that one guy. They're played a few different guys at that position. Again, I think if June was still there, June has always settled on one guy to operate his offense. They've gone through several guys. We've watched all four. It's still the same offensive scheme. I'm not sure if it's injury or just trying to find the most productive guy."

Mason said the Mustangs' program goal is continued improvement and he said he saw signs of progress in a 56-0 loss to the Horned Frogs last week.

McNeill is looking for improvement, too.

"We need to make sure we keep working on reducing our penalties," said the Pirates coach. "We need great ball security on offense. More takeaways on defense is an emphasis for us. ... Make routine plays and play the next play is very big this week. We like to have sustained play for four quarters, frenzy-type action on all three sides at the same time, feeding off one another."

East Carolina lost its first Southern Conference game on Oct. 2, 1965, by a 14-7 score at Furman. The Pirates dropped their first C-USA contest 23-13 to visiting Southern Miss on Oct. 11, 1997.

Perhaps the third time will be the charm as ECU seeks a winning start in a new league. The betting line has the Pirates as a six-touchdown favorite.

ECU's lead up to the game will feature Friday night at the new Denzel Washington movie, "The Equalizer."

The Pirates have already been through the schedule of a noon start at Blacksburg.

The real challenge may be avoiding the pitfall of playing down to the level of a struggling opponent. ECU handled the challenge of performing up to its capabilities in a 52-7 win over Football Championship Subdivision foe N.C. Central to start the season.

The nation has seldom paid so much attention to the Pirates. There's no room for a letdown to start the second quarter of the season.

E-mail Al Myatt

PAGE UPDATED 10/02/14 05:01 PM.

Copyright © Bonesville.net. All rights reserved. No content on this site may be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed in any fashion without explicit written permission from the editor. Information from Bonesville staff members, East Carolina University, Conference USA and other sources was used in composing and/or compiling the articles and data on this site. This site is editorially independent and is not affiliated with East Carolina University or Conference USA. View Bonesville.net's privacy policy. For advertising or other information, e-mail editor@bonesville.net.