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Familiar Foes

By Greg Vacek
©2014 Bonesville.net
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Familiar foes clash in the 12th meeting between Tulsa and East Carolina. The Pirates lead the series 6-5-0. East Carolina has won the last four meetings, including a 58-24 home victory last year.

Friday’s matchup against Tulsa marks the third of four non-Saturday contests this year for East Carolina. It will also be the teams' second-straight non-Saturday encounter at Tulsa’s Chapman Stadium — the last occasion resulted in a 44-17 ECU win on Sunday, Nov. 15, 2009. The two also met on a non-traditional day, a Sunday, in the 2010 season opener, which produced a memorable 51-49 Hail Mary victory in Ruffin McNeil’s debut as ECU’s head coach.

Thanksgiving is a time of family gatherings and traditions (food and football). I remember growing up eating turkey, dressing, cranberry sauce and green bean casserole and watching Dallas and Detroit. I also remember watching college football the Friday after, which more often than not included the annual Nebraska-Oklahoma game (my father’s team vs. my mother’s team). The Pirate Nation has shared in that Thanksgiving tradition, playing in six Black Friday games. Many families have headed to Dowdy-Ficklen over the years tailgating with leftover turkey sandwiches.

As fun as it can be to road-trip with family and friends, playing a game on foreign turf during Thanksgiving week two years in a row can be distracting for the team.

Coach McNeill summed it up.

"It's different," he said. "We will try to make it as family-appropriate as possible. We always do. We will have a meal, invite the coaches' families and kids. As coaches, we've done some things different with practice all year, such as when to give them (days) off and when to give them rest because it's been a very physical year for everyone, coaches included.

"It's very important that we have the right mindset, understanding that we have to play a great game on the road."

Thanks-GIVING

The old adage, it’s better to give than receive doesn’t apply to football unless the giving is the delivery of a hit. The Pirate defense forced a season-high four turnovers to spearhead last season’s victory over the Golden Hurricane in Greenville. Dating back to the 2010, Tulsa went 48 straight games season with a turnover before stopping the streak with zero turnovers at Temple.

After forcing only eight turnovers in its first seven games (1.1 tpg), ECU has produced five takeaways in its last two (2.5). This season East Carolina has forced only 13 turnovers and converted 8 into scores. That is a conversion rate of 61.5 percent. The Pirates need to force three more TOs to avoid posting their lowest total in school history (16 in 2001).

The Pirates will need to continue working on securing the ball. In the last seven contests, the Golden Hurricane defense has forced 12 turnovers. Turning the ball over 16 times in 2014 has given East Carolina opponents 16 extra opportunities, with opposing teams converting 9 into scores, a 56.3 percent success rate.

Lincoln Riley will surely give Shane Carden some opportunities to throw the deep ball this week. Tulsa opponents have had 42 plays of 30-plus yards this season for an average of 51.4 yards per play and a total of 19 touchdowns. That's an average of almost four big plays per game. According to CFBstats.com, no other team in FBS has given up more 30-yard plays.

ECU’s record is 3-3 on Black Friday. Last year my family took its first Thanksgiving football road trip to cheer on the Pirates eating Thanksgiving dinner at Huntington, West Virginia’s finest Golden Corral. Although the outcome of last year’s game against Marshall was one to forget, spending time with family and friends cheering on the Pirates is something my kids will always remember. We won’t be making the trip to Tulsa this year, but will once again be having a Thanksgiving with family, food and Pirate football (on ESPNU).

Have a Happy and safe Thanksgiving!

East Carolina’s Thanksgiving Friday History:

Nov 24, 2000 — at Southern Mississippi (W) 14-9
Nov 23, 2001 — SOUTHERN MISS (L) 21-28
Nov 28, 2007 — TEXAS-EL PASO (W) 53-21
Nov 26, 2010 — SOUTHERN METHODIST (L) 38-45
Nov 23, 2012 — MARSHALL (W) 65-59 (2OT)
Nov 29, 2013 — at Marshall (L) 28-59
Nov 28, 2014 — at Tulsa

E-mail Greg Vacek

PAGE UPDATED 11/28/14 04:53 AM.