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Pirates strive for calculated progress

By Brett Friedlander
©2015 Bonesville.net
All rights reserved.

Ruffin McNeill has a habit of talking in catch phrases, like motivational messages posted onto a locker room wall. Some people might call them clichés. Those in and around the East Carolina football program know them as Ruff-isms.

Among his favorites is the one in which he tells his players not to “microwave” things.

That means making sure they put in the necessary work at practice, in the weight room and on game days to achieve their goals, rather than cutting corners in an effort to get the desired result as quickly as possible. It’s a philosophy worth keeping in mind as the Pirates head to Gainesville on Saturday to take on Florida at The Swamp.

Because win or lose, there’s way too much season left to play to come to any knee jerk conclusions about the direction ECU is headed.

Not that the temptation won’t be there.

This is the kind of game the Pirates have always relished, an opportunity to play a name opponent in a setting that will force people to stand up and take notice and if their effort is worthy – as it usually is – take them seriously.

The matchup with the Gators is especially meaningful since the same teams played one another at the Birmingham Bowl last January in a game ECU had its chances to win before dropping an eight-point decision.

That, however, was a much different team than the one that will take the field this time around.

It was a mature band of Pirates quarterbacked by a player – Shane Carden – that will go down as one of his school’s all-time greats and mentored by an offensive coordinator – Lincoln Riley – brimming with confidence and polished at his craft. This group, as last week’s closer-than-expected win against Towson revealed, is still very much a work in progress.

“We’re not perfect yet and there’s a lot of things that we can work on and that we’re going to have to pick up on,” wide receiver Isaiah Jones said after ECU’s 28-20 victory at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium. “It’s going to definitely be a challenge next week and we’ll get rolling heading into this next week.”

Chances are McNeill and his new offensive coordinator, Dave Nichol, only showed as much of their playbook as they felt necessary against the Tigers so as to leave something to keep Florida guessing.

At the same time, they're not even sure yet as to what kind of personality their transitional team will eventually take on.

Though Blake Kemp was an efficient 29 of 37 for 230 yards and no interceptions last week, he still left questions about his ability to throw downfield. So much so that there’s a good chance fellow JUCO transfer James Summers will take some snaps as early as Saturday.

And while a veteran defense that figured to be good enough to carry the team while its offensive teammates worked the kinks out, it took a spectacular pass breakup in the red zone by Terrell Richardson to prevent a potential disaster against an FCS opponent that won only four games a year ago.

The good news, as McNeill pointed out earlier this week, is that “the biggest improvement comes from Game 1 to Game 2.”

His players certainly left plenty of room for growth.

Whether they improve enough to beat an SEC opponent on the road is anybody’s guess. And doing so is hardly a prerequisite for a successful season.

If ECU can survive a killer first half that includes other challenging tests against Navy, Virginia Tech and BYU, the schedule lends itself to a strong finish and yet another step forward in the development of the program.

That is, as long as the Pirates can resist the temptation to “microwave” things on the way to achieving the desired result.

Contact Brett Friedlander

PAGE UPDATED 09/10/15 01:47 AM.

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