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Pirates reboot quarterback strategy

By Brett Friedlander
©2015 Bonesville.net
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East Carolina heads into the home stretch of the 2015 football season needing to win its final two games, starting with Thursday’s matchup against winless Central Florida in Orlando, to finish at .500 and achieve bowl eligibility.

It’s an unenviable position that might have seemed entirely plausible back in August, after projected starting quarterback Kurt Benkert went down with a season-ending knee injury a week before the opening game.

But then the Pirates slogged through a monsoon at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium to beat Virginia Tech and suddenly everything changed. Even an unexpected run at the American Athletic Conference’s East Division title seemed possible.

As it turned out, though, that 35-28 victory against the Hokies was the high point of a season that has since gone off the rails.

So what went wrong?

Did the bar simply get re-set too high after a promising start that distracted us all, at least momentarily, from the reality that the Pirates were forced to replace the most prolific pass-catch duo in school history and the dynamic young offensive coordinator who called the plays for Shane Carden and Justin Hardy?

Or did something change after a homecoming victory against Tulsa improved ECU’s record to 4-3?

The answer is a little of both.

Despite a wealth of talented receivers including tight end Bryce Williams, a Mackey Award candidate who has already accepted an invitation to play in the Senior Bowl, this year’s offense is nowhere near as talented as those of the previous few seasons. And that might have been the case with or without Benkert.

“We have a very fast football team and a very athletic team, but we’ve been hurt by some key injuries in key places that are hard to come by,” coach Ruffin McNeill said. “You can say ‘next man up, next man up’ and Ohio State can go to their third quarterback, but that’s Ohio State. The kids make no excuses and no complaints.”

Even with those shortcomings, however, the Pirates still seemed to be trending in the right direction until the past three games – all losses in which they’ve failed to score at least 20 points.

Some of that slump can be blamed on injuries to guard Quincy McKinney and tackle Donate Levingston that left two gaping holes in ECU’s offensive line. But the real culprit can be traced even farther back than that.

Remember that high water mark in the rain against the Hokies? Well, an argument can be made that it was also the tipping point that sent the Pirates’ season sinking in the wrong direction.

That was the game in which James Summers came off the bench and looked like the second coming of Cam Newton in rushing for 169 yards and two touchdowns while completing five of eight passes for 110 yards and another score.

It’s also the game that convinced McNeill to go against his publicly stated better instincts and begin shuffling quarterbacks faster than a casino Blackjack dealer.

There’s something to be said for a two-quarterback system when used judiciously. That could have been done had McNeill and offensive coordinator Dave Nichol continued to use Summers and his running ability as a change-of-pace guy off the bench.

But that didn’t happen.

McNeill and Nichol became infatuated with Summers and strayed from an offensive philosophy that has worked so well in the past, limiting the ability to get the ball to playmakers Isaiah Jones, Trevon Brown and Davon Grayson in the open field. In the process, whatever rhythm passing specialist Blake Kemp might have built when he was getting a majority of the snaps was stunted.

The proof is in the numbers. ECU is 4-2 with Kemp as the starter and 0-4 in games started by Summers.

The converted wide receiver played the entire game two weeks ago, a 22-17 loss to South Florida in which the Pirates gained only seven first downs – none of which came in the first half. Perhaps that’s why McNeill has decided to revisit his quarterback situation during the past week’s bye.

"We're going back to (the two-quarterback) system,” McNeill said Monday. “It wasn't fair to James and we put James in a tough spot. He's trying to learn this offense.

“When you work all summer at wide receiver, that was a tough spot and that kid didn't back down from the challenge. So did Blake. We were trying to get one guy ready, but our best combo is using both of them, so we'll do that.”

Having the time to come to that realization is only one of the many reasons why the long-awaited bye week couldn’t have come at a more opportune time for the Pirates.

In addition to the strategic adjustments, personnel moves – including the demotion of embattled cornerback Josh Hawkins from a starting position to the third team – and the physical healing it allowed, the week off gave ECU’s players a chance to reset, recharge and get ready for what has become a do-or-die two-game stretch against UCF and Cincinnati to finish the regular season.

“Not hesitating was the biggest thing,” McNeill said when asked about his emphasis during the bye. “Just play. Swing your sword. Don’t swing it wildly, just swing it.”

That’s about all the Pirates can do at this point. The only other option is going down without a fight.

Contact Brett Friedlander

PAGE UPDATED 11/19/15 03:20 PM.

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