By
Al Myatt
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The East Carolina football team is focused on preparing to take care of
its business in the
Conference USA East Division race
but the Pirates could possibly use a little help from North Carolina and
N.C. State, too.
That's because of the tiebreaking criteria in Conference USA for hosting
the league championship game. If the Pirates were to win the division,
which likely means winning at Marshall on Nov. 29, and ECU is tied with
the West Division winner on its record in C-USA play, then the team with
the higher BCS ranking will host the conference championship game on
Dec. 7.
The BCS incorporates some rankings into its formula, such as the Sagarin
Ratings, which have a strength of schedule component.
The better the teams that the Pirates have played — or will play —
perform, the better ECU's strength of schedule will be — and the better
chance the Pirates have to be in Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium on Dec. 7.
That wouldn't include losing to the Wolfpack on Nov. 23, but other than
that ECU fans should hope State wins at Boston College this week and at
home against Maryland on Nov. 30.
North Carolina travels to Pitt this week. Then the Tar Heels host Old
Dominion (Nov. 23) and Duke (Nov. 30).
I'm not sure how it would play out for ECU (7-2, 5-1 C-USA) with the
ODU-UNC outcome since the Pirates have wins over both, but a Heels win
over the Blue Devils could be beneficial for ECU.
Right now, the Pirates are the highest rated C-USA team in the BCS
standings at No. 47. Next among the league teams is potential West
winner North Texas at No. 55. Rice is at No. 58, followed by Tulane
(69), Middle Tennessee (72) and Marshall (75).
The BCS standings are some of that "outside noise" as far as those
within the ECU program are concerned.
The immediate focus Wednesday was the next practice for a 2 p.m. league
game Saturday at home against Alabama-Birmingham (2-7, 1-4).
"That's been the model of what we've tried to do since I've got here,"
said fourth-year Pirates coach Ruffin McNeill. "It's how we perform and
how we play and making sure we do the best we can each day.
"That will give us the best chance to win the game on Saturday."
Cold front comes in
McNeill said Tuesday's practice was affected by the cold front, which
dropped temperatures below freezing by Wednesday morning.
"We got through it and then we did our after meetings inside," said the
Pirates coach. "The kids were happy and the coaches were, too. They
said, 'Great call, boss.' They ran off the field fast. I've never seen
them run that fast, ever."
The front came through during practice so many of the coaches and
players had not dressed for the change.
A warming trend is supposed to begin today with a high around 67 degrees
in the forecast for game day.
Kicking situation
Anyone who follows the program knows that Pirates kicker Warren Harvey
has been struggling. After making eight of his first 11 field goal
attempts this season, Harvey has connected on just four of his last 10
tries.
With ECU facing a 4th-and-5 at the Tulsa 23 on its first possession, the
last week, the Pirates went for it rather than try a 40-yard field goal.
Shane Carden threw incomplete on fourth down.
Late in
the 58-24 win over the Golden Hurricane,
ECU sent Davis Plowman in for a 19-yard field goal that gave the Pirates
a 45-24 lead with 4:56 left to play.
Plowman, listed as a transfer from Texas A&M, also has spelled Harvey at
times for kickoff duties. Plowman kicked off twice against Tulsa and was
in for the last conversion kick.
Harvey was 6-for-6 on PATs.
"Like we do at each position, we're providing a little competition
battle," McNeill said. "Warren has had some struggles but before the
game is when we decide when and where to go for it.
"I pull the trigger on fourth down a lot."
McNeill confers with special teams coach Kirk Doll before kickoff to
determine a distance for field goal attempts. Against Tulsa, McNeill
said, the distance was from "the 20 in." The distance is often
determined by how the kickers warm up.
"4th-and-5 is a makeable distance for us," McNeill said. "Outside the
20, we make a decision on fourth down. I have to look at the flow of the
game, the time of the game. That's where game management comes in for
me. I look at time, where we are and momentum and how they're playing
us. ... That's my decision and I tell Lincoln (Riley, offensive
coordinator) to go for it or I might tell him 'You've got four downs.' "
McNeill has the offense on channel A of his headset, the defense on
channel B and special teams on the third channel.
"I might tell Coach (Rick) Smith (defensive coordinator) that we're
going for it or I might tell Linc, 'Just get us in field goal range
here' or 'We need three.'" McNeill said. "That sort of thing. There's a
lot more strategy than people realize. That's how I do it to make the
best-educated guess. ... I listen to all of them."
UAB ground attack
Jordan Howard averages 96.6 yards rushing per game for the Blazers and
Darrin Reaves averages 86.2.
"They've got two really good running backs," McNeill said. "Both of
those guys can run the football. They've gone to more of a two tight
end, three tight end, fullback-type set trying to just ground and pound
and run time off the clock.
"We have to be really stout on defense, get off the field on third down
and also be efficient on our possessions on offense. We need great play
out of special teams."
ECU's defense ranks seventh in the Football Bowl Subdivision against the
run , allowing 96.7 yards per game.
Tulsa's Trey Watts became the first back to gain over 100 yards against
the Pirates this season as he ran for 120 yards on 27 carries. Watts had
108 yards on 20 carries at the half.
Watts is the son of former U.S.
Congressman and Oklahoma Sooners quarterback J.C. Watts.
"He's one of the best backs in the league," McNeill said. "He has a
chance to play at the next level. He's quick. We knew that going into
the game. We just wanted to corral him as much as possible. We did a
good job with adjustments on him.
"The coaches will get a handle on it once they see what's happening."
Attendance
The Pirates may be victims of their own success to an extent in regard
to attendance. The Golden Hurricane, at 2-6 coming in, didn't inspire
the ECU fan base to get to Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium in capacity numbers
last week. The crowd was announced at 44,076.
"I'm expecting 50,000 this week," McNeill said. "I'm going to expect
that every week. They provide so much energy for our team. It's Senior
Day, a great day to honor our seniors. I'm expecting Pirate Nation to
come out in full force."
Seniors
Last year's Senior Day produced
a 65-59 win over Marshall
in double overtime.
Another group of Pirates will play their last regular season home game
on Saturday afternoon.
"They've been a great group," McNeill said. "That's my core. It's a
large core. They believe in our foundation. That's no egos, no
entitlement, teamwork.
"We've got a lot more work to do, more room to grow, but they've been
excellent to work with and it's an honor to be their coach."
The
Brian Bailey Show airs on Pirate Radio 1250
on Mondays at 6:30 p.m. This week's guests
were high school coaches Jim Bob Bryant,
Brian Paschal, Paul Cornwell and Dave
Wojtecki:
ECU
coach
Ruffin
McNeill
discussed
the
Pirates'
road
win
over
FIU
and
previewed
their
home
game
with
Tulsa:
