By
Al Myatt
©2013 Bonesville.net
All rights reserved.
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East Carolina came out well in its final bowl selection
process as a member of Conference USA.
The Pirates will play Ohio (7-5) in the Beef O'Brady's Bowl at 2 p.m. on
Monday, Dec. 23.
The matchup puts ECU (9-3) in the enclosed,
temperature-controlled environment of Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg,
FL, home of Major League Baseball's Tampa Bay Rays, in a winnable game
that will allow fans and participants time to get home for Christmas.
It was a fortunate set of circumstances for the Pirates,
who were projected by some sources for a return to the Military Bowl
(Dec. 27, Annapolis, Md.) or even the Hawaii Bowl (Dec. 24).
ECU has done both of the other bowls in years past and
neither appeared as appealing this year as the event in the Sunshine
State.
"St. Pete was a bowl we had tried to get before," said
Terry Holland, athletic director emeritus at ECU.
The Hawaii Bowl produced ECU's last postseason football
triumph in 2007 as Ben Hartman kicked a 34-yard field goal as time
expired for
a 41-38 win over Boise State.
Chris Johnson ran 28 times for 223 yards and a touchdown against the
Broncos, who rallied from a 38-14 deficit in the second half.
The timing of the Hawaii Bowl doesn't allow fans to be
home Christmas morning due to the extensive travel involved. The
location is also cost-prohibitive for many.
The Pirates
were beaten 51-20 by Maryland at
RFK Stadium in Washington, DC. in the 2010 Military Bowl. The contest
was the first bowl game for ECU under Ruffin McNeill and was the swan
song for Terps coach Ralph Friedgen. It's likely to be significantly
colder at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium, site of this year's
Military Bowl, than in St. Pete, where the average high in December is
72 degrees.
Marshall will represent C-USA in this year's Military
Bowl against Maryland. As in 2010, it's a virtual home game for the
Terps.
Maryland also represents a stronger challenge in terms of
the BCS standings with a No. 61 ranking.
Compared to Ohio, which is ranked No. 78, the Pirates, at
No. 51, get a break in terms of the polls and computer rankings.
It should be noted however that the Bobcats topped
Marshall, 34-31, in Athens, OH, on Sept. 14 as Tyler Tettleton threw for
264 yards. Rakeem Cato was 30 for 44 for 367 yards for the Thundering
Herd.
Marshall is the only common opponent for Ohio and ECU.
The Herd
overwhelmed the Pirates 59-28 on Nov. 29
in Huntington, WV, in a showdown for C-USA's East Division title.
The Bobcats are 2-0 against C-USA this season, also
claiming a 27-21 win over North Texas.
The loss to close the regular season and
a 43-34 setback to Louisiana-Lafayette
in last year's New Orleans Bowl should both give ECU motivation for
redemption.
The Pirates also can win 10 games in a season, something
only the 11-1 Peach Bowl champions of 1991 have done previously in
school history.
"We're looking forward to the challenge of accomplishing
a 10-win season, ... and allowing a special group of seniors a chance to
play for a bowl championship," said Pirates coach Ruffin McNeill on
Sunday.
Ohio is making its fifth straight bowl appearance under
coach Frank Solich, who spent 30 years at Nebraska as a player,
assistant and head coach before coming to Ohio after the 2004 season.
Tettleton owns 27 school records. Donte Foster has 63
catches with six touchdowns. Josiah Yazdani has made all 12 of his field
goal attempts.
Ohio has won its last two bowl games.
ECU has played the Bobcats twice before. The Pirates won
an offensive show, 55-45, at home in 1996. ECU won 21-14 at Ohio in
1998.
Jim Grobe was coaching
the Bobcats in that era and
Steve Logan was at the helm of
the Pirate ship.
ECU is averaging 40.4 points per game this season and
allowing 25.2. The Bobcats are scoring at a 28.0 clip but are coming off
a 51-23 win over Massachusetts that halted a three-game losing streak.
Ohio is yielding points at a rate of 26.7 per game. Those numbers
indicate a potentially-entertaining offensive matchup for the ESPN
audience.
ESPN Regional Television founded the Beef O'Brady's Bowl
in 2008.
It was contracted to match a C-USA team against an entry
from the American Athletic Conference this year but the AAC didn't have
enough bowl-eligible teams. That opened the door for the Bobcats, who
went 4-4 in the Mid-American Conference.
Toledo (7-5) was thought to be headed to St. Pete from
the MAC but the Rockets' 31-29 season-ending loss to Akron led to a bid
for Ohio.
ECU, which moves to the AAC after the current school
year, could make a return trip to the Beef O'Brady's Bowl in the future.
The AAC will supply a team to the bowl during each year
from 2014 to 2019. The Atlantic Coast Conference will provide the
opposing team in 2014, 2016 and 2018, while a C-USA representative will
play in the game in 2015, 2017 and 2019.
Beef O'Brady's is a restaurant chain. North Carolina
locations include Fuquay-Varina and two in the Fayetteville area.
Central Florida defeated Ball State of the MAC, 45-20, as
the Knights departed C-USA in last year's Beef O'Brady's Bowl.
Past champions also include South Florida (2008), Rutgers
(2009), Louisville (2010) and Marshall (2011).
The 2013 contest will mark the first afternoon kickoff in
the St. Pete event, a factor that should allow fans an even earlier
start on postgame travel plans.
ECU
basketball
coach
Jeff
Lebo
and
players
Antonio
Robinson
and
Akeem
Richmond
met
with
the
press
after
the
Pirates'
win
over
Fayetteville
State:
The
Brian Bailey Show
airs on Pirate Radio
1250 and 930 on Mondays at
6:30 p.m. This week's
guests were ECU
assistant basketball
coach Ken Potosnak
and Rose High School
football coach Dave Wojtecki:
The
Steve Logan Show
airs on
FM 103.7 and
FM 94.1 on Mondays
from 6-8 p.m. Replay
this week's show:
