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BAILEY'S
TAKE ON PIRATE SPORTS
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From the
Anchor Desk
Tuesday,
September 27, 2011
By Brian
Bailey |
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Turnovers and Tar Heels on Pirates' agenda
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East
Division |
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SCHOOL |
C-USA |
ALL |
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ECU
Marshall
UCF
USM
Memphis
UAB |
1-0
1-0
0-0
0-1
0-1
0-2 |
1-2
1-3
2-2
3-1
1-3
0-3 |
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West
Division |
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SCHOOL |
C-USA |
ALL |
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SMU
Tulsa
Houston
Tulane
Rice
UTEP |
2-0
1-0
0-0
1-1
0-0
0-1 |
3-1
1-3
4-0
2-2
1-2
2-2 |
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By
Brian Bailey
©2011 Bonesville.net
All rights reserved.
Football is definitely a
funny game.
East Carolina loses two
games and everyone seems to be pretty satisfied.
The Pirates win a game and
fans are lining up at the Greene Street Bridge.
Sure, players and coaches
certainly weren’t happy with the losses to start the season. The average
fan, though, knew the Pirates had played two of the nation’s best and
were very competitive in both games.
For the first time this
year, ECU was favored this past Saturday. Turnovers often even the
playing field. Seven turnovers are unheard of in victory, yet the
Pirates were able to persevere and get
the much needed win over UAB
despite themselves.
“We grinded, fought and
found a way to win,” said ECU coach Ruffin McNeill at his weekly news
conference on Monday. [Replay
press conference audio...] “With all the mistakes,
turnovers and mental errors, we were still able to find a way to win. A
lot of teams would have lost that game.
"As a matter of fact, we
may have lost that game last year with that many turnovers and mental
errors. But the kids found a way and stayed the course.”
A sellout crowd watched
almost in horror as the Blazers came close to stealing a win away from
the home team. McNeill was so impressed with the crowd that he presented
the “crowd” with a game ball on Monday.
The turnovers are a huge
deal for this club. Turnovers can turn a winning season into a losing
one very quickly.
McNeill was quick to
address that situation.
“A few of the fumbles were
due to technique,” said McNeill. “We have to make sure we keep the ball
high and tight. We worked on that last night. Three of the fumbles
occurred when we were for fighting for extra yards, but you still have
to tuck it away and keep it tight.”
If it were me, I’d give
each one of my skill players a football this week to carry to class. I’d
challenge the student body at East Carolina to try and strip the ball
away. If a ball gets stripped, the player that loses the ball would run
extra gassers. I’d give ECU football tee shirts to any student that came
up with a strip.
Obviously this isn’t the
answer, but it would get the entire student body involved, wouldn’t it?
As for the North Carolina
game, the Pirates are a touchdown underdog. The best part about a game
like this is that it involves so many players with Eastern North
Carolina ties.
Ruffin McNeill was one of
those players in his time as a student athlete at East Carolina.
“I think anytime you play
somebody within the state, it’s always good,” said McNeill. “Emotion for
our fans will be high. It has always been a game you have to be ready to
play. I know they talk about it being a basketball institution, but
they’ve done a great job football-wise. They always field contending and
talented teams that are well coached.
"We know we’ll have to be
on our ‘A’ game.”
Fervor will be
super-charged, especially with that 8:00 p.m. kickoff.
The formula is rather
basic. This East Carolina football team has shown it can play with any
foe when it doesn't turn the ball over. On the flip side, the Pirates
can lose to any team if
the turnover trend continues.
There’s a fine line
between going after that extra yard and fumbling the football.
“We have to continue to
play hard and smart,” added McNeill. “We have to take care of the
football and take it away on defense. We must also compete, compete and
compete some more. We have to work as hard as we can each play and let
our conditioning take over in the fourth quarter.”
The Pirates will have to
take better care of the football this week or that fourth quarter won’t
really matter.
BB
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Brian Bailey Archives
09/27/2011 04:15 AM |
Replay
Monday night's BRIAN BAILEY SHOW,
featuring ECU running backs coach and
special
teams
coordinator CLAY McGUIRE. Eastern North Carolina's longest running
sports radio call-in show airs each Monday
night at 7 p.m. on Pirate Radio 1250 and
930.