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AAC Bowl Scoreboard |
Miami Beach Bowl
Marlins Park
Miami, FL
Dec. 22 • 2 p.m. • ESPN
Memphis 55,
BYU 48 (2OT)
Attendance: 20,761 |
Bitcoin St. Petersburg Bowl
Tropicana Field
St. Petersburg, FL
Dec. 26 • 8 p.m. • ESPN
N.C. State
34, Central Florida 27
Attendance: 26,675 |
Northrop Grumman Military Bowl
Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium
Annapolis, MD
Dec. 27 • 1 p.m. • ESPN
Virginia
Tech 33, Cincinnati 17
Attendance: 34,277 |
Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl
Amon G. Carter Stadium
Fort Worth, TX
Jan. 2 • Noon • ESPN
Houston 35,
Pittsburgh 34
Attendance:
37,888 |
Birmingham Bowl
Legion Field
Birmingham, AL
Jan. 3 • Noon • ESPN
Florida 28,
East Carolina 20
Attendance: 30,083 |
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BASKETBALL |
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Whisnant leads Pirates past
UNCG |
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GREENVILLE — East Carolina
built an early lead and
defeated UNC-Greensboro
71-50 in Williams Arena at
Minges Coliseum on Sunday
afternoon. Terry Whisnant
scored 14 of his 17 points
in the first half as the
Pirates led 45-26 at
intermission. ...
More... |
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Next: ECU vs. Tulane
| Wed., 12 pm |
The Season |
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BASKETBALL |
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ECU gets untracked, downs
Rattlers |
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GREENVILLE — After trailing
winless Florida A&M 29-27 at
the half, East Carolina
outscored the Rattlers 48-28
after intermission for a
75-57 nonconference win at
Williams Arena in Minges
Coliseum on Monday night.
ECU was led by Caleb White
with 19 points as the
Pirates improved to 6-6.
Michel-Ofik Nzege added 14
points and a team-high six
rebounds. ...
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BASKETBALL |
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Pirates struggle at UNCW |
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WILMINGTON — East Carolina
made just 28.1 percent of
its field goal attempts and
took a 66-54 nonconference
loss at UNC-Wilmington on
Saturday night. The Seahawks
blocked 11 shots in
improving to 5-3. Terry
Whisnant led ECU (5-6) with
18 points and Paris
Roberts-Campbell added 11 in
his first game this season
coming off a knee injury.
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MULTIMEDIA |
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Audio: Coach Ruff Presser |
 ECU
coach Ruffin McNeill spoke
with the news media on
Thursday about the Pirates'
Jan. 3 matchup with Florida
in the Birmingham Bowl
(courtesy of Pirate Radio
1250 via Brian Bailey):
Select
clip... |
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By
Brian Bailey
©2014 Bonesville.net
All rights reserved.
View ECU's
2014 football schedule
VIEW MOBILE VERSION OF THIS PAGE
The East Carolina Pirates arrived in Birmingham on Monday to kick off
bowl week in this Alabama city.
ECU will face Florida from the SEC on Saturday. The Pirates go into the
game as a touchdown underdog.
ECU coach Ruffin McNeill loves to take his team to a bowl game. It’s not
just for the game, rather for the entire bowl experience.
This team got a taste of college football history on its first day on
location. The experience started in Birmingham on Monday and then
quickly moved on to Tuscaloosa. The Pirate players were able to tour the
facility of the Alabama Crimson Tide and also got a chance take in the
Bear Bryant museum.
Legion Field will host Saturday’s game. The Pirates aren’t scheduled to
hit the historic stadium until Friday’s pre-bowl press conference and
scheduled walk-through.
Instead, the Pirates will call Hoover High School home for practices
starting on Tuesday. Hoover is one of the nation’s top high school
programs and was highlighted in an MTV reality series in 2006 entitled
“Two-a-days.”
In past years these bowl practices have been used as dress rehearsals,
with the real work being done in Greenville before the trip to the bowl
city. That’s pretty much what I expect this year as well. The real work
has been done. It’s time now to polish up some things and get ready for
the game in five days.
I have always thought that bowl games and teams' attitudes often go
hand-in-hand. Most times it’s the team that wants the game more than the
win.
With that said, this Florida team is very difficult to gauge. D.J.
Durkin is finishing out his Gator days as the interim coach for the
departed Will Muschamp.
Will this Gator team play hard for an interim coach?
Does this Gator team have anything to play for other than pride?
On the other hand, this is an East Carolina team still smarting from
the loss at home on senior night to UCF. The team
wants nothing more than to send Shane Carden, Justin Hardy and some 16
other seniors out as winners in this Birmingham Bowl.
The Pirates get back to work on the practice field on Tuesday. It’s a
short week, with plenty to do for the players.
The team hotel is the Hyatt-Regency adjacent to the Galleria Mall,
giving players a chance to cruise thru the mall for belated Christmas
gifts or to take advantage of those after-Christmas sales. The coaches'
wives were especially interested in the chance at more holiday shopping.
This will be my 14th bowl during my career, and 12 of them have been
covering East Carolina. For obvious reasons, my favorite bowl experience
in terms of setting was
the Sheraton Hawai’i Bowl in 2007.
Last year’s Beef ‘O’ Brady’s Bowl was probably my
second favorite. There’s an obvious advantage for bowl games with
beaches involved.
My all-time favorite bowl experience was the 1992 Peach Bowl, again for
obvious reasons. That was early in my career and went a long way into
molding me into the person and the sportscaster that I became.
I simply fell in love with the Pirate program, with East Carolina
University, with Greenville, NC, all because of a football team that
never backed down.
Bowl games are great rewards, but winning those bowl games is a
difficult challenge most years.
Here’s looking forward to adding another bowl chapter this week in
Birmingham.
BB
East
Carolina has landed one of
North Carolina's top college
prospects, albeit a 2012
model. The Pirates went back
in the stacks to snare James
Summers, who quarterbacked
Greensboro's Page High
School to the state 4-AA
title in 2011 as a senior.
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