From the Anchor Desk Tuesday, December 1, 2015 - By Brian Bailey WNCT-TV 9 Sports Director

By Brian Bailey
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East Carolina’s football season came to a disappointing end on Saturday as the Pirates fell to Cincinnati 19-16.

It wasn’t the ending this team, especially the seniors, was looking for.

However, the game itself was pretty much the season in a nutshell. The Pirates had plenty of chances, but when the game was on the line this East Carolina football team just couldn’t make the key play.

One of the big problems in the American Athletic Conference matchup was the Bearcats' success on third down. The ‘Cats were 15-22 on third down conversions. That’s 15 different times the Pirate defense had a chance to get the offense back on the field, but the play just wasn’t made.

Cincinnati was having too much success on first down as well. Those third down conversions were pretty much all in the most makeable category.

“I thought it was a well played game,” said Pirate coach Ruffin McNeill afterwards. [Cincinnati] has a very talented team. We knew that all week. But our kids fought hard. I thought we left some opportunities out there first half and second half. I thought they scored the first touchdown, and then we held them to field goals after that in the second half. The kids fought hard. The kids put a lot into this season and to the game.”

This team was behind the eight ball from two weeks into fall camp, when starting quarterback Kurt Benkert went down with that knee injury. Cody Keith stayed hurt before he quit the team. That left Blake Kemp and juco receiver James Summers for first year offensive coordinator Dave Nichol to work with.

Nichol got great play, at times, from both quarterbacks. What he never really found with either was the consistency to put points on the scoreboard.

That lack of consistency was probably the most frustrating part of this football season.

East Carolina showed signs that, despite losing Benkert, it could play with anyone in the country.

The Pirates had Florida on the ropes in Gainesville. The Gators will meet Alabama for the SEC championship this week.

Brigham Young went 9-3 on the year. The Pirates certainly had their chances in that 45-38 loss.

The AAC had four teams in the Top 25 this season. Navy had its way with ECU, but the Pirates led Temple until late in the game. East Carolina did not play Memphis or Houston. South Florida, perhaps the league’s hottest team to end the year, barely slipped by ECU late in the season.

The Pirates may be facing growing pains in moving to the AAC. It was very noticeable against Cincinnati in the finale, with the Bearcats dominating the line of scrimmage.

“They’ve got size upfront and mass upfront,” said McNeill. “That’s the difference in this league. I’ve been trying to tell everyone that. That’s an NFL line they have. Three of the five are going to 'the league.' But again, we’ve got to hold up. Eventually we’ll get there; our kids will get to that size and hold up there.”

I know this about Ruffin McNeill and his staff. This is a group that will work as hard as any coach and staff to turn this thing back around.

McNeill already has some nice verbal commitments for 2016. Sure, there will be some changes as there always are. Coach Ruff likes to say he’s building brick by brick. That foundation is what will hold this program together in lean years.

McNeill knows his program has faced more adversity in this one season then he has in his previous five years at ECU.

“Right before the season started, [Kurt Benkert] went down, Cody Keith got hurt, injuries here and there, but we weren’t making any excuses,” said McNeill. "That’s reality. This conference is a conference – and our nonconference schedule is a schedule that has a small margin of error, but there’s a point where we’ve still got to build.”

That building continues with recruiting and winter conditioning to come.

This Pirate program will hit the ground running in the spring.

No one really picked Temple to win the East Division in the American this year. No one will probably pick East Carolina to win it in 2016.

But you had better believe that winning the American will be the goal next season.

The Pirates will have a chip on their shoulder after missing the postseason for the first time since 2011.

Here’s to a quick off-season and another year of Pirate football come August.

BB