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Bailey's
Take on Conference USA
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From the Anchor Desk
Friday, December 7, 2001
By Brian Bailey
Sports Anchor of WNCT-TV 9 |
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It's Spring Time in December for
Pirates
©2001 Bonesville.net
Back on the Field
It certainly was good
to see the footballs flying at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium on Thursday afternoon.
Coach Steve Logan can
only hope for this kind of weather for Spring practice. Temperatures in the
70’s gave this a “Spring Football” type of feel.
Logan has always used
the bowl practices to work with the younger players. It was interesting to
see all of the seniors after practice, watching the young players in a live
scrimmage.
“This gives us a
great chance to get ready for the Spring,” said Logan after practice. “We
give the defense two or three different sets, and the offense a handful of
plays, and then we have at it. They have worked hard and this gives us a
chance to give them an extra look.”
The football season
is a marathon of workouts and practices. With that in mind, you might think
that many on this Pirate team would just as soon sit out the bowl season.
That wasn’t the case at all on Thursday.
“I was really
surprised, that it looked like we came back without a lot of rust,” said
quarterback David Garrard. “Our routes were pretty sharp, and now it’s just
a matter of keeping the timing as we go to Mobile.”
Spring has certainly
come early to Eastern North Carolina. Or at least a taste of it this
December has really been nice.
Expect Different Styles in GMAC
Bowl
I really expect the
Thundering Herd to get a big dose of another kind of Thunder in this GMAC
Bowl. The Herd hasn’t stopped the run all season and no team has stopped
Leonard Henry in 2001.
On the other hand,
the Pirates are gearing up for an all out assault through the air by
Marshall.
“They aren’t afraid
to go to the shotgun and throw the ball 40 or 50 times,” said Logan. “Our
defense is in for a real challenge.”
Logan may even have
to re-think his strategy on offense. If he keeps the football in Leonard’s
hands then he runs huge chunks of time off of the clock.
Logan would much
rather score in one play then in 15 plays. The Pirates, however, have shown
that they can’t keep pace in a scoring fest.
“We have something
to prove,” said Henry. “I really think that we will be focused in Mobile.
We’ll have fun, but we know that we have a job to do. You haven’t seen the
best Pirate football this year just yet.”
Rev up the L-Train in
Mobile, and ride Mr. Henry to the GMAC Bowl title!
Southern Miss, TCU Battle for Final
Berth
The exact scenario
that we talked about early last week somehow played itself out: The only
Conference USA bowl slot still to be decided is Houston's
galleryfurniture.com Bowl, with the winner of tonight’s Southern Miss-TCU
game getting the invitation.
The Golden Eagles are
a ten-point favorite, but the Horned Frogs stunned Louisville to get back
into the bowl chase.
Jeff Bower certainly
didn’t make any friends at the GMAC Bowl with his comments last week after
the folks in Mobile snubbed his Golden Eagles.
Those remarks may
come back to bite the Golden Eagle coach. You have to think that the GMAC
may certainly look another way next year, even if
Southern Miss is in the running.
Here’s hoping that
TCU pulls another upset. The galleryfurniture.com Bowl would then get TCU
vs. Texas A&M in their bowl. An all Texas match-up would certainly help the
Houston cause.
Battle in Bama
If you’re a tee shirt
or cap buff, you have to like the “official” tee shirt and cap logo. The
game is referred to as the “Battle in Bama.”
It features both
teams’ helmets with the bowl logo between the teams. It probably won’t sell
as well as the Peach Bowl shirts sold after the 1991 football season, but it
is a nice logo.
By the way, how many
of you still have your Peach Bowl caps or tee shirts? Somehow, you just
can’t throw away a memory of a lifetime, can you?
Send an e-mail message to
Brian Bailey.
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archives.
02/23/2007 01:19:57 AM
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