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East Carolina will be back in the friendly confines of
Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium on Saturday for the first time in over a month.
For the first time this season, the Pirates will take on a
ranked team. Texas Christian is 8-1 overall, 5-1 in Conference USA, and
ranked 22nd in both of the national polls.
ECU coach Steve Logan says this might be the most talented
team the Pirates have seen all season.
“Maybe they are,” explained Logan. “They have basically the
same defense that we saw last year, but they are all a year older. They have
lots of talent, especially on that side of the football.”
TCU is an 8-point favorite in the game.
The Horned Frogs lead the nation in rushing defense,
averaging 56.2 yards per game. TCU is also 2nd nationally in total defense.
The Pirates, meantime, have struggled running the football
all season. This looks to be another uphill climb to try and move the ball
on the ground. However, the Pirates have played well enough to win a couple
of more games this year on offense.
On defense, ECU's struggles continued with the loss to UAB.
As much yardage as the Pirates gave up, they really needed only one big stop
late in order to have a chance to win.
They just couldn’t get that stop.
After tying the game, the special teams pinned UAB back on
itsr own eleven-yard line. A three and out and a punt would have given the
Pirates great field position with a chance to win.
Unfortunately, UAB went right down the field and won the
game.
That one drive tells the story of the Pirate football season
in a nutshell.
When East Carolina needs a stop, it just can’t get it. The
bottom line is that defenses win championships and a championship team this
is not.
“At some point somebody has just got to make a play,” said
Logan. “We had people in the right spot, but we have to make a tackle when
we have a chance behind the line. We just didn’t get it done, it’s that
simple.”
Pirate lineman Hosea James was equally upset.
“We knew what we had to do and we didn’t do it," he said.
"It’s very disappointing. If we can just stop the explosion plays, then I
think we can have a good defense. But we have to stop them, and we didn’t.”
The Pirate defense didn’t have to win the game at UAB. But
it did need to keep it close enough to give the team a chance.
Don’t look now, but TCU is a lot better then UAB. Let’s hope
the Pirates can circle the wagons and come back strong.
I was in Myrtle Beach this weekend for a huge season ending
college showcase fastpitch softball tournament with the team that I coach
that includes my daughter.
The game plan all along was to listen to the East Carolina
football game on the radio — to try and coach third base with an earpiece
tuned the Pirate Sports Radio Network. Heavy rains set in, though, and the
plans changed dramatically.
We had a lull in the tournament, so three of us decided to
set sights on a satellite dish to watch some Pirate football. An ECU
professor whose daughter pitches for the team, my 11-year old son Ryne, and
I ventured through the storm to find ECU football.
We stopped in at the first sports bar we could find. Those
folks were very nice, and told us that the place to find the Pirates was
Droopy's.
I usually don’t take my young son “bar hopping”, but this
was different. In fact, it had already been an eventful day for Ryno, as
earlier in the day we had caught some of the N.C. State-Virginia game at the
Hooters in Myrtle Beach.
It took most of the day to get that grin off of his face.
I’m sure that show and tell for his sixth grade class was really interesting
on Monday.
Droopy's was just what the doctor ordered. We walked in and
the Pirate game was on the television just above the door. Several Pirate
fans were enjoying the game and a couple of folks even came over to welcome
us and to tell me that they enjoyed my work on bonesville.net.
The back room at Droopy’s provided us with everything we
needed on a rainy day. We had the Pirate football game on, with a foosball
table, a ping-pong table, a pool table and a dartboard.
The three of us played games and watched football, and
almost pulled out a Pirate victory.
My thanks to “Droopy’s” for helping me make the best of a
lost Saturday in the rain!
