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Bailey's
Take on Pirate Sports
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From the Anchor Desk
Friday, October 4, 2002
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By Brian Bailey
Sports Anchor of WNCT-TV 9 |
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'Turnover Bowl' appropriate name for Saturday
battle
�2002 Bonesville.net
The two worst teams in the nation in turnover margin will
square off on Saturday in Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium.
We�ve talked all year about East Carolina's problems with
turnovers. The only team of 117 in the nation worse than the Pirates is
Army.
Last week, the Black Knights played a pretty good game
against Southern Mississippi. However, seven interceptions against the
Golden Eagle defense were just too much to overcome.
The Pirates are at minus-9 in turnover margin, while Army sits at minus-10.
East Carolina has yet to recover from the monsoon of
turnovers it suffered in its first two games, at Duke and at Wake Forest.
Paul Troth says it all starts at his position.
�I think I�m getting better,� said Troth. �I also think the
offense is coming on. But again, we have to take care of the football and
that begins with me.�
Look for the team that best takes care of the football to
come away with a win on Saturday. Don�t expect a mistake-free game, but
hopefully for East Carolina the Army turnover problems will continue.
Despite the turnover issue, ECU has been installed as a
21-point favorite. The last time the Pirates were a double-digit favorite
they lost at Duke.
Players take responsibility on
defense
Don�t think for a minute that East Carolina�s problems on
defense didn�t sting each player in its own way.
I talked to several players this week about the problems on
defense, and each one said it was a combination of problems. The think I was
most impressed with, though, is that these guys also took responsibility for
the disaster on defense against the Mountaineers.
�Some of it may have been schemes and execution, but we
still have to tackle better regardless,� said Pirate linebacker Ja�Waren
Blair.
Blair and several others showed their displeasure in their
play against the Mountaineers.
From what I have been able to figure out, there were some
problems both in scheme and in effort, and both were to be corrected this
week in practice.
�We fared much better with our blitz package,� said Pirate
coach Steve Logan. �We had some young linebackers on the back side not doing
what they were supposed to do. We fared much better in our blitz packages,
because we took the thinking out of the mix. Unfortunately, you can�t blitz
on every down.�
Some of the players hinted that they didn�t think practices
were �physical enough� of late.
�When I first got here, we hit in every practice,� said
Blair. �We used to carry that same mentality into the games. I thing we�ll
get back to that same practice this week.�
Logan hinted at something similar.
�We have lots of work to do, and it begins on the practice
field,� he said.
Look for Todd Berry to run that same shotgun draw that
worked so well for the Mountaineers last week. The Pirates, though, should
be able to shut it down after plenty of work in practice this week.
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02/23/2007 01:23:03 AM
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