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Bailey's
Take on Pirate Sports
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From the Anchor Desk
Tuesday, October 15, 2002
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By Brian Bailey
Sports Anchor of WNCT-TV 9 |
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Pirates striving for maturity the hard way
©2002 Bonesville.net
Usually, an off week for a football team means a little bit
of a break.
That’s not the case this year at East Carolina.
Steve Logan has still not gotten over his team’s play at
West Virginia, and the Pirates continue to pay a price on the practice field
that the coach believes must be paid in order for this squad to grow up in a
hurry.
"If our football team had maturity about it, we would not be
doing what we are doing,” explained Logan at his weekly news conference on
campus. “This is a very immature group.
"I do not like to
practice the way we are practicing. I don't think that it is particularly
conducive to a lot of things. But the core element of football is physical
toughness and that has to be developed. Normally we could develop it without
doing what we're doing, but with this particular group, we were unable to do
that.”
Logan’s frustrations with this team on the maturity front continue. He
maintains that this team didn’t handle several things well early in the
season, thus the change in the way this team practices.
“We have made a little progress and continue on this track until we get
it straight,” Logan added. “Whatever they see on game day and how they
react, I don't know. We will be missing a few players from time to time
because there are going to be people getting hurt in these practices. That's
the price we're going to have to pay.”
Logan went on to say that his normal practice mode is to never go in full
pads, but with this particular team, that’s just not possible.
Pirates have early respect for Bulls
East Carolina has won thirteen consecutive homecoming games.
This time out, the Pirates won’t be favored to make it fourteen in a row.
East Carolina is an early two-point underdog against South Florida.
“I know first hand that they are very good,” said quarterback Paul Troth. “I
watched them in the Oklahoma game and you can tell they have some great
athletes, especially up front.”
One Pirate player told me that South Florida looks a lot like West Virginia
on tape. If odds makers hear that, that line may move several points.
The Bulls return 56 letterman and 21 starters from last year’s team, which
finished 8-3. They are led by quarterback Marquel Blackwell, who has thrown
for 1300 yards and six touchdowns.
“Our fans are going to see a lot of Marcus Crandell in Blackwell,” said
Logan. “This is a kid that moves around a bunch, throws a nice ball and is
impossible to sack.”
The Bulls are also 17th in the nation in rushing defense and 19th nationally
in total defense.
But don’t believe everything you read in analyzing stats. East Carolina is
12th in the nation in Pass Defense, and 14th nationally in pass efficiency
defense. Obviously, this is more of a case of teams not needing to put the
ball in the air, as the Pirates are also 109th in the country against the
run.
Be sure to be there for Homecoming
If you miss this game, you won’t see the Pirates again until almost
Thanksgiving.
The Pirates travel to Louisville, then take a weekend off, then go to
Houston and then UAB before returning to Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium to host Texas
Christian.
The third off-week of the season comes on November 2nd, and that’s the game
that was moved to December 6th for television.
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Brian Bailey.
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archives.
02/23/2007 01:23:05 AM
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