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Bailey's
Take on Pirate Sports
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From the Anchor Desk
Tuesday, October 25, 2005
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By Brian Bailey |
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Coach groping for cure for
ground game woes
�2005 Bonesville.net
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Replay
the archive of Monday night's Brian Bailey Show,
with guest Phil Petty. |
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Select audio clip |
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 Replay Skip
Holtz's Monday press conference (recorded by
Brian Bailey). |
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Select
audio clip |
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East Carolina's inability to
run the football continues to bother Coach Skip Holtz.
It�s a problem without an easy
answer. Execution, depth, talent and several other factors all filter into
the lack of a Pirate running game.
�It puts a lot of pressure on
play calling,� said Holtz. �When you can just call a base run and get four
or five yards, it makes things so much easier. I think there are several
things we need to do to run the football better, and I think it all starts
with our depth.�
�We�re getting into the season
where guys get banged up,� Holtz continued. �And we just don�t have the
depth where we can play three or four guys back there so we can keep people
fresh. There is such a drop off from our first guys to our next line guys.
It�s just something that we have to address for the future.�
ECU really looked good running
the football against a defense known for stopping the run. That was the
Southern Miss game, when it was turnovers, not the lack of a running game,
that did the Pirates in.
Don�t think for a minute Holtz
and staff haven�t tried different things in order to run the football. Holtz
has a laundry list of different ways to skin this cat.
�We have tried gap schemes,
zone schemes, we�ve tried to spread defenses out, we�ve tried to bring
people in, we�ve tried to play in the �I,� and we have had some success,�
Holtz explained. �We just really need to do a better job with consistency.�
Heads you win, tails I lose
If you flip a coin 100 times,
odds are that you�ll get 50 coins that land on heads and 50 that land on
tails, or something very close.
It should be close to a
break-even proposition.
However, the Pirates are 0-7
on the coin flip this season.
How do you explain that?
The visiting captains make the
call for Pirate home games, but Pirate captains are 0-4 on the road this
season.
I�ve always been a fan of
calling heads on a coin flip, but Coach Holtz has a different opinion.
�I always call tails,� said
Holtz. �I was 10-1 at one point, but things have been different this year.
But I know when I make the decision to change over to heads, then the flips
will go the other way. We�re just snake bitten when it comes to coin
tosses.�
Pinkney continues solid play
East Carolina has only thrown
three interceptions this season. That�s good for fourth in the nation, just
behind Alabama, Northwestern and Central Michigan, which have all thrown
just two picks this season.
That�s an exceptionally good
number when you look at how many times the Pirates have been in situations
where they had to throw the football.
Pinkney aired it out 33 times
in the second half in Saturday�s 27-24 loss to Memphis.
�We just didn�t get off to a
good start,� said Pinkney. �We really cranked it up in the second half. I
just hope we can get it going early this week.�
Season full of Homecomings
The Pirates host Central
Florida for Homecoming this week. But this is not the Pirates' first
homecoming game.
�We�ve been to three or four
homecomings,� said Holtz. �We just haven�t been to our own yet. (Wide
Receiver) Coach Donnie Kieffer said we ought to build our own float and take
it on the road with us.�
Holtz and the Pirates look
forward to their own homecoming.
�It�s going to be great,�
Holtz said. �It�s a very special week where a lot of the alumni get to come
back and see so many of the changes in the university, changes in the
athletic department... you put a football game in that deal, it's just a lot
of fun; I�m really excited about homecoming.�
I agree. It�s just a special
day, where you see so many people that you only see once every year or so.
It should be a pretty even
match-up, as East Carolina goes for its fourth win of the season.
Maybe the Pirates will win the
coin flip as well!
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Brian Bailey.
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02/23/2007 01:32:10 AM |
