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BAILEY'S TAKE
ON PIRATE SPORTS
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From the Anchor Desk
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
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By Brian Bailey |
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Pirates must keep eyes
on the prize
By
Brian Bailey
©2007 Bonesville.net
All rights reserved.
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North Carolina State beat East
Carolina on Saturday afternoon. The big fear now at ECU is that the loss
might take enough steam away from this team so that it falls again this week
to UAB.
“We can’t let them beat us
twice,” said Skip Holtz at his weekly news conference on Monday. “We all
hated to lose that game, but we have to put that loss behind us. I told the
guys to come to work Tuesday with all of the thoughts of the N.C. State loss
behind them.”
The coach knows that will be
easier said then done. East Carolina was riding high after the win at
Texas-El Paso last week. This was a team that always seemed to be able to
take a team’s best shot and still figure out a way to win.
That script looked like it
would stay the same when the Pirates rallied from 21-0 down to cut the lead
to a single point early in the third quarter.
But soon after, that winning
script went by the wayside. The Wolfpack made the plays to win, and the
Pirates were left to wonder just what went wrong.
There was certainly plenty of
blame to go around. The Pirates had more drops in this game then they had
had all season. Rob Kass held onto the football way too long a couple of
times, and his reads struggled too.
Coach Holtz said there would
be no pity party. His team and the Pirate Nation must turn all energy toward
the shot at a Conference USA championship.
“There are two kinds of teams
playing in November,” Holtz said. “Those that are trying to win
championships and go to bowl games, and those relegated to the role of
spoiler. We are right in this thing in C-USA and hopefully we’ll get some
help with Southern Miss down the road.”
ECU, which lost to USM earlier
this season, is tied with the Golden Eagles for the C-USA East Division
lead. If Southern Miss stumbles down the stretch, the Pirates can take the
division by taking care of business over the next four games, all against
beatable foes.
Like N.C. State, UAB comes to
town with a bad record. Also like the Pack, the Blazers have played several
good programs, opening their season with losses at Michigan State and at
Florida State on the road.
“I think this is a very
talented football team,” said Holtz. “They are young and they have made a
lot of mistakes. Still, they have a lot of talent on that roster.”
East Carolina had had some
outstanding crowds this season. That trend should continue as ECU celebrates
Homecoming this week.
“For most schools, the
Homecoming crowd is their biggest of the season,” Holtz continued. “But
we’ve had some sellouts, and so we can only get to that figure as far as
fans in the stands are concerned. It’s really a great week, because so many
of our alumni get the chance to return to campus to see all of the
improvements and such. It’s really a great time for a college and their
football team."
Here’s hoping the Wolfpack
hangover ends at practice by Thursday night and that the Pirates take
another big step in C-USA on Saturday night against UAB.
BB
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04/21/2008 07:03:33 PM |
