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BAILEY'S TAKE
ON PIRATE SPORTS
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From the Anchor Desk
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
By Brian Bailey |
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Time to reflect,
regroup, reload
By
Brian Bailey
©2008 Bonesville.net
All rights reserved.
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East Carolina football
coach Skip Holtz has had
his share of challenges
since arriving in
Greenville.
None of those
challenges, though, may
compare to what he has
to encounter this week.
What looked to be the
second coming of “The
Dream Season” after a
3-0 start has turned
“nightmarish” with
losses to N.C. State and
Houston.
There is plenty of blame
to go around. The
Pirates just don’t have
the swagger they had in
the first two games. In
those wins over Virginia
Tech and West Virginia,
the Pirates pushed
people around and made a
statement.
The Tulane win was a
survival victory on the
road.
Early this season, ECU
certainly played to win.
Of late, at least at
times, it looked like
the Pirates played not
to lose. Ask any coach,
because there is a huge
difference in the two.
The thing that makes
college football so
magical is also the
thing that drives many
fans so crazy. Take
Southern Cal last
Thursday night. The
Trojans' run to the
national title game was
derailed by an Oregon
State team that was a 25
1/2 point underdog. Last
year, Stanford beat USC
as a 41-point dog.
To say every dog has his
day is an
understatement.
East Carolina's issues
start with the injury
situation. While there
are other linebackers in
the program, there
aren’t many teams in the
country that have a
player the quality of
Quintin Cotton, much
less one on their bench.
The Pirates have some
good young players at
linebacker, but there is
certainly an
understandable drop-off.
How much does the
Dominique Lindsay injury
hurt the offense? Here’s
a senior leader that is
well respected in the
huddle. Brandon Simmons
is a bruiser and has
played well. Norman
Whitley needs more
touches. Jonathan
Williams fumbles too
much, and thus spends
more time in the Holtz
doghouse than as the
coach's pet.
There are more injuries
and even more players
that are playing with
all kinds of nicks and
bruises. The walking
wounded will certainly
welcome the chance to
have a weekend off.
Don’t expect a
“lolly-pop” camp from
Holtz in the off-week.
Holtz has seen that his
team hasn’t been as
physical as it was at
the start of the season
and will look to change
that mindset this week.
I was impressed with
Houston. The Cougars
really only stopped
themselves most of the
afternoon. Houston
arrived in Greenville at
just 1-3, but after
getting the win they
left Dowdy-Ficklen with
sights set on competing
for the Conference USA
Western Division crown.
That parallels the goal
at East Carolina. Skip
Holtz and company have
to plug the holes in the
Pirate ship, turn this
thing around, and win
the league's Eastern
Division.
Marshall leads the East
at 2-0 but lost to West
Virginia 27-3 in the
“Friends of Coal Bowl”
this past weekend. The
Herd has wins in league
play over Memphis and
Southern Miss.
East Carolina will host
Marshall as a part of a
big five-game slate in
November. Four of those
games are against teams
in C-USA’s East
Division. Three are on
the road.
The Pirates open the
month at Central Florida
on November 2nd in a
Sunday night game. Six
days later, they host
Marshall. Then, ECU goes
on the road to take on
Southern Miss and UAB.
The last game in
November features
Texas-El Paso in
Greenville on the Friday
of Thanksgiving weekend.
Obviously nobody likes
to lose. Dallas Cowboys
quarterback Tony Romo
perhaps said it best.
When asked if this was
the year that the
Cowboys would finally
win a playoff game for
the first time since
1996, he put things in
perspective.
“We have to get there
first,” Romo said.
“We’re going to enjoy
the journey. We’ll have
our ups and downs, but
I’m going to enjoy each
and every week out
there.”
Redskins fans will be
quick to point out that
he probably didn’t enjoy
this past week all that
much!
Football seasons all
have their separate
journeys. I don’t think
this team was as good as
it looked against West
Virginia. I don’t think
this team was as bad as
it looked against
Houston. The real
Pirates are somewhere in
between.
A conference title is
still the goal. It’s a
very attainable goal.
Enjoy the journey, even
with its ups and downs.
BB
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09/30/2008 02:50:55 AM |
Replay
last night's
Brian Bailey Show with guest ACC
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