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BAILEY'S TAKE
ON PIRATE SPORTS
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From the Anchor Desk
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
By Brian Bailey |
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Little rest after
season-saving win
By
Brian Bailey
©2008 Bonesville.net
All rights reserved.
For every huge hit in
East Carolina's Sunday
night win over Central
Florida, there was a
dropped pass. This
certainly wasn’t a
masterpiece, and may
have provided more
questions than answers.
Who gets the start at
quarterback this week?
Neither Rob Kass nor
Patrick Pinkney was on
their “A” games. In
fact, Kass reentered the
game late after a UCF
turnover only to throw
an interception.
Pirate coach Skip Holtz
has had success with
Kass in late game
situations before. Kass
fired that bullet that
tied the game at
Texas-El Paso last year.
Kass also hit Jamar
Bryant on the vertical
route that set up the
game-winning field goal
against Boise State in
the Hawaii Bowl.
“We’ve got to be more
consistent if we’re
going to turn and run
the ball,” said Holtz
after the 13-10 win in
overtime. “Certainly our
passing game wasn’t very
impressive with sacks,
dropped passes and
missed opportunities
with open receivers.”
Since it's election day,
I cast my ballot for
Pinkney. His arm isn’t
as strong, but his
ability to move around
buys him extra time.
Stalwart offensive
lineman Stanley Bryant’s
injury really hurts, and
adds to the need to
feature Pinkney’s
footwork under center.
I think we would have
seen Dwayne Harris take
some snaps to try to get
things going, but Harris
is evidently still
nursing that shoulder
injury. He wasn’t nearly
as much of the focal
point of the offense as
he has been. When he’s
totally healthy, he can
really make things
happen from the shotgun,
similar to what the
Miami Dolphins do with
their “Wildcat” offense.
I thought the Pirate
special teams did a nice
job for the most part.
Matt Dodge did have one
shank, but he boomed
several other punts and
put UCF in tough field
position a couple of
times. Dodge had eight
punts on the night with
an average of 47 yards
per kick, with a longest
punt of 66 yards. Were
it not for the one
shank, his average would
have been much over 50
yards per punt for the
game.
Ben Hartman missed two
long field goals, but he
made his next two,
including the
game-winner in overtime.
Hartman and Holtz
started a trend last
year in sharing a joke
before a crucial kick.
Holtz shared this story
in his post-game press
conference.
“He had one for
Halloween,” said Holtz.
“He asked why the
skeleton didn’t cross
the road. … He just
didn’t have the guts…
(Laughing) He’s just a
great kid.”
The Pirates also got a
break on what the ESPN
announcers kept calling
an onside kick. That
“on-side” kick almost
broke the Knight
player’s ankle. Matt
Dodge blasted the ball
on the ground. It hit
the UCF up-man and then
rolled neatly back into
the arms of a very alert
Dustin Lineback.
Unfortunately, the
Pirates gave it right
back on a turnover a
couple of plays later.
ECU special teams coach
Vernon Hargreaves
explained the play this
way.
“We were actually trying
a hard squib kick,” he
said. “On the first one,
Matt (Dodge) said there
was a player in the way,
and he kicked it in the
air. We told him to kick
it hard and make the guy
get out of the way.
"It’s funny. We
practiced it 100 times
and Matt never hit one
of the up men. But he
did in the game, didn’t
he!”
Even though the Sunday
night game was on
national television, it
had an extremely
different feel. I know
the publicity is great
on ESPN, but college
football is still for
Saturdays in the fall in
my book. Maybe you can
throw in a “special”
Thursday game every so
often, but college
football shouldn’t be
played on Sunday.
Somehow, the Pirates
were able to steal away
the win in Orlando.
UCF’s only losses in
Brighthouse Networks
Stadium since the
facility opened in 2007
came against Texas and
South Florida.
The Pirates continue to
control their own
destiny as far as
winning Conference USA’s
East Division.
Both the Pirates and
Marshall have just one
league loss and ECU
hosts the Herd for
Homecoming this
Saturday.
It should be a great
atmosphere. Homecoming
always provides a big
crowd. The Pirates
should be after some
revenge from last year,
when Marshall
upset ECU
and ended the Pirates'
league title shot.
It’s a short week,
though, and the Pirates
came back with several
more bumps and bruises,
and the injury to
Stanley Bryant.
Coach Holtz meets the
media for lunch today.
It’s a short and
different week with the
Sunday game. Hopefully,
the win in Orlando will
carry over and help the
Pirates take another
step towards a spot in
the C-USA championship
game.
BB
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11/10/2008 12:37:11 AM |
Replay
Monday night's
Brian Bailey Show with guest Vernon
Hargreaves. The show,
Eastern North Carolina's longest running sports
radio call-in show, airs every Monday night at 7
p.m. on Pirate Radio 1250-AM and 930-AM.