By
Denny O'Brien
©2010 Bonesville.net
All Rights Reserved.
It won’t be long before
East Carolina unveils its new football digs to a nationally televised
audience. When it does, the familiar caravan of Greyhounds will be
obstructed from the ESPN2 cameras.
So will Elmhurst School
and the adjacent tailgating fields that once provided the backdrop for
all field goals attempted on the East end of Bagwell Field.
They will be hidden by the
7,000 new seats that have been installed since the Pirates last played
there, a 38-32 victory over Houston in the 2009 Conference USA
championship game. It should be earmarked as a day that East Carolina
can’t afford to repeat if it wants to better position itself for
inclusion in a BCS AQ conference.
And we’re obviously not
discussing the final score.
In a game heavy on big
plays and momentum shifts, the most eye-catching statistic wasn’t
Houston quarterback Case Keenum’s 527 passing yards. It wasn’t the four
turnovers that East Carolina’s defense produced, the 970 yards for which
the two teams combined, or the commanding 151-30 advantage the Pirates
held on the ground.
The uncharacteristically
low attendance — just a shade over 33,000 — in what arguably was the
most significant game in stadium history provided the most disappointing
footnote not only for that cool, damp afternoon, but for the 2009 season
as a whole.
Of the 29 games Skip Holtz
coached in Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium, it was the least attended. To put it
in proper perspective, ECU could have leveled the upper deck and had
plenty of seats to spare.
That’s not the type of
scene the Pirates need when they host Tulsa for the season opener. But
when you consider the logistical competition East Carolina is facing
that weekend, you can’t deny the possibility that it will be unable to
fill all 50,000 seats.
For starters, its Labor
Day weekend, which means the final major weekend of beach travel and the
absence of many students on campus. There also is that detail about the
game being played on a Sunday in early September with a kickoff time
that is slated perfectly for peak temperatures in early September.
Not to mention the fact
that the opponent isn’t from the ACC or Big East.
Though traditionally those
haven’t been uncommon excuses made for ECU, they have clearly run their
course. Especially when you consider the progress the Pirates have made
over the last five years and the potential stakes packaged with the 2010
season.
In other words, this fall
is yet another opportunity for East Carolina to polish its resumé for
conference realignment, should another round soon occur.
While there is no question
that East Carolina can’t afford to take a significant step back in the
standings, it must also make a sizable leap forward at the box office.
ECU might be unable to change its position in the Nielsen television
market rankings or its geographic location, but it does have control
over the results it produces both on the field and in the stands.
The Pirates can’t afford
to perform poorly in either this year. Not if ECU is intent on angling
itself as BCS-ready.
Terry Holland’s decision
to expand Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium to 50,000 was widely embraced by ECU
constituents. It was viewed as necessary for a program producing
sellouts with regularity, as well as a strategic move that would make
East Carolina more attractive to BCS-AQ suitors.
It also raises the bar
significantly for fans.
As a result, the days of
applauding crowds of 43,000 have vanished from ECU’s equation. Even
attendance that reaches 47,000 should be viewed as a disappointment
moving forward.
When Holland became the
Pirates’ AD, he emphatically proclaimed the fans as the program’s
greatest asset. I, along with many others, agree with that sentiment.
But if attendance this
season doesn’t justify the latest expansion to Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium,
that perception could change for some. That’s why ECU’s fans must ensure
that empty seats aren’t a potential obstacle that could hinder the
Pirates' quest for AQ inclusion.
