By
Denny O'Brien
©2011 Bonesville.net
All Rights Reserved.
Year two of the Ruffin McNeill era
approaches with optimism. Just this week, East Carolina announced it
shattered its season ticket record, and discussions are already taking
place to increase Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium’s capacity to nearly 60,000.
With the potential for future conference
shuffling, there is even more anticipation from fans as the 2011 season
creeps closer.
After winning five of its first seven in
2010, The Pirates limped down the finish largely due to a rash of
injuries along the defensive front. A new season, a new-look defense,
and a renewed focus give the Pirates more hope.
As the opener with South Carolina
approaches, here are a few questions facing the Pirates this fall:
•••
1. Will East Carolina be more productive
offensively? Perhaps the more appropriate question is how will it not?
With the return of triggerman Dominique
Davis, a deep receiving corps headlined by Lance Lewis, and young but
talented running backs and offensive linemen, the Pirates have plenty of
firepower to go with the experience they gained in Lincoln Riley’s
pass-first philosophy last fall.
It’s hard to envision Davis more
comfortable than he seemed last year, but consider he didn’t even have a
spring practice under his belt then. Now imagine how he’ll perform with
13 games, spring practice, and two training camps under his belt.
Pretty scary.
The one caveat is that the Pirates’
production, for the most part, experienced a drop off against tough
non-conference opponents last year. Thus, the measuring stick for ECU
should be how well it performs offensively outside of Conference USA.
•••
2. Can the Pirates return to
respectability on defense? Easily the biggest and most important
question facing ECU, the Pirates have zero chance of contending for the
C-USA title without significant improvement here. And that’s an
understatement considering the Pirates were among the nation’s worst
defenses in 2010.
Given the last four conference champions
(UCF, ECU, ECU, UCF), the formula for a conference title should be
pretty clear: very good defense and efficiency on offense mark the path
to the Liberty Bowl.
Considering the talent level and the
presence of new schemes, the Pirates are unlikely to experience that
much of a revival. But you have to believe that the return of key
players who missed significant snaps last year, along with a more
aggressive approach, will lead to, at the very least, some improvement
this fall.
•••
3. Can the Pirates survive their
frontloaded schedule? They'd better. ECU’s non-conference schedule is as
imposing as ever, headlined by South Carolina and Virginia Tech, each of
which is predicted to contend for league titles.
But it isn’t so much the pedigree of the
opponents on the Pirates’ early docket that is the concern as it is the
physical make-up and philosophies of what they do.
Both South Carolina and Virginia Tech
want to saddle their bruising rushing attacks and dominate the line of
scrimmage. Likewise for North Carolina, which the Pirates face a week
after meeting UAB.
The Pirates need to survive the opening
leg of their schedule both physically and mentally. How well they do
that will dictate their success in league play.
•••
4. Will conference shakeups occur during
the season? Where there is smoke, there is generally fire. Given how
close the Southeastern Conference was to pulling the trigger on Texas
A&M a couple of weeks ago, it should come as no surprise if the dominos
start falling by mid-year.
That timing has proven to be the case in
the past.
•••
5. Will the Pirates go bowling again?
Tough call. The Pirates must overcome an unforgiving schedule and find a
way to beat at least one of their non-conference opponents to make it
six straight postseason appearances. Considering that Navy, their least
talented non-conference foe, scored 76 in Greenville last year, that’s
no easy task.
Two of the Pirates’ toughest conference
games — Central Florida and Southern Miss — are at home, and they could
use a split there. This is also a year in which ECU can’t afford that
historical gotcha game — Texas-El Paso and Marshall seem to be potential
candidates to spring such an unpleasant surprise.
Bottom line, if ECU wins at least one
non-conference game, beats either UCF or USM and avoids a
head-scratching loss (i.e., Rice 2010), expect it to keep the bowl
streak alive. Stumble in any of those areas and the Pirates are likely
staying home.