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Game No. 9: Southern Miss 48, ECU 28 |
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Game
Slants
Saturday, November 5, 2011
By Denny O'Brien |
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Lapses again sidetrack East
Carolina
By
Denny O'Brien
©2011 Bonesville.net
All Rights Reserved.
GREENVILLE — A familiar
storyline unfolded in Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium Saturday, one that has become
all too common during the season's first nine games. And once again it was
underscored by turnovers and mental miscues.
Against No. 25 Southern Miss,
a fast start by the East Carolina offense was offset by a marathon of
mistakes that sent the Pirates reeling to
a 48-28 defeat.
Many of the gaffes occurred on
what Pirates coach Ruffin McNeill often refers to as the third side of the
ball, an inference he often uses to emphasize the importance he places on
special teams.
And it was there where ECU had
a couple of its more crippling meltdowns against the Golden Eagles, the type
from which teams rarely recover. Two breakdowns by the Pirates’ punting unit
— a TD off a return and a scoop and score following a blocked kick — were
sandwiched between two pick sixes to give Southern Miss a commanding 1st
half lead and a red carpet to the Conference USA East Division crown.
To label this just another
discouraging performance would understate the apparent pattern into which
the Pirates have fallen: Against capable opponents, the Pirates unload just
as many bullets into their feet as the do into their opposition.
“The first half, we had
mishaps, four that led to touchdowns,” McNeill said. “I thought that was the
deal breaker. To have four touchdowns with our defense not on the field —
the defense was on the sidelines — I thought that was tough. That was one of
the major parts of the game.
"We just had too many happen
to us in a game of this significance to happen to win. You can’t do that
against many teams, and not good teams like Southern Miss.”
The Pirates already have
proven that much. They did so in each of their previous four losses, with
Virginia Tech providing the lone
exception.
In each case, talented,
experienced clubs successfully exploited ECU’s inexperience and areas of
weakness. The Golden Eagles were able to do the same by once again exposing
the numerous flaws that have plagued the Pirates since
the season opener.
Like, for example, the
Pirates’ lack of a consistent kicking game, ranging from erratic results
from their punters to unreliable coverage. And the lack of a dependable
running game to keep defenses honest.
Much of the latter can be
attributed to the stockpile of injuries that have taken siege over the
Pirates’ offensive front. ECU is so razor thin there that McNeill felt his
best unit was one that included Grant Harner playing right tackle on the
equivalent of half a leg.
Despite those shortcomings,
the Pirates still had success moving the chains Saturday. ECU’s final
statistical tally — it outgained Southern Miss 420-299 — even looked as if
the Pirates should have been on the celebratory end of the 48-28 final
score.
That is, unless you took a
deeper look and noticed the turnovers.
“The mishaps and the turnovers
— we’re beating ourselves,” McNeill said. “It’s not anything they are doing.
It’s something that we are not doing. I have to get that corrected.
"I told them to stay the
course, stay accountable to one another, and keep fighting. We were beating
ourselves. It wasn’t anything that Southern Miss was doing.”
Maybe not, but Southern Miss
certainly demonstrated a willingness to accept the Pirates’ generosity.
If there is one positive
conclusion to draw from yet another missed opportunity, it’s that the
Pirates are no longer a punch line defensively. The revamped 3-4 defense is
far more active and athletic, and it has proven capable of doing something
it rarely did in 2010, which is register stops.
By this point last season,
opponents were regularly gashing East Carolina with 500- and 600-hundred
yard efforts.
Navy and
Rice sent humbling messages with
hoops-like production on the scoreboard.
With three games remaining and
two wins needed for bowl eligibility, there is more than enough evidence to
suggest that East Carolina possesses a defense capable of meeting that goal.
That’s not something anyone would have predicted back in August.
The more pressing questions
facing the Pirates are whether or not they can gain some offensive
consistency and special teams sufficiency. Clearly, ECU has run into a
shortage on both.
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11/06/2011 02:30:15 AM |
