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Game No. 10: UTEP 22, ECU 17 |
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Game
Slants
Saturday, November 12, 2011
By Denny O'Brien |
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Errors leave Pirates high and
dry
By
Denny O'Brien
©2011 Bonesville.net
All Rights Reserved.
EL PASO, TX — At times it was
hard to watch East Carolina last season when its defense was on the field.
Missed tackles and big plays were mostly the rule.
It reached a point last fall
when it was reasonable to believe that an onsides kick was the Pirates’ best
defensive option. Otherwise there seemed little hope that ECU could keep the
opposition out of the end zone.
In an odd, unexpected twist to
the 2011 season, the Pirates’ defense has received a needed image boost,
while the offense’s reputation has suffered a major blow. It took another
step backward during ECU’s 22-17 loss to Texas-El Paso in the Sun Bowl
Saturday night.
Make that a giant,
frustrating, potentially postseason-crushing one.
The same mistakes that have
plagued the Pirates throughout the 2011 season followed them to El Paso.
Turnovers and special teams breakdowns fueled a 1st half UTEP surge that
pushed the Miners to a 16-7 halftime edge.
After East Carolina rebounded
with a solid third quarter to claim a 17-16 advantage, more miscues led to
their ultimate doom.
“Tough game, tough loss,”
Pirates Coach Ruffin McNeill said after the game. “Mistakes have been our
nemesis all year. We talked about that (last) Sunday. Understanding
situations in the game and within the game, and we didn’t take advantage of
them tonight.”
Just the opposite to be exact.
Like last week, the
backbreaking blunders occurred after East Carolina jumped to a 7-0 lead and
was driving to make it more. And once again it was a Dominique Davis
interception that completely shifted the momentum, this one returned 44
yards by Darren Woodard for a score.
That was soon followed by punt
returns of 32 and 41 yards, essentially solidifying the Pirates’ position at
the bottom of the NCAA’s punt coverage statistics. The ECU defense was able
to keep the Miners off the scoreboard following the first return, but not
after the second one.
And it’s simply unfair to ask
the defense to bail out the Pirates each time the offense or special teams
makes a critical mistake. But if ECU, now 4-6, has any chance of making it
to a bowl, it’s now evident that it will have to do so on the back of a
young and improving defense.
Because the ECU offense and
special teams both are too error prone.
That the Pirates have
surrendered 10 non-offensive touchdowns this season should more than attest
to that. If not, a deeper look into the scoring breakdown of ECU's opponents
will reveal numerous scores that were the direct result of turnovers or big
returns.
What’s even more disconcerting
about ECU’s offensive output Saturday was the caliber of competition it was
facing. UTEP, no steel curtain by any measure, ranked 109th nationally in
total defense and had just surrendered 41 points to bottom feeder Rice.
Yet the Pirates couldn’t
muster much of an offensive fight. They compiled only 254 yards total, with
only 133 of that through the air.
To be fair, East Carolina
isn't exactly playing with a full offensive deck these days. Receiver Lance
Lewis is out indefinitely, and ECU’s young, patchwork offensive line is
missing some critical pieces. So some of the Pirates’ lack of offensive
precision can be understood.
But the degree to which ECU
repeats the same mistakes is perplexing to say the least. It’s almost
reached the point where you expect each drive to end in doom.
That’s no longer the case with
the East Carolina defense. It has made a remarkable turnaround and again
played well enough for the Pirates to win.
Aside from the winning
touchdown — a 77 yard run by Joe Banyard — the Pirates were solid
defensively. They did their share of bending, but did very little breaking.
Just consider that the ECU
defense was perfect on fourth down and consistently got the offense the
ball. Not to mention the fact that the defense allowed only 16 points, which
should be more than sufficient in high-scoring Conference USA.
Suddenly that doesn’t seem the
case for the Pirates. These days, the East Carolina offense is just plain
frustrating to watch.
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11/13/2011 03:13:01 AM |
