Harris Poll
For the seventh year in a row, columnist Denny O'Brien is a member
of the voting panel
for the Harris Interactive College Football Poll
commissioned by the Bowl Championship Series. O'Brien was nominated to the panel by Conference USA.
His weekly ballot will
be published in this space each Monday throughout the
rest of the season.
The
Harris Poll is a component of the BCS Standings. O'Brien's
ballot below was filed in conjunction with this week's Harris Poll. |
Denny O'Brien's Harris Poll Ballot
Ballot
filed
11.11.12
(ECU
opponents and current and incoming Conference USA teams highlighted in yellow.)
1. Kansas State
2. Oregon
3. Notre Dame
4. Alabama
5. Georgia
6. Florida
7. Louisiana State
8. Florida State
9. Texas A&M
10. Clemson
11.
South Carolina
12. Oklahoma
13. Stanford
14. UCLA
15. Nebraska
16. Louisville
17. Oregon State
18. Southern Cal
19. Texas
20. Michigan
21.
Louisiana Tech
22. Northern Illinois
23. Mississippi State
24. Rutgers
25. Texas Tech |
|
Weekly BCS
Standings |
Weekly
Voters' Polls |
|
|
By
Denny O'Brien
©2012 Bonesville.net
All Rights Reserved.
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The most encouraging statistic from
East Carolina’s 48-28 victory over Houston
ahead of the bye week wasn’t the Pirates’ 550 total yards. While
impressive, the Pirates have had similar offensive outputs this season.
But when you dissect the play selection that led to ECU’s
offensive outburst, you’ll notice a couple of details that aren’t
characteristic of the Air Raid philosophy. Of the Pirates’ 98 offensive
plays, there were 54 runs.
Not exactly what you expect from the package that
offensive coordinator Lincoln Riley brought over from Texas Tech. The
net result was an unheard of 28-minute time of possession advantage for
ECU.
“We expect to get a number of plays,” Pirates Coach
Ruffin McNeill said following the Pirates’ win over Houston. “The more
comfortable (quarterback) Shane (Carden) becomes with the offense, the
hurry up part, you’ll see that. We expect to be 80-plus plays.
"Time
of possession was pretty good. Forty-four minutes is pretty good
controlling the football. We probably could have been over 100 (plays),
but I thought Lincoln did a good job icing the game. We did a good job
massaging the clock.”
That’s an understatement. Just like you can’t overstate
the importance of the Pirates’ newfound ability to control the clock.
The more the ECU offense is on the field, the fewer
opportunities for the Pirates’ porous secondary to get torched for long
distance scores. Just consider that Houston needed less than 16 minutes
of game clock to score 28 points, and each of its scoring drives
consumed less than two minutes.
So credit Riley for drafting a game plan, and making the
necessary adjustments after kickoff, that kept the Houston offense on
the sidelines. Riley’s evolution of the offense and overall flexibility
to adapt to his team’s strengths demonstrates his growing maturity as a
coordinator.
Two weaker opponents remain on the Pirates’ schedule,
though both, like most teams within Conference USA, are more than
capable of scoring points. The more time the ECU defense is on the
field, the more likely the Pirates are to experience an upset.
If East Carolina continues to evolve its ground attack,
that shouldn’t occur.
Spreading the wealth
Some of the Pirates’ recent offensive success can
undeniably be attributed to the caliber of defenses they’ve been facing.
But that should not take away from the degree to which
East Carolina has executed and made significant strides since struggling
during the early stages of the season.
As Carden has matured, he’s become less fixated on
superstar receiver Justin Hardy. He has also become much better at
picking up blitzes, identifying hot routes, and running through
progressions when the protection provides the time.
That manifested into nine receivers catching passes
against Houston, with no one catching more than six balls.
“We had those receivers there,” Carden said. “It was
never really a confidence thing with them. It was just today. We got
them the ball more. We want that. We want everyone touching the ball and
we want everyone to score.
"When
we’re working like that, the offense flows better.”
If Carden continues to distribute the ball like that, it
will help eliminate double teams on Hardy and open more possibilities
downfield.
Motivating criticism
Don’t think players read Internet message boards, hear
insults from the stands, or read the opinions of media pundits?
Think again.
Following the Pirates’ win over Houston, Pirates
linebacker Jeremy Grove confirmed that the outcry over
ECU’s 56-28 loss to Navy
provided motivation to prove both fans and the press wrong.
“Last week motivated us a lot,” Grove said. “All the talk
did as well. All the non-believers.
“Even last week during the game, we were hearing stuff
from people out wearing purple and yellow. We took that and turned it
into motivation.”
With the Pirates facing two lightweight opponents to
close the season, it will be interesting to see how they respond. Will
the motivating criticism propel them to convincingly win out, or will
ECU play down to the competition?