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Game
Slants
Saturday, September 8, 2012
By Denny O'Brien |
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Back to square one at QB
By
Denny O'Brien
©2012 Bonesville.net
All Rights Reserved.
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COLUMBIA, SC — There is at
least one silver lining in East Carolina’s 48-10 blowout loss to South
Carolina Saturday. Of the ten remaining opponents on the Pirates’ schedule,
there isn’t anyone that rivals the Gamecocks’ talent.
If there was ever any doubt
about the speed and depth of a Southeastern Conference contender, it was
erased by a South Carolina team that dominated from start to finish.
That the Pirates won’t face
anyone else that remotely compares to the Gamecocks physically is the good
news.
The bad news for the Pirates
is that any rhythm they built offensively in the second quarter against the
Gamecocks was disrupted quickly after intermission. As a result, the Pirates
are back at square one at quarterback, as the battle that was waged between
Rio Johnson and Shane Carden in the preseason renewed itself Saturday.
“I thought it was inconsistent
play,” Pirates Coach Ruffin McNeill said about his quarterbacks. “I’ve said
from the beginning that I consider Shane a starter. We did not hesitate to
put Shane in. “I’m not sure if it is a battle or what have you. We’ll talk
about that when we get back.
"It’s too quick after the game
to make that decision, but we have no problem with putting Shane in the
game.”
While starting quarterback Rio
Johnson was far from perfect in the opening half, he was hardly terrible,
either. He finished the first half with 187 passing yards, though he did
throw a pair of interceptions.
Carden had a
less-than-brilliant start — his first pass was intercepted — though he
settled in after his second drive and started clicking. His afternoon ended
with 140 yards passing and a 34-yard touchdown toss to receiver Justin
Hardy.
“When I got my shot, I just
knew I had to make the most of it,” Carden said. “Obviously we don’t want to
ever play like that. We turned the ball over way too much.
“Our offensive line did a
great job. I don’t believe we’ve had a sack in the first two games, which,
with how much we throw the ball, is kind of unheard of. We just have to take
care of the ball better and our offense will play great.”
If you’re looking for positive
points to pick from an otherwise embarrassing afternoon, the Pirates’
offensive line proved more than adequate against a stout Gamecocks’
defensive front. Johnson and Carden spent almost their day upright in the
pocket instead of digging themselves out of the turf.
Both had time to move around
the pocket and run through their progressions. Carden’s fourth quarter
scoring toss to Hardy was as much a credit to his offensive line as it was
to his ability to find an open receiver down field.
Carden and his teammates were
just unable to enjoy parallel execution throughout the day.
Any chance the Pirates had to
make this one competitive was extinguished by three first half turnovers,
all of which occurred in the red zone. You simply don’t overcome those types
of mistakes against an SEC opponent, let alone one that is ranked in the top
ten and favored to win its division.
You also don’t win many games
in this sport without stability at the quarterback position. And with the
Pirates set to open their Conference USA schedule next week at rival
Southern Miss, we can, at least for now, list the ECU starter as unknown.
That’s far from a comfortable
position, but it’s one in which the Pirates are firmly planted.
The best case scenario for ECU
would be for one of its quarterbacks to firmly establish himself as the
starter this week and further separate himself from the pack with a good
performance in Hattiesburg next week. But so far there has been no
indication that either Carden or Johnson is ready to do so.
Both Carden and Johnson have
had mixed moments of promise with mistakes common to their inexperience.
That has produced inconsistent results from the offense.
If the Pirates have any chance
of kicking the offense into full gear, they must first identify and
establish a starting quarterback. Ideally that would have occurred sometime
in August.
But at least whoever takes the
snaps moving forward will have an easier road than the one he traveled in
the Palmetto State.
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09/09/2012 04:06:15 AM |
