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Notes, Quotes and Slants
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Pirate Notebook
No. 12
Monday, October 1, 2001
By Denny O'Brien
Staff Writer and Columnist |
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ECU-UNC Game a Study in
Stark Contrasts
�2001 Bonesville.net
East Carolina treads cautiously towards Saturday's game with North
Carolina searching for an
answer on defense, which has been a glitch of a complement to its high-octane offense.
The Tar Heels, on the other hand, accelerate into the coming weekend with
the momentum that comes from weighty victories over ACC linchpin Florida State and
burgeoning
in-state rival N.C. State.
But the divergence between how ECU's and UNC's 2001 seasons have unfolded
isn't the only glaring difference between the two schools.
The disparate paths
closely mirror the storylines of their coaches � and the paths will
dramatically cross on Saturday when the Pirates and Tar Heels tee it up for the first
time in two decades.
On one sideline will be the wide-eyed, first-year head coach whose
intensity and passion for a tough-as-nails style of football is accentuated
with his intimidating stare.
John Bunting's no-nonsense approach was highlighted by two off-season
moves that sent a clear and necessary message to a floundering program.
Backup quarterback Luke Huard was told not to report to practice until he
got himself in shape, while punter Blake Ferguson's decision to leave the
program spurned comments like "I guess he was afraid to compete."
Thus, the
Great "Buntini" was born.
Bunting, a linebacker on the Tar Heels' 1971 ACC title team, vowed to
return his alma mater to its glory days, citing his disappointment in the
program's descent from its once lofty heights. His first step was a trip to
Oklahoma, one of three top-five opponents which he enthusiastically accepted
the challenge of playing.
Bunting used the good ole boy system in building his staff, luring former
teammate and long-time friend James Webster from the Pirates, as well as
former Tar Heel Rod Broadway from Florida.
But it was another off-season
move that was most unsettling in Pirateland.
A flashy title and a huge chunk of change was enough to entice Jeff
Connors to jump the Pirate ship to lead the Tar Heels' strength and
conditioning program. It was more than many Down Easters could stomach � one of their own had joined the Dark Side,
they perceived.
Across the field will be the savvy ten-year veteran, an Oklahoma
transplant whose philosophy is an unconventional conglomeration of theories
gathered from the mentors under whom he learned. John Cooper, Bill McCartney,
and Jimmy Johnson all had a hand in what has become, perhaps, the most
unique of coaching styles.
Steve Logan has embraced that chip-on-the-shoulder attitude shared by
a goodly segment of the often-slighted residents east of I-95, using it as a
bond of determination to rally the forces together for the long haul on the
field and in the stands.
The product of Logan's single-minded crusade is a stable,
respectable program in the most unlikely of places. In just a decade, ECU has graduated from everybody's
favorite homecoming guest to a program which nowadays confines its
homecoming appearances to those in Greenville.
It isn't so much what Logan has accomplished at ECU, as it is how he has
done it. Convincing the rural eastern North Carolina kid to stay home, and
finding the occasional diamond in the rough from afar, Logan has instilled
regional pride, while creating a national image.
The football office in Greenville has evolved into the exception to most.
Instead of becoming a revolving door for assistant coaches, Logan has had
the luxury of long-time aids, highlighted by the decade-long tenure of
offensive coordinator Doug Martin.
As for the looming showdown in Chapel Hill, the complexion of the
face-off is somewhat different from what most observers had envisioned a few
short years ago.
What was to be a tale of two quarterbacks has evolved into three with the
continuous slide of Ronald Curry, coupled with the emergence of redshirt
freshman Darian Durrant.
There's the stocky signal caller from Durham, the one whom then-Carolina
coach Mack Brown courted to play tight end . But a chance to play
quarterback was promised Down East, where five years later, David Garrard
holds almost every meaningful passing record in ECU history.
Through the years, Logan has nurtured his senior QB like a son, looked
after him as a guardian. The relationship extended much further than the
playing field, what with side-by-side plane rides and Garrard's occasional
trip to the Logan household, just to satisfy the munchies.
Then you have everybody's All-American schoolboy, 1998's top high school star in
both football and basketball. Carolina won the recruiting tug 'o war for
Curry, the school's advertised savior on the gridiron and the hardwood.
But where Garrard was nurtured, Curry was neglected. Two head coaches and
three offensive coordinators later, Curry has seen as many playbooks as NFL
journeyman Jeff George. Though boasting as much athletic ability as any to
play the position, Curry never had a stable situation in which to develop
his promising skills.
Enter Durant, the side-armed slinging freshman from South Carolina, whose
second-half heroics against Oklahoma propelled him to quarterback 1A. The
5'11" 227-pounder has quite a knack for igniting a stagnant offense, coming
off the bench for the much-maligned Curry.
The Pirates and Heels will bring their differing strengths to the forefront,
too, which is certain to make for some interesting match-ups.
It will be the Pirate offense � the irresistible force � versus the
Carolina defense � the immovable object. To use a boring clich�, come
Saturday, something will most definitely give.
A focus will be on Garrard, the quarterback that nobody can bring down,
who will go head-to-head with Tar Heel defensive end Julius Peppers, the man
whom no quarterback has yet to escape.
Then there's the Pirate offensive line, which has a knack for opening
those gaping holes for Leonard Henry, facing a Tar Heel front that might be
described as college football's version of Pittsburgh's storied 'Steel
Curtain'.
When the Heels have the ball, we could be looking at yet another
stalemate. The Pirates have yet to show the ability to stop even their
weakest opponents. Yet, Carolina has almost as many questions on offense,
proving to be anything but dynamic.
The Pirate offense will seek to set up its usual quota of "explosion" plays, while
Curry, Durant and Company just hope to not make too many mistakes. Defensively, ECU will try
to hold on, hoping not to break, whereas Carolina looks to dominate and let
its front four determine the game's outcome.
The atmosphere in Kenan Stadium should be incomparable, with a record-setting
crowd all but a given. The stands will be an unseemly mixture of powder blue
and purple, as well as a perceptual clash of vastly different cultures.
Blue collar meets white collar. Wine and cheese takes on beer and barbecue.
For the Tar Heels, a win further validates their notion as the state's
superior university, even on the football field. Beating the Pirates will
also put Carolina well on the way to its self-coined "mythical" state
championship.
If you're a Pirate fan, winning maintains ECU's status as the state's
flagship football school, even though it fell to Wake Forest in week one. A
loss, however, will be accompanied with a snide message from opposing fans
and the media, one that says the Pirate program hasn't really 'arrived'.
It's easy to see why this game has been anticipated for well over a
year. And for some, the game will be approached as an emotional do-or-die
situation, as Logan well knows.
"I think it will be an emotional hemorrhage for the entire state of North
Carolina," Logan said several weeks ago. "I think that they'll have trauma units everywhere,
as it is anytime we play an in-state school. But at the same time, a loss
will hinder neither team from its real objective, which is to win a
conference championship."
True, but winning conference championships will the furthest from
anybody's mind on Saturday.
Send an e-mail message to Denny O'Brien.
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archives.
02/23/2007 01:41:21 AM
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