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Notes, Quotes and Slants
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Pirate Notebook No. 15
Monday, October 8, 2001

By Denny O'Brien
Staff Writer and Columnist

Disappointed Pirates Must
Refuel for Conference Run

©2001 Bonesville.net

East Carolina head coach Steve Logan cautioned that if his players placed too much importance or expended too much emotion on their game against North Carolina, it could be detrimental to the team's ultimate goal — the Conference USA championship.

One need only look back to 1998, when the Pirates suffered a gut-wrenching 22-21 loss at Alabama, to see the logic in Logan's argument. ECU followed its heartbreaking loss to the Crimson Tide with a disastrous performance at Southern Miss, a 41-7 defeat that virtually eliminated any thoughts of a conference title.

Logan cringes at the very thought of any one game being a make-or-break situation.

But even the 10th-year head coach couldn't hide his disappointment following ECU's 24-21 loss to its in-state neighbor. During the postgame press conference, Logan had to take a lengthy pause to compose himself when asked to re-evaluate the perception that East Carolina is the state's flagship football program.

"I think you can take all five football programs in the state, and there's not a nickle's worth of difference," he said. "All I know is... we have a good team."

After two straight losses, Logan will learn just how good his team is as it prepares for its C-USA title drive. If the mindset of the team resembles that of senior quarterback David Garrard, the Pirates should do just fine.

"That's just part of football," Garrard said about the loss. "You're going to have some losses and you're going to have some wins that you're going to have to regroup from and just get back on track.

"I think we have a good, solid team that knows how to get back on track. If we just go out next week with a fire in our eye, ready to play Army, we'll be fine."

But Logan knows that it won't be easy. In a conference with so much parity, one bad game could be the determining factor between a trip to C-USA's top prize — the AXA Liberty Bowl — or one of the other three league tie-ins.

Or, depending upon the kinds of seasons other teams in the league put together, no bowl at all.

Thus, the margin for error will be narrow down the stretch.

"If we take this and build, we'll be fine," Logan said. "And if we don't, we won't be fine.

"We can't do anything less than 110 percent or we're not going to be good enough. We were 110 percent today, and we've got to duplicate that down the stretch."

Much of that will depend on what Logan calls his team's "heartbeat," which despite a disappointing 2-3 start, has been as strong as any team he has had in Greenville.

With players like Garrard, linebacker Pernell Griffin, and running back Art Brown, it's easy to understand why.

"We have a great heartbeat," Brown said. "We work hard day in and day out. Some games we come up a little short, but we know we're going to bounce back and we're going to keep our heads up.

"We have a great, great chance of doing what we came out to do this season. I feel that we can do that if we just stay focused."

Garrard, who finished the day with a below average 9 for 24, 109-yard performance, echoes that sentiment.

"I think we've got a lot of heart," Garrard said. "I think we've put a lot of effort into the games. We can definitely win the conference — if anything, we can definitely win the conference."

The Pirates can certainly climb one step closer to that goal with a win on Saturday against league foe Army.  The Black Knights have momentum after prevailing, 28-14, in a conference clash against Houston on Saturday.

Heartbreak U.

Halfway through the 2001 season, East Carolina has had three seasons worth of heartbreak. And whoever came up with the old saying, "sometimes it's better to be lucky than good," must have had the Pirates in mind.

At East Carolina, the phrase has become much more than a worn-out cliché.

Turn back the clock to week one when the Pirates were assessed a safety — the deciding margin in a 21-19 loss to Wake Forest — when Garrard batted a tipped ball away from his own end zone. Later on, Garrard found a wide open Derrick Collier, who bobbled the ball just enough for a Deacon defensive back to steal it away.

Then, in the fourth quarter, Garrard connected on a long scoring strike, only to have the play nullified by a penalty. The Pirates did, however, reach the end zone on that drive.

Two weeks ago, William & Mary was able to keep it close, thanks in part to two long touchdown passes that were called back due to penalties. The not-so-everyday occurrences prompted Logan to vent his frustrations toward the referees, a move that cost the Pirates 15 extra yards.

But Saturday against the Heels had to take the cake for the hard-luck Bucs. Twice more, the Pirates had touchdowns called back.

"We had some unfortunate stuff happen to us," Logan said. "If we have any more touchdowns called back this year, I don't know what I'm going to do.  I think that was number five on the year. I've never seen anything like it, but that was the call."

Then there were the two turnovers, both of which proved costly, though neither were due to carelessness on the part of the Pirates.

"You get a ball tipped up at the line of scrimmage by a defensive lineman," Logan said. "Then the one on Art's play was just a great effort on Art's part, and then a great effort on their kid that came from behind to punch it out."

It's enough to tear at a grown man's soul. To go from the emotional high of what looked to be a game-tying touchdown to a momentum-shifting turnover, Saturday's turn of events proved to be insurmountable for the Pirates.

"When I saw the ball pop out, there were emotions," Garrard said. "Your heart drops down in your chest. When they called Carolina's ball, first down, it rips your heart out.

"He (Brown) was doing what he's been taught — that's to run as hard as possible and to keep the ball protected, and they're taught to come up from behind and slap the ball out. It's two guys doing what they are taught, and one of the guys winning. Carolina won that one."

And as a result of the Pirates' many misfortunes, the Heels won the game, too.

And the Game Ball Goes To...

Art Brown's performance was one of the most courageous in recent memory for the Pirates. It would have been easy to pack it in and call it a night following his fumble on the one-yard line, but Brown did just the opposite.

Yep, all Brown did was give his team a chance when he stretched his five-foot, nine-inch frame as far as it would go, barely reaching the pylon to pull his team to within five. The following two-point conversion closed the Pirates to within a field goal with an onsides kick pending, all possible because of the extra effort put forth by Brown.

"I knew if he just kept his head in it that he could come down and do something else, which he did," Garrard said. "He caught the pass and dove into the end zone. I respect him for not folding, not giving up. He fought through it and he made something happen for us."

Brown finished with 240 all-purpose yards against the Heels. Normally the second option at kick returner, Carolina refused to kick the ball in the direction of Marvin Townes. Brown was also pressed into extended action at running back, spelling an injured Leonard Henry for much of the fourth quarter.

"Art's a talent that we've been waiting to mature," Logan said. "It's just been of late that he's figured out how to be responsible in all areas of his life, and it always shows up on the field when a kid does that."

Injuries Taking Toll

The Pirates suffered another injury to a once-deep receiving corps when Aaron Harris left the game. The early prognosis is broken leg.

Since the off-season, the Pirates have lost three veteran receivers — Delayo Dodd, Torey Morris and Harris. Logan said after the game that the Pirates will likely activate three of their true-freshmen receivers, including split end Garrett Peterkin.

Linebacker Greg LeFever was carted off the field Saturday with what Logan called a "stinger." The injury isn't thought to be serious.

On the bright side, it was good to see Travis Mazyck on the field Saturday. Mazyck saw his first significant action in two years since tearing both ligaments in his knee.

The return is welcome news to a Pirate secondary that has been especially vulnerable over the past three weeks. And if anybody could use a little good news right now, the Pirates are certainly as deserving as any.

Send an e-mail message to Denny O'Brien.

Click here to dig into Denny O'Brien's Bonesville archives.

02/23/2007 01:41:22 AM
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