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Notes, Quotes and Slants
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Pirate
Notebook No. 255
Friday, October 14, 2005
By Denny O'Brien |
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Small margin for error keeps
ECU vulnerable
�2005 Bonesville.net
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First the good news for East Carolina as it
approaches the midway point of the 2005 season.
The Pirates already have matched last
season's win total and have made noticeable progress each game. From offense
to defense, attitude to effort, ECU obviously is a much-improved outfit that
again can compete with most of the programs on its schedule.
Now the bad news.
The Pirates' victories were at home against
two of Division I-A's weakest offerings. Duke and Rice have combined for
exactly one win this season, and East Carolina needed a strong fourth
quarter effort against both to secure victory.
That's why any notion that the remainder of
the schedule is substantially weaker should be dismissed.
"I don't want to lie to them and say it's
going to be easy," Pirates coach Skip Holtz said. "Because I don't know that
it will be. If anything it may even be harder, because the more you go
without being rewarded for the fruits of your labor, the harder it is to
keep going.
"You're either going to get more determined
and we're going to pull this thing closer together and keep fighting to get
over the hump. Or, some people will start to throw in the towel. I don't
think that's the case right now."
Neither do I.
If nothing else, it's a fairly safe bet
that ECU will continue its determined play and should improve as the season
progresses. Despite the lack of success the team's seniors have experienced
throughout their careers, their on-field and locker room leadership appears
to be the strongest the team has had since 2001.
Much of that can be attributed to the
quickness with which Holtz has changed the culture of the program, not to
mention a resolute bunch of win-starved upperclassmen who have bought into
their coach's philosophy.
"They're playing hard," Holtz said. "But
just because you play hard doesn't mean that you are going to win. We've got
to learn to play smart, and we've got a big hurdle to climb as a football
team.
"We've made huge strides. We've come along
way in coming together as a team, but we still have to learn how to win.
We've got to learn how penalties are going to affect us, how the turnovers
are going to affect us. And we've got to start playing smart, or it's going
to be a really long season."
Translated, the Pirates still face an
uphill climb, one that will remain steep if the execution does not catch up
to the effort.
Five games in, ECU has yet to piece
together a complete game in which all three phases clicked on all cylinders.
One week the offense shows a glimpse of its explosiveness, but that spark
seems to fizzle the next. The same can be said on defense.
The one constant has been the steady play
of several individuals � James Pinkney, Aundrae Allison, and Marcus Hands �
who clearly are among the top three at their positions in Conference USA.
But as crucial as individual performance is in college football, its impact
on the outcome of a game is far less than a collective effort.
All it takes is one missed block or mental
blunder to completely change the complexion of a game. And when neither team
holds a decided personnel advantage, that can be the difference in the
outcome.
Which is exactly the scenario in which East
Carolina currently finds itself.
Of the six games remaining, there isn't a
team against which the talent pendulum will swing noticeably in ECU's favor.
If anything, the Pirates' opponents will hold a slight advantage on most
occasions.
Even so, each of the Pirates' remaining
games should be considered winnable. With continued determination and
improved execution, there is no reason to think ECU can't at least double
its current win total or even flirt with a winning record and possible
postseason appearance.
At this stage, anything from 8-3 to 2-9 is
a legitimate possibility. The most likely scenario is something in between.
The margin for error is that narrow for
ECU.
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02/23/2007 02:00:30 AM |
