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Game 5: Houston 41, No. 23 ECU
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Game
Slants
Sunday, September 28, 2008
By Denny O'Brien |
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Pirates backed into corner
By
Denny O'Brien
©2008 Bonesville.net
All Rights Reserved.
GREENVILLE — What began as the feel-good
story for college football now has the makings of a giant spoof.
After opening the season with consecutive
victories over Top 25 opponents, East Carolina was anointed the national
media darling and the frontrunner to bust through the BCS door. It was the
type of start that happens once a decade at ECU.
But following the Pirates’ 41-24 loss to
Conference USA rival Houston, visions of big bowl grandeur are now the least
of their concerns.
Suddenly the Pirates have gone from the
thick of the Top 15 to a long shot to win the C-USA title. Because if
Saturday is any indication, ECU hasn’t matured to the point that it can
expect to compete for that elusive league championship.
Whether it was the hangover from last
weekend’s overtime loss to N.C. State or the overconfidence of facing a 1-3
opponent, the Pirates appeared mentally and emotionally unprepared for their
C-USA home opener.
“Three of the first four games were won and
lost on the last play of the game, the last series of the game,” Pirates
coach Skip Holtz said. “They were four very emotional games, because even
the one that wasn’t was a very emotional game that these guys were sky high
for.
“I’m certainly not trying to find a
scapegoat or just point a finger, but it is a reality that it is very
difficult to play at that emotional level for five weeks.”
East Carolina certainly lacked the
emotional fire that it showed in each of its first four outings. The Pirates
appeared flat from the opening kick and never truly fed off the fire of the
sellout crowd.
Even more discouraging is the reality that
ECU’s defensive performances against Virginia Tech and West Virginia were
probably a façade. The lack of offensive innovation by the Hokies and
Mountaineers might be the more accurate explanation for ECU’s impressive
outings to open the season.
Against the Cougars, the Pirates looked
like an unprepared defensive mess. The group that rendered Mountaineers
quarterback Patrick White a non-factor made Houston trigger man Case Keenum
a Heisman look-alike.
Keenum carved through the Pirates’
secondary for 399 yards in front of a 43,641 announced crowd, many of whom
understandably departed early. It was the fourth largest crowd in Dowdy-Ficklen
Stadium history, quite the stage for the Air Keenum show.
Keenum and the Houston aerial assault
dinked and dunked with little resistance from East Carolina, and they were
no less successful when taking their shots downfield. The ECU secondary
spent most of its afternoon lost and confused, often appearing out of
position and unprepared to make a play.
Offensively, the Pirates didn’t look much
better. Maybe worse. ECU struggled to find any rhythm when it had
possession, as Houston made the Pirates almost completely horizontal.
“It seemed like, on offense, we had a
really hard time getting anything going,” Holtz said. “It wasn’t any one
position.
“It seemed like it would be the right
tackle break down where he missed his block. Then it would be the left guard
miss. Then you drop back on third down and he’s got him, but he just
overthrew it.”
The bottom line in this blowout aftermath
is that East Carolina isn’t as good as the No. 14 ranking that once was
attached to its name. Not even close. If that wasn’t evident by the Pirates’
struggles against Tulane, or their heartbreaking loss against N.C. State, it
certainly should be by how thoroughly Houston thumped them.
Truthfully, the 17-point margin was the
most misleading statistic of the day. Had Houston been more protective of
the football, it could have easily eclipsed 60 points and 750 yards on the
day.
That should be difficult to digest
considering many were labeling the defense the new face of the ECU program.
Houston exposed every blemish, and has left the ECU coaching staff with
perhaps its most difficult task to date.
With so much emphasis placed on winning a
C-USA championship during the off-season, Holtz and his staff are under the
most pressure they have faced since arriving at ECU. It’s not that their
jobs aren’t secure — they completely are — but the late-season
disappointments of 2006 and 2007 have many itching for the Pirates to close
the deal.
While ECU still controls its own destiny in
the conference race, the Pirates now have no wiggle room. One more league
loss, and the season that started with so much promise could end at some
obscure postseason destination.
Keenum and the Cougars may have turned
their season around on Saturday. And they might have flipped ECU’s upside
down.
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09/28/2008 02:50:53 AM |
