PRE-GAME ANALYSIS
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Keys to the
Game
Saturday,
September 4, 2010
By Kevin Monroe |
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Tulsa at East Carolina
Sunday, Sept. 5, 2010, 2 p.m. (ESPN2)
Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium, Greenville
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For the fifth
straight year, Kevin Monroe, color analyst for the Pirate ISP Sports
Radio Network, provides “Kevin’s Keys to The Game,”
his weekly breakdown of what East Carolina must do to beat its
upcoming opponent.
Monroe brings a unique perspective to the task as a
member of the broadcast team and as a former star defensive
back for the Pirates (1995-99). |
©2010 Bonesville.net
All Rights Reserved.
East
Carolina can defeat Tulsa if it accomplishes these key objectives:
OFFENSE
The
Pirates are going to debut a much anticipated high octane pass-first,
pass-second, maybe-run-third offense on Sunday. The “Air Raid” system
implemented by offensive coordinator Lincoln Riley only works if the right
quarterback is in place. East Carolina has five QBs on the roster but they
all lack significant collegiate experience. The two guys that have emerged
thus far are former walk-on
Brad Wornick and former Boston
College signal caller
Dominique Davis. This offensive
attack requires accurate, on-time passing. Nothing fancy, just deliver the
ball on time to a spot. The receiving core led by
Dwayne Harris is very talented, the
running backs led by
Jonathan Williams are talented and
the offensive line returns a ton of experience. If the quarterbacks play
well, the Pirates have a chance to be really good on offense. Tulsa gave up
an average of 27 points and 400 yards per game in 2009. ECU has to complete
passes consistently and establish the running game to beat Tulsa.
DEFENSE
East
Carolina graduated one of the best defensive front fours in the country last
year. Defensive ends C.J. Wilson and Scotty Robinson and tackles Linval
Joseph and Jay Ross are all irreplaceable. Having that big aggressive front
four allowed then-defensive coordinator Greg Hudson to just play base
defense with very few blitzes and still dominate opposing offenses. This
year is a different story. The Pirates return only two starters from last
year’s Conference USA-leading defense. Those starters are cornerback tandem
Travis Simmons and
Emanuel Davis. Simmons and Davis are
arguably the conference’s top cornerback duo and deserve mention among the
best in the country. Coach Ruffin McNeil and defensive coordinator Brian
Mitchell have installed a 4-3 base defense with multiple blitzes. This
defensive scheme is as high-powered and active as the offensive scheme.
There will be players blitzing from anywhere at any time. Now the question
remains: Do the Pirates have the horses to run that type of scheme? It will
take a big effort from a brand new front seven and safeties. Tulsa averaged
29 points and more than 410 yards of total offense per game last year. The
Golden Hurricane are returning three 1,000-yard receivers and a junior QB in
G.J. Kinne. ECU has to slow the Tulsa passing attack to win this game.
SPECIAL
TEAMS
The
teams have very good kickoff return men in Tulsa’s Damarius Johnson and East
Carolina’s
Dwayne Harris. The special teams
battle will come down to field goal kicking and not giving up the big play.
In a game like this where both teams have the ability to put up tons of
points, special teams will be huge. The team that avoids being burned on a
big play and makes more field goals than it misses will win the game.
THE
BOTTOM LINE
East
Carolina is
back-to-back Conference USA champions but it lost 34 letterman and a
coaching staff. No other team in country is breaking in that many
replacements. Nobody knows how the 2010 Pirates will perform with this new
offense, this new defense and this new coaching staff. Sunday’s game will go
a long way in showing the fans what they can expect during the rest of the
year. Having home field advantage with a new stadium addition and video
scoreboard could be one of those intangibles that makes the difference on
game day.
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Kevin Monroe.
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archives.
09/04/2010 04:27:23 AM
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