By
Kevin Monroe
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East Carolina is on the
road again this week in Sunny Miami where it will face a struggling
Florida International team that is trying to find its identity. After
a big win over Southern Miss
two weeks ago, this game is important for ECU in the context of staying
on track in pursuit of team goals.
In order to avoid
stumbling, the Pirates must come hungry and play well from beginning
to end. FIU (1-6, 1-2 Conference USA) wants another victory and if
ECU (3-1, 5-2) shows weaknesses, the Panthers will take advantage of
the opportunities.
If the Pirates
execute the following assignments, they should win this game:
DICTATE THE INTENSITY
East Carolina flourishes in
big games in front of big crowds either at home or on the road. The opposite
could be said, however, in front of smaller crowds. Over the years,
traveling to places like UAB and Tulane has proven tough. There is something
to be said for playing in front of small crowds. Players can�t draw energy
from the crowds in these sparsely-filled stadiums. The Pirates need to
change that trend on Saturday. There will be less than 15,000 in attendance
in FIU Stadium, but ECU must play like it is playing in front of 100,000.
The Pirates must bring intensity out of the locker room in the first quarter
and not the third. Starting slowly and allowing the Panthers to hang around
would invite trouble. Dictating the intensity and taking it to FIU is the
quickest way to victory.
MINIMIZE MENTAL
MISTAKES
Physical mistakes are expected and understood throughout the season. Mental
mistakes are a different story. Mental mistakes indicate a lack of
preparation and concentration. Coaches have very little tolerance for these
mistakes. Off sides or illegal procedure penalties are mental, dead ball
personal fouls are mental, running out of bounds when the team is trying to
run the clock is mental. These are the type of miscues that get teams beaten
in games they should win. Receivers running the wrong routes, running backs
going the wrong way or defensive backs playing the wrong coverage are also
mental mistakes. Winning on the road leaves little room for errors of this
sort.
DOMINATE THE LINE OF SCRIMMAGE
FIU has one victory this
season. It came when the Panthers scored a season-high 24 points in a
one-point win over a bad Southern Miss team. FIU has struggled all season to
run the football, pass the football and score the football. It is averaging
only 11 points per game. In this day and age of spread offenses, 11 points
per game is almost unheard of. When the Pirates are on defense, they must
put pressure on the quarterback and close the running lanes of the running
backs. They cannot allow the Panthers to gain any momentum on the offensive
side of the ball. Defensively, FIU has been better lately, but on the season
it is giving up close to 40 points per game. The Pirates must establish the
run early and impose their will on the FIU defensive line.
BOTTOM LINE
East Carolina can pave its own road to
the Conference USA championship game in December. The Pirates have three
conference games against opponents they should beat before finishing up with
Marshall in Huntington. The Panthers are first on the list of obstacles. ECU
must take these games one by one and take care of business on Saturday just
as it did two weeks ago against Southern Miss.
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archives.
ECU
coach
Ruffin
McNeill
discussed
the
Pirates'
bye
week
and
looked
ahead
to
the
Florida
International
game:
