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At Home
in the Dome?
East Carolina will
try to improve its
road record to 3-0
for the first time
since 1999 as it
takes on Conference
USA West Division
leader Tulane in the
Mercedes-Benz
Superdome. Because
of a scheduling
quirk and 2012
postseason
destination, this
will be ECU's third
time in the
Superdome in its
past eight games.
"It
helps,� Coach Ruffin
McNeill said about
the familiarity of
playing in New
Orleans, adding ��we
did the schedule and
we're staying in the
same place and
keeping a bit of the
same routine� I'm
looking forward to
going back down
there and playing
again."
Quarterback Shane
Carden believes his
past experience with
the facility will
help, though he
acknowledges he was
taken aback by the
lack of atmosphere
there when ECU faced
Tulane a year ago.
The Pirates overcame
two Carden
interceptions to
hold off the Green
Wave 28-23 last
November. That was
his only
multi-interception
game aside from a
three-pick
performance when he
was sacked seven
times in a 15-10
loss to Virginia
Tech earlier this
season.
�We
understand the
difficulty of
playing in a dome
with not a lot of
people,� Carden
said. �We went
through it last year
and understand the
feel of a stadium
like that. It is
different. It can be
hard for teams that
are a little
inexperienced or
don�t have the
leadership that this
team does. For this
offense to work on
Saturday, we have to
bring our own
excitement and just
worry about
ourselves.�
The
last visit to the
Big Easy had an
unhappy ending for
the Pirates, who
lost to
Louisiana-Lafayette
43-34 in December at
the New Orleans
Bowl. Carden threw a
fourth-quarter
interception as ECU
drove for a tying or
go-ahead score. �I�m
looking forward to
coming back to this
arena and playing a
much better game,�
he said. �It�s
something I
definitely know I
can do.�
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