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Offense
the best
defense?
East Carolina will look to
stay neck-and-neck
with Marshall in the
Conference USA standings
when it takes on UAB on
Senior Day at Dowdy-Ficklen
Stadium. The Pirates
will attempt to move
their record to 8-2
for the first time
since 1999 and
extend their
C-USA home
winning streak to
nine games.
The Pirates have won
15 of the last 17
games (and 43 of 50)
when scoring 30 or
more points. Against
UAB, East Carolina's
best defense could
easily be a solid
offensive
performance. The
Blazers aren't a
team that is going
to put a lot of points
on the board.
Against FBS
competition, the
Blazers' season-high for
points is just 31
points, which came
twice in losses to
Troy and UTSA. They
did put up 52 points
in a win over an FCS
team.
ECU prevailed in a shootout
between the teams last season at
Legion Field, taking
a 42-35 win, but UAB
switched to a ball
control offense this
season. If it can
get cranked up, the Blazers'
offense can be their
best defense by
keeping Shane Carden
and the Pirate
scoring machine
off the field. UAB
will test the Pirate
rush defense (No. 7
Nationally) with two
of C-USA�s top
rushers (rank No. 3
and 6, respectively)
in freshman Jordan
Howard (773 yds;
96.6 avg) and junior
Darrin Reaves (776
yds; 86.2 avg). The
Blazers had 56
rushing plays for
the second game in a
row and had 17 pass
attempts in a
blowout loss to
Marshall last week. UAB coach Garrick
McGee said, "..we're
probably going to
end up the team
that, one year ago I
think we were in the
top 10 in the
country in passing
offense at over 300
yards a game because
we went back and
threw it all over
the field. This
year, we're probably
going to end up with
two thousand-yard
rushers and one of
the top rushing
teams."
The Blazers had 464
total yards against
Marshall
but gave up 657
yards. ECU coach
Ruffin
McNeill knows that
even with a 2-7
record, the Blazers
will not be
overlooked by the
Pirates. "I think
they [the players]
will remember. Every
time we've played
them, here or there,
it's been a
dogfight. We know
we'll catch their
best shot and we
have to make sure we
do what we have to
do, and that's get
better every day
during the week."
The Pirates need to
follow McNeill's
directive to get the
job done to make
sure they get the victory
for the seniors in
what may be their
last home game. A
win today followed
by a triumph at
Marshall in two
weeks may secure ECU
another appearance
in Dowdy-Ficklen
Stadium � as host of
the Conference USA
championship game on
Dec. 7.
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