It was 85 degrees at kickoff and got warmer during East Carolina's 33-30 win over N.C. State in Greenville on Saturday. The Pirates scored on a 5-yard run by Anthony Scott with 5:49 remaining after mounting an 84-yard drive of 14 plays that consumed seven minutes, 15 seconds. The Wolfpack had the ball twice subsequently, punting and then running out of time. The … [Read more...]
View from the East: Dowdy-Ficklen makes a difference
What is the value of home field advantage in college football? It's as pronounced at East Carolina as practically anywhere in the Football Bowl Subdivision and certainly appeared to be a factor in the Pirates' 33-30 win over visiting N.C. State on Saturday. In a study on the subject by Jimmy Boyd, the performance of teams in home and away conference games from 1989 to 2014 … [Read more...]
Inside Game Day: Pirates get a peachy win
GREENVILLE — Considering some of the Peach Bowl heroes from the 1991 East Carolina team were back in Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium on Saturday, a comeback win over N.C. State was appropriate. The current Pirates didn't trail by as large a margin as the silver anniversary crew did in Atlanta when they rallied from a 34-17 deficit to win, 37-34, on a 22-yard scoring pass to Luke … [Read more...]
View from the East: Pirates prepare for rival visit
Vince Lombardi knew something about achieving success as legendary coach of the Green Bay Packers. "The will to win is not nearly so important as the will to prepare to win," Lombardi said. East Carolina's football team went to work getting ready for N.C. State's visit at noon Saturday following a 52-7 win over Western Carolina in week one. Tuesday and Wednesday are … [Read more...]
View from the East: Pirates apply work to play
East Carolina avoided the tendency to play down to the level of its competition on Saturday night in a 52-7 win over Western Carolina. The Catamounts are from the Football Championship Subdivision, which is allowed 63 scholarships compared to Football Bowl Subdivision programs, such as ECU, which have 85 scholarships. It was a significantly better performance for the … [Read more...]