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Bailey's
Take on Pirate Sports
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From the Anchor Desk
Tuesday, November 8, 2005
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By Brian Bailey |
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'Hurricane' season not over
yet
©2005 Bonesville.net
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 Replay Skip
Holtz's Monday press conference (recorded by
Brian Bailey). |
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Select
audio clip |
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East Carolina had a rare
October Saturday off this past week.
The extra week of practice
gave the coaching staff extended looks at some of the younger players. Coach
Skip Holtz described it as almost a spring practice type of atmosphere.
As for the Saturday away from
football, the Pirate coach enjoyed a day with his family.
“It was awesome,” said Holtz.
“I had the opportunity to see my son’s team, the Greenville Titans, play,
standing in the end zone with Coach Hudson and getting that view of the
game. They got the “W”, which was nice. I got the opportunity to see my
other son score some goals in soccer. It was a nice family weekend, just
spending time at the house."
But as all husbands know, free
time doesn’t always mean play time.
“The ‘honey-do’ list was a
little bit of a downer,” Holtz joked. “It was a long one, too. Clean out the
garage, scrub the floor; but it was good, because I’m never there to help
out in the fall.”
Staring at a Hurricane
The Pirates travel to Tulsa
this week for a match up with the Golden Hurricane.
This game features two of the
top pass catchers in the country in East Carolina’s Aundrae Allison and
Tulsa’s Garrett Mills.
Mills is one of the top tight
ends in the nation. He has 62 receptions for 816 yards, a 13.2 average and
seven touchdowns.
“He is their Aundrae Allison,”
Coach Holtz told the media at Monday’s news conference. “He is their go-to
guy for sure. We will need all eleven of our players to know where he is at
all times.”
Mills had the best day of his
career against Oklahoma earlier this year when he caught 13 passes for 152
yards, both career highs.
He is also one of 16 college
football players from all divisions of the NCAA and NAIA named to the
National Football Foundation’s 2005 National Scholar-Athlete Class. Mills
will receive an $18,000 scholarship as a finalist and is eligible to receive
the 2005 Draddy Award which goes to the top scholar athlete in the nation.
Special teams could be special
East Carolina’s special teams
will certainly be tested again this week. Tulsa's Ashlan Davis has six
kick-off returns for touchdowns in his career. He shares that all-time mark
with former Southern Cal All-American Anthony Davis.
Last year, the Tulsa special
teams phenom set an NCAA record with five returns for touchdowns. He tied
the all-time mark with his return earlier this year in a game against Rice.
Turnovers, turnovers,
turnovers
The Pirates have to learn to
take better care of the football, especially at home. ECU handed out six
gifts in its Homecoming loss to Central Florida two weeks ago.
For the season, East Carolina
is at minus-8 in turnover margin at home, and +7 in turnover margin on the
road.
Maybe the Pirates are too
relaxed at home and concentrate better away from Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium. Or
maybe it’s just coincidence.
Still, winning teams win the
turnover battle, whether they are at home or on the road.
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02/23/2007 01:32:14 AM |
