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BAILEY'S TAKE
ON PIRATE SPORTS
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From the Anchor Desk
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
By Brian Bailey |
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Holtz to deploy all able
bodies
By
Brian Bailey
©2008 Bonesville.net
All rights reserved.
East Carolina's roller
coaster of a football
season will make a stop
out west for the
Conference USA
championship game in two
weeks. Before that the
Pirates close out the
season hosting a team
from the west in
Texas-El Paso.
At first glance, the
UTEP game on Friday
doesn’t mean a lot in
the big picture. East
Carolina’s date is
secure for the C-USA
title game.
The Pirates hope to play
that championship game
with as many able bodies
as possible. One thought
was to rest several key
players on Friday.
Pirate Coach Skip Holtz
laughed at that idea.
“All of the backups are
already starting,” said
Holtz with a smile. “We
can’t really afford the
luxury of resting anyone
even if we wanted to.
All of the guys holding
cards in practice in the
preseason are now a part
of the two-deep.”
Still, there are several
players that could
certainly use a week
off. Holtz, though, says
if a guy can go, then
he’s going to go.
"Right now with the
injured players, I think
if they can go we're
going to play them," he
said at his weekly press
conference. "I don't
think we're in a
position right now where
we can hold a bunch of
guys out.
"Obviously if (ECU
trainer) Mike Hanley
doesn't think they're
good to go than we'll
hold them. But we'll
have to make some
evaluations. That's why
you have so many
questionable and
probable players at this
point in the week.
"We're certainly not
going to push anything.
We're going to treat it
like this game is every
bit as important as the
last one."
My favorite all-time
Skip Holtz quote about
the ugly baby keeps
getting a reprise. Holtz
joked about it again. He
says he’d love to score
60 points in a game, but
if he has to win ugly
then he certainly will.
“It’s an ugly baby but
it’s our baby,” Holtz
reiterated. “And we’ve
been loving it up.”
Give Holtz, his coaching
staff and the players
credit for taking care
of business, despite all
of the injuries. As
everyone talked about
last week, the Pirates
had to somehow, someway,
get that win and wrap up
that shot in the C-USA
title game.
All of the injuries have
given us a glimpse of
the future at East
Carolina. The Pirates
may be thin at the wide
receiver position now,
but I think one of the
newcomers, Joe Womack,
is going to be a star.
This time last year as a
quarterback, Womack was
leading Northside-Jacksonville
to the regional finals
in the state high school
playoffs. Now, Womack is
trying to make a
difference for this ECU
team down the stretch.
UTEP comes to town this
week and then the
Pirates will head west.
Houston needs a win to
wrap up the other slot.
A Houston loss to Rice
and a Tulsa win over
Marshall sends East
Carolina to Oklahoma to
play the Golden
Hurricane. Rice needs a
win over Houston and a
Tulsa loss to get a
chance to host East
Carolina.
Again, the Pirates don’t
need a win this week.
But don’t tell that to
Coach Holtz.
"We're taking the
approach that this game
is one of 12. We've got
an opportunity to raise
our record from 7-4 to
8-4," Holtz said. "This
isn't a throwaway game
to us. This is a game
where we can gain some
experience and go
compete.
"As I told the team, at
this point you don't
know what bowl you're
going to go to, you
don't know how things
are going to happen and
it's going to be
determined by how we
play from here on out.
So this is as important
of a game as any of
them.”
We are in for a couple
of very different weeks
in Pirate football.
This week UTEP fights
for bowl eligibility,
while the Pirates try to
get through the game
without any more
injuries. Then next
week, East Carolina gets
a one-game shot at
something this program
has wanted for some
time, a Conference USA
championship.
Both assignments will
certainly test the
Pirate defense. This is
a far cry from battling
the likes of Marshall,
Central Florida,
Southern Miss and UAB in
defensive struggles. The
entire west can fling
the football around.
UTEP may prove to be the
appetizer. The Pirates
will certainly get a
taste of the high flying
west in the season
finale before shuffling
off for the championship
game.
BB
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11/25/2008 12:53:30 AM |
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