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SURVEYING THE LANDSCAPE
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Pirate Notebook No. 277
Monday, August 14, 2006
By Denny O'Brien |
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Tough schedule could mask
progress
©2006 Bonesville.net
All Rights Reserved.
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Too bad a universal measuring stick doesn't
exist in college sports. If that were the case, we could extend East
Carolina a consensus evaluation after two seasons under Skip Holtz.
As it stands, we are stuck with our own
subjective methods for appraisal. Sadly for some, the criteria involved
consists primarily of the number that populates the win column.
After producing five wins in his inaugural
season, the expectation that many no doubt have placed on Holtz is an
increase in victories along with contention for one of Conference USA's five
bowls. And while the latter is obviously the next step in the program's
restoration, it's unfair to assume that it will occur this fall.
"The next step is to get this program into
a bowl game," Holtz said. "I think that we've got to compete at the level
that we're stepping up to the plate. We've got to compete now with the
Virginias, West Virginias, and N.C. States."
"Yeah, you can argue that we competed with
West Virginia. Well, we competed with one of them. Well, the year after this
we play Virginia Tech, West Virginia, N.C. State and North Carolina. It is
the next step that is going to be harder than the one we took. The hill that
we're climbing just got steeper. Growth may not come as fast as it did last
year."
Good point.
As tough as changing the program's
mentality was, advancing it into a postseason bowl is an even bigger
challenge. With the schedule awaiting East Carolina as demanding as any in
school history, there are no gimmees and the margin for error remains small.
Sure, the talent and depth is the best it
has been since 2001. Even Holtz will acknowledge that the program has enough
skill at each position to compete with a good portion of the schedule.
But there are few teams against which the
Pirates hold a significant personnel advantage. That much is supported by
the fact that, outside of Rice, Navy might be the least talented team on the
gauntlet.
That's not too comforting considering the
Midshipmen finished 2005 with an 8-4 mark that included a blowout victory
over Colorado State in the Poinsettia Bowl. It certainly isn't what you
consider the ideal opponent for a season opener on the road.
Not that anyone else on the schedule makes
for better fit.
For starters, West Virginia is a legitimate
contender for the national title and no doubt will be focused after last
year's close call to the Pirates. The rest of the non-conference docket
includes two opponents – Virginia and N.C. State – whose annual recruiting
harvests typically rank among the top half of the ACC.
Then you have a challenging league schedule
in which the temptation to overlook certain opponents is certain to exist.
"You always have to fight an emotional
letdown when you're playing emotional games," Holtz said. "What we've done
is add four of them. If we have an emotional letdown at Rice — that's our
fault."
"Rice counts as just as many wins as any of
the other teams on our schedule. And they also count as the same number of
losses. What you try to do as a coach is avoid the mental letdown, which is
tough when you face eight bowl teams. There aren't many playing eight bowl
teams."
That's true. But even though the hill is
steeper, that doesn't mean the Pirates can't make significant strides in the
climb.
If ECU can quickly mature at positions of
inexperience, remain relatively healthy, limit turnovers, and maintain its
focus throughout the 12-game grind, there is no reason it can't return to
the postseason and potentially compete for the C-USA crown.
There also is a scenario in which East
Carolina makes significant improvement and still finishes the season closer
to a 4-8 mark. The schedule is just too unforgiving for that to not be a
legitimate possibility.
That's why Holtz's approval rating this
season shouldn't be tied solely to wins. Doing so could undermine the
program's accomplishments as a whole.
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02/23/2007 02:03:15 AM |
