By
Denny O'Brien
©2008 Bonesville.net
All Rights Reserved.
Harris BCS Poll
For the third year in a row, Denny O'Brien is a member
of the voting panel
for the
Harris Interactive College Football Poll,
commissioned by the Bowl Championship Series. As a
service to readers of this site, O'Brien's ballot will
be published in this space each Monday throughout the
season.
A senior
columnist for Bonesville and
The Pirates' Chest Magazine, O'Brien was nominated to the Harris
Poll panel by Conference USA. View a list of the
Harris Poll panel members
on this week's national polls page. |
Denny O'Brien's Harris Poll Ballot
(Ballot cast
11.30.08)
1.
Alabama
2. Texas
3. Oklahoma
4. Florida
5. Southern Cal
6. Texas Tech
7. Penn State
8. Utah
9. Boise State
10. Ohio State
11. Texas Christian
12. Ball State
13. Oregon
14. Cincinnati
15. Georgia Tech
16. Michigan State
17. Oklahoma State
18. Missouri
19. Georgia
20. Brigham Young
21. Boston College
22. Ole Miss
23. Oregon State
24. Pitt
25. Northwestern |
This Week's
Harris, AP and USA Today Polls |
This Week's
Composite BCS Standings |
|
|
It’s no big surprise that
East Carolina is
representing the East Division in Saturday’s
Conference USA championship game. Many preseason
forecasters projected a title game appearance for the battle-tested
Pirates.
But that was before Pitt
Memorial Hospital opened a new orthopedic wing exclusively for the East
Carolina football program and serviced many of the Pirates’ frontline
performers.
The active roster of
Pirates that will arrive in Tulsa Saturday would have been picked no
higher than third in C-USA’s East division, if that. On paper the
current depth chart would have looked more like a five or six-win bunch
– not one that has gone 5-1 since the midpoint of the season.
Truthfully, today’s
Pirates probably wouldn’t have been competitive with Virginia Tech or
West Virginia to
open the 2008 campaign. The
group that
defeated that celebrated duo was
filled with veterans who have experienced spotlight games against
high-profile opponents. Many of those seasoned stalwarts were sidelined
when ECU
pounded Texas-El Paso 53-21 on
Friday.
Yet it is the no-name
backups who have done most of the heavy lifting during the bulk of the
conference schedule.
“There is a lot of talent
in place in this football program right now, especially with a lot of
the underclassmen,” ECU head coach Skip Holtz said. “They just don’t
have a lot of experience.
“I just hate that so many
of the seniors have been injured. You do senior day out there and you
look at how many guys are in street clothes. We came into the (UTEP)
game with 17 players out who have started a game for us. What it is
doing is giving these underclassmen an opportunity to get in there and
play. I think it speaks volumes for the future of this program.”
It’s a future that is
brighter than anyone could have expected coming into the season. With so
many upperclassmen lining the Pirates’ early season depth chart, East
Carolina would have headed into the 2009 season with too many unknowns
to be considered a serious title contender.
Not anymore. The Pirates’
long list of casualties has forced an early unveiling of many of the
program’s future stars, and slowly they are beginning to showcase their
talent.
It should be noted that
Holtz has been mindful over the past several weeks not to give them too
much to digest. That conservative approach has limited mistakes and
assured the Pirates of an opportunity to win games late.
“We’ve been talking the
last couple of weeks about the fact that we’ve been playing really close
to the vest,” Holtz said. “We’ve been playing conservative and the young
guys have been feeling their way a little bit.
“They’ve taken a lot of
steps now. You talk about Darryl Freeney and Joe Womack. They are both
freshman. They’ve been playing now for about four or five weeks. They
are starting to gain some confidence. You can see them growing up as
this year has gone on.”
Weeks ago Freeney was a
role player who provided spot duty to relieve ECU’s most touted
offensive superstar, Dwayne Harris. Saturday against UTEP, he emerged as
a legitimate playmaker that will seriously push Harris and Jamar Bryant
for playing time next year.
Unless you closely follow
recruiting, you probably never heard Womack’s name until his redshirt
was lifted prior to the Virginia game. In six weeks the freshman
receiver has emerged as a serious deep threat that is a mismatch for
almost any corner in man coverage situations.
That goes without
mentioning the impact of running back Norman Whitley – fourth on the
depth chart when the season began – or the emergence of offensive
linemen Steven Baker and Willie Smith. That trio wasn’t a part of the
equation early but now factors greatly into the Pirates’ offensive
success.
The future is no less
bright on defense. Underclassmen Emanuel Davis (freshman), Travis
Simmons (sophomore), and Cliff Perryman (freshman) all have cracked the
starting lineup, while several other freshmen have worked their way into
the regular rotation.
When East Carolina makes
its first appearance in the C-USA title game, it will do so as a shell
of the team that was predicted to make it there. That the Pirates made
it there is largely because ECU’s staff has proven resourceful in
reshuffling the deck to compensate for injuries.
It’s also because those
same coaches were astute with their decisions along the recruiting
trail. Their investments are showing some unexpected early returns – and
paving the way to a profitable future.