By
Denny O'Brien
©2010 Bonesville.net
All Rights Reserved.
It’s hard to remember a
more critical football opener for East Carolina than its clash with
Tulsa on Labor Day weekend.
If ever a day could
dictate the tone of a season, the outcome of the Pirates’ game against
the Golden Hurricane certainly could. If you had to pick one must-win
game on the 2010 slate, it’s hard not to select the season opener.
Win or lose, the Pirates
will be the clear underdog in each of their next five games, save for
Memphis. Should ECU lose to Tulsa, a 1-5 start is a realistic
possibility given ECU’s front-loaded schedule.
That scenario might even
be the expectation from those who don’t own a pair of purple-shaded
lenses. With so many key pieces of the Pirates’ consecutive Conference
USA championship squads now missing, it’s easy to see why many believe
this will be a rebuilding year for ECU.
I certainly do.
Sure, there is a
prevailing theory that the installment of the Air Raid offense will
produce inflated numbers on the stat sheet and, even more important, on
the scoreboard. Maybe it will. It definitely didn’t take long for Texas
Tech to redefine itself when Mike Leach installed the pass-heavy offense
in Lubbock, so perhaps parallel results will occur in Greenville.
But right now, there's no
denying that the question marks easily overwhelm the answers at this
point in spring practice.
Who will direct the
offense? Though Patrick Pinkney certainly was not without flaws, he
compensated for many of them with his understanding of the offense. He
rarely took a snap when one of his teammates was out of position, and he
was one of the best ever at ECU in terms of managing the clock.
Pinkney will be replaced
by a quarterback with almost zero experience at the Division I level,
and none at all running the new offense.
Though there is no
shortage of possibilities — Dominique Davis, Rio Johnson, Josh Jordan,
and Shane Carden — there is a good chance that the position winner won’t
truly be decided until the fall. That’s when Davis and Carden are
expected to join the battle.
Regardless of who claims
the top spot on the depth chart, he’ll be handed the keys to an offense
that routinely passes nearly 50 times per game. That would be a lot of
responsibility for a seasoned veteran who understands every nuance of
the Air Raid system.
ECU will be giving the
controls to someone with limited experience in any type of offense at
the Division I level.
How will new coach Ruffin
McNeill handle discipline? For all of the strengths that former coach
Skip Holtz brought to the program, this was an obvious weakness. There
seemed to be an inconsistent approach as some players felt a heavier
hand than others, and it was definitely discussed in the locker room and
beyond.
It will be interesting to
see how McNeill handles the recent arrests of running backs Brandon
Jackson and Giavanni Ruffin. His decisions there should set a precedent
as to how discipline will work under his watch. It also could provide
some indication as to how the ECU backfield might look in September.
How quickly will the
offensive line pick up the new schemes? East Carolina has developed a
reputation for big, bruising offensive lines with a knack for creating
oversized lanes in the running game. Now its primary responsibility will
be keeping the next QB upright.
McNeill himself said one
of the biggest learning curves will occur along the offensive front. How
quickly the unit adapts to the audibles in the new offense will be a
prerequisite for the success of the next QB.
How do you replace nearly
the entire defense? You don’t. Though the Pirates have plenty of skilled
athletes there, it’s hard to envision them measuring up to the group
that ECU saddled to consecutive league titles.
The Pirates’ vaunted front
seven was a perfect storm of brains and brawn. ECU won games in part due
to its talented defenders, but even more so because of the discipline
its players demonstrated within the defensive system. That comes from
years of playing within it.
What’s the mental and
emotional make-up of this group? That’s a tough one. But so is any
question dealing with an intangible.
Where the Pirates were so
good over the past two seasons was their resilience in the face of
adversity. Whether it was injuries, off-the-field issues, or a losing
streak, they always seemed to bounce back when many expected they
wouldn’t.
Those are just a few of
the questions facing the Pirates between now and September. And there is
nothing that says they can’t answer each of them in a positive manner.
McNeill and his staff have
a firm understanding of the systems they want to run and the type of
athletes that it takes to make them successful. Chances are, there could
be more pieces in place than what many believe to be the case.
But even in a perfect
scenario, there is no getting around an opening stretch that,
considering the circumstances, is among the most difficult ECU has
faced. That’s why this year’s opener is the most pressing one in recent
memory.
