PRE-GAME ANALYSIS
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Keys to the
Game
Saturday, September
15, 2007
By Kevin Monroe |
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Game 3: USM at ECU
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Each week, Kevin Monroe, color analyst for the ISP Pirate Sports
Radio Network, provides “Kevin’s Keys to The Game,”
outlining what East Carolina must do to beat its opponent.
Monroe brings a unique perspective to the task, not only as a
member of the broadcast team, but also as a former defensive
back for the Pirates (1995-99). |
©2007 Bonesville.net
All Rights Reserved.
East
Carolina can defeat Southern Miss if it accomplishes these key objectives:
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Contain Jeremy
Young:
Through two weeks of the season, the Pirates have faced two drop-back
quarterbacks in Sean Glennon of Virginia Tech and T.J. Yates from UNC-Chapel
Hill. Yates threw a beautiful deep ball, but this week’s threat will
come from dual threat QB Jeremy Young. Young threw for a career high 254
yards on 19-36 passing last weekend versus Tennessee and ran for another
48 yards on nine carries. The senior didn’t have his best game against
ECU last year, throwing for only 79 yards and rushing for 13 more. After
two games this season, he is averaging just under 200 yards passing per
game and six yards per carry. East Carolina will have to be very
disciplined against Young to contain him.
-
Play better in the
back end:
I used this same key last week, but the Pirates actually got worse in
the back end from the first game to the second. I have decided until the
ECU secondary gets better, I will keep this as a key to the game each
week. In week one, East Carolina gave up 245 yards to Virginia Tech QB
Sean Glennon. Of all the quarterbacks ECU will face in 2007, Glennon was
one of the worst. T.J. Yates, the Tar Heel freshman, added 100 yards to
Glennon’s performance and the Pirates still managed to win the game.
Southern Miss is a better fooball team than North Carolina and the
Pirates will have to fix what’s broken, especially with the deep ball,
this week.
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Establish the run:
I said last
week that teams run for show but pass for dough. Patrick Pinkney must
have read my article because he certainly passed for dough with his 406
yard performance against the Heels. The only problem is that the Pirates
never got the running game together. Chris Johnson has had a big
receiving year but the ground yards have been scarce. He recorded 136
reception yards and two touchdowns last week but registered only 19
rushing yards. Through two games, Patrick Pinkney is leading the team
in rushing with 70 yards. Johnson, Norman Whitley and freshman John
Williams need to step it up and have a big game on the ground this
week. Southern Mississippi will be prepared to stop the pass based on
last week’s game film, so running the football could set the tempo in
the game.
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Win the special
teams battle: The
Pirates have been solid in the kicking game over the last several years,
but last week’s performance by Ben Hartman set the program back a few
years. Hartman missed three field goals inside of 37 yards. The backup
kicker is punter Matt Dodge who has been giving Hartman good competition
all year. The coverage teams will also have to do better after giving up
a punt return for a touchdown versus the Tar Heels. The one bright spot
was the big kickoff return by true freshman Jonathan Williams that
almost went the distance.
The
bottom line:
The Southern Miss game is usually the biggest game of the year for the
Pirates. This year is no different. The Golden Eagles represent ECU’s main
competition in Conference USA's East Division. Before last season, USM had
won the last five between the teams and nine of the last ten. Last year’s
East Carolina victory at the Rock in Hattiesburg awakened a foe that perhaps
had begun to take its victories over the Pirates for granted. With that in
mind, ECU will have to play even better than last year to win this ball
game.
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09/15/2007 01:44:57 AM
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