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GAME DAY WEATHER |
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East Carolina is
scheduled for a 7:30
p.m. kickoff at
Brigham Young on
Saturday. It will be
5:30 p.m. in the
Mountain time zone.
The forecast is
calling for a
temperature in the
upper 70s at the
start of the game
with sunny skies, a
zero percent chance
of precipitation, 35
percent humidity and
winds from the
south-southwest at
six miles per hour.
During the course of
the nonconference
contest, the
temperature will
drop into the upper
60s. Skies will
remain clear and the
humidity will
increase slightly to
43 percent. Winds
will shift to the
south-southeast and
remain at six miles
per hour, according
to the forecast from
weather.com. (Filed by Al
Myatt) |
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FOOTBALL |
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Pirates face high-altitude challenge |
East Carolina and
Brigham Young are 1,883 air miles
apart but the two football programs
share some common ground. Former
East Carolina athletic director
Terry Holland scheduled Saturday's
game at BYU when the Pirates and
Cougars were both prospective
members of the Big East Conference. ...
More from
Al Myatt... |
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FOOTBALL |
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Pirates on pace to
overachieve |
It's hard to
believe, but Saturday’s game
at BYU marks the midway
point in East Carolina’s
2015 football season.
Considering the difficult
front-loaded schedule,
significant graduation
losses and the season-ending
injury to Kurt Benkert a
week before the opening
game, the Pirates can feel
good about their current 3-2
record. ...
More from Brett
Friedlander... |
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FOOTBALL |
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Superman to the Rescue |
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All James Summers
needed was a red cape. Superman came
to the rescue again this week for
East Carolina. Summers came off the
bench to lead the Pirates to 42
unanswered points in a resounding
49-23 win over Southern Methodist
...
More
from Brian Bailey... |
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MULTIMEDIA |
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Audio: Ruff Weekly
Presser |
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  ECU
coach Ruffin McNeill met with
reporters on Monday in his weekly
press conference. (Audio courtesy of
Pirate Radio 1250; archive photo):
Select audio
clip... |
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MULTIMEDIA |
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Audio: The Brian
Bailey Show |
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 The
Brian Bailey Show airs on Pirate
Radio 1250 on Mondays at 6:30 p.m.
Brian's guest this week was ECU
outside receivers coach Garrett
Riley (right):
Replay show... |
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Ruff post-game audio |
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  ECU
coach Ruffin McNeill
spoke with reporters
after the Pirates
defeated Southern
Methodist (recorded by
Al Myatt):
Select audio clip... |
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View Mobile Alpha version of this page.
By
Kevin Monroe
©2015 Bonesville.net
All rights reserved.
East
Carolina and Brigham Young come into today's game in Provo with 3-2
records. After tough road losses
to Florida and
Navy, ECU has settled in and
started playing better defensively and scoring more points offensively.
The losses don’t look nearly as bad now because both the Gators and
Midshipmen are 5-0.
The
Pirates wiped out a 14-0 deficit against Virginia Tech at home,
scored 28 unanswered points
and never relinquished the lead
once they got it. They followed a similar scenario last week in
Dallas and once again got behind early. This time they trailed 23-7
before
scoring 49 unanswered points
and holding the Mustangs scoreless the rest of the way.
Considering that BYU is a better team than either Tech or SMU, the
Pirates can’t afford to get down too far in the Cougars' homecoming
game. To bring back a win from LaVell Edwards Stadium, ECU will need
to follow this script:
PROTECT THE BALL
The
Cougars are averaging 2 takeaways per game with 9 interceptions and 1
fumble recovery. Leading the way is imposing defensive back Kai Nacua
(6’2, 213). Nacua has 4 of the 9 picks. He set a BYU single-game record
when he got three of those INT’s against Boise State. BYU has one of the
biggest secondaries in the country with every starter over 6 feet tall
and weighing 200 or more. They are a physical bunch and will give the
Pirates all they can handle.
Blake Kemp has 4 giveaways in the last 3 games (3 interceptions and
a fumble). James Summers has yet to turn the ball over. Both ECU
quarterbacks will play today and avoiding turnovers will be priority
number one.
DON'T LET THE MITCHES
GO CRAZY
BYU’s
top two receivers are Mitch Mathews (6’6, 215) and Mitch Juergens (5’10,
182). Mathews has 26 receptions for 267 yards and 5 TDs and Juergens has
25 catches for 324 yards and 2 TDs. Each Mitch is averaging more than 10
yards per catch and 5 catches per game. Respectively, they have 7 and 8
catches more than the next man on the stat sheet, Devon Blackmon, who
has 18. Mitch & Mitch have 7 TDs between them, accounting for all of the
Cougars' touchdown passes. Quarterback Tanner Mangum is completing 60.5%
of his passes, which is pretty good, but he does have 5 interceptions
versus 6 TD passes. Half of his 101 receptions have gone to the M&M boys
(51). If the ECU secondary can rise to the occasion against this two-man
threat, the Pirates have a good chance of containing Mangum and the BYU
offense.
Article continues after the
following ad...
FLIP THE SCRIPT
In its
last two games, the ECU offense has stalled early and its defense has
been on the field too much. The Pirates need to flip the script this
week. Scoring spurts of the type that brought the Pirates from behind
that last two weeks are not a given against BYU, which is giving up 24
points per game. With that in mind, ECU will need to value each
possession and take advantage of every opportunity to put points on the
scoreboard. Defensively, the Pirates must contain a balanced BYU attack
averaging 117 rushing yards, 270 passing yards and 24 points per game .
BOTTOM LINE
This is
a big game for both teams. The Cougars were the darlings of the nation
after winning their first two games – over Nebraska and Boise State –
with last-minute heroics. The good fortune didn't hold up in a close
loss at UCLA and a blowout by Michigan in the Big House. BYU reversed
the trend last week with a nice win over Connecticut.
ECU
has had a similar yo-yo start to the season. The open questions are
which team will show up tonight for the Pirates and which team will
show up for the Cougars.
If
ECU takes care of the ball offensively, takes the Mitches out of the
game defensively and establishes an early lead, it will have a very
good chance to win this game.
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