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GAME DAY WEATHER |
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The weather looks
wonderful for ECU's
homecoming game at
noon today against
Tulsa. The
temperature is
expected to be 63
degrees at kickoff
with sunny skies, a
zero percent chance
of rain and 40
percent humidity.
Winds will be six
miles per hour out
of the northwest,
according to the
forecast. As the
American Athletic
Conference contest
progresses, the
temperature will
rise slightly to 65
degrees, humidity
will decrease to 37
percent and sunny
skies will continue
with no chance of a
shower. The wind
will move to the
west-northwest and
increase to seven
miles per hour. It
should be a great
day for football.
(Filed by Al Myatt) |
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FOOTBALL |
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Home sweet Homecoming for Pirates |
Homecoming at East Carolina is a
party that will attract around
50,000 guests. ECU coach Ruffin
McNeill is in charge of the
entertainment. McNeill and the late
Ed Emory are former Pirate players
who have gone on to become head
coaches at their alma mater ...
More from
Al Myatt... |
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Infographic: Wild West
Shootout |
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38 |
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45 |
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Brigham
Young outlasted East Carolina,
45-38, Saturday evening before a
crowd of 60,186 at LaVell Edwards
Stadium. BYU freshman quarterback
Tanner Mangum, who rallied the
Cougars to dramatic victories over
Nebraska and Boise State to start
the season, again delivered
late-game heroics ...
Details and
data from Greg Vacek... |
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Ruff post-game audio |
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  ECU
coach Ruffin McNeill
spoke with reporters
after the Pirates' close
loss to BYU (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 comes into today's American Athletic Conference contest with
Tulsa at 3-3, while the Golden Hurricane has a 3-2 record. The Pirates
are 1-1 in the AAC and Tulsa is 0-1, making this a pivotal game for both
both teams in terms of their
conference championship ambitions. Though ECU is in the East Division
and Tulsa is in the West, all league games are counted in the divisional
standings.
ECU
is coming off
a close loss at Brigham Young.
Between the travel across country to Provo, UT, the altitude of the
field and the talent of the Cougars, the Pirates were in slightly
over their heads. That being said, they fought to the very end and
had a chance to win late, but just ran out of time.
Tulsa is a good team offensively, averaging over 36 points per game,
but it has struggled defensively, giving up over 35 points per game.
The Pirates can win today's game if they can get solid pressure on
the quarterback, defend the big play and win the turnover battle.
PRESSURE
THE QB
Over the
past few weeks, ECU's front seven have really turned up the pressure on
opposing quarterbacks.
Against Southern Methodist,
the Pirates harassed QB Matt Davis all game long. Outside linebacker
Montese Overton got four sacks by himself against the Mustang signal
caller. Newcomer Yiannis Bowden has exerted his presence in the pass
rush game in the last two weeks, picking up 3.5 sacks. ECU has 17 sacks
on the season, and 9.5 of them have come in the last two games.
Tulsa QB Dane Evans is not a runner and has been sacked 14 times
this season. He has 36 rushes for a total of -3 yards. If the
Pirates can turn up the heat, it will cause Evans to rush throws and
give more opportunities to the defensive backs to make plays on the
football.
DEFEND
THE BIG PLAY
If Evans
is given time, he has proven he can make plays down the field with his
arm. He is averaging two touchdown passes per game and his TD to INT
ratio is 10 to 3. Evans has three main receivers in Keyarris Garrett ,
Josh Atkinson and Keevan Lucas, each of whom is averaging around 100
yards receiving per game. The trio is also averaging more than 15 yards
per reception. These three receivers are all big play threats. The
Pirates have continued to struggle defending deep balls down field. The
ECU defensive backs seem to be in position, but they are having trouble
making plays on the ball down field.
Tulsa also has a couple big play guys at running back. As a team,
the Golden Hurricane is averaging about 4.0 yards per carry and 200
yards rushing. ECU allowed a few big plays in the air and on the
ground last Saturday against BYU. They can’t afford to do that
today.
Article continues after the
following ad...
WIN THE
TURNOVER BATTLE
Through
five games, Tulsa has protected the ball pretty well, giving up only
three interceptions and four fumbles. Pressuring the passer and
stripping the ball from receivers and running backs must be a priority
for ECU's defenders. Offensively, the Pirates have 12 turnovers on the
season (6 INTs, 6 fumbles). It’s going to be imperative that ECU take
care of the ball today. Tulsa is very good on offense and is very
capable of taking advantage of gift-wrapped extra possessions.
BOTTOM
LINE
This
should be a high scoring game with two very good offenses trading blows.
Defensively both teams are giving up more points than they would like.
The team that can make some plays defensively and get off the field on
third downs will have the best chance to win this game.
The
Pirates are excited to be back in Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium for the
first time since
their September victory over Virginia Tech.
The environment for today's Homecoming game will be electric. You
won’t want to miss this one.
Send an e-mail message to
Kevin Monroe.
Dig into Kevin Monroe's
archives.
ECU
coach Ruffin McNeill met with
reporters on Monday for his weekly
press conference. (Audio courtesy of
Pirate Radio 1250; archive photo):
The
Brian Bailey Show airs on Pirate
Radio 1250 on Mondays at 6:30 p.m.
Brian's guest this week was ECU OLB
coach Duane Price (right):
