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NEWS, NOTES &
COMMENTARY
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The Bradsher Beat
Wednesday, October 26,
2011
By Bethany Bradsher |
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Pirates having fun executing
wins
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Dominique Davis |
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Torrance Hunt |
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Lance Lewis |
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(ECU SID image) |
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East
Division |
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SCHOOL |
C-USA |
ALL |
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USM
ECU
Marshall
UCF
Memphis
UAB |
2-1
2-1
2-2
1-2
1-3
1-3 |
6-1
3-4
3-5
3-4
2-6
1-6 |
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West
Division |
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SCHOOL |
C-USA |
ALL |
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Houston
Tulsa
SMU
UTEP
Rice
Tulane |
3-0
3-0
3-1
1-2
1-3
1-3 |
7-0
4-3
5-2
4-3
2-5
2-6 |
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By
Bethany Bradsher
©2011 Bonesville.net
All rights reserved.
Coaches often talk about their teams “getting
down to business” or “putting their head down and going to work.” But listen
to three key members of the East Carolina offense for an antidote to all
work and no play.
With two straight wins behind them and a
homecoming matchup against Tulane ahead, these Pirates aren’t about to stop
working hard. But they have noticed, said senior quarterback Dominique
Davis, that they perform best on the field when they are enjoying themselves
the most.
“We’re playing with a lot more excitement,”
Davis said. “And when we’re excited, it’s a lot more fun, and the
execution’s going to come.”
Davis has rarely had more fun on the gridiron
than he had last Saturday in Annapolis. He engineered ECU’s
38-35 victory over Navy by
completing 40 of 45 passes for 372 yards, establishing two new NCAA records
along the way. On Monday, Davis was named Conference USA Offensive Player of
the Week.
Sophomore running back Torrance Hunt, a
converted wide receiver from Durham, has been out recovering from an ankle
injury, but he said he felt great in practice Tuesday and is expected to
contribute Saturday.
With Reggie Bullock out, Hunt will be vital as
part of a balanced Pirate attack, and he is boosted by the confidence Davis
is showing every time he takes the field.
“Out there on the field Saturday, he was very
clean and crisp,” Hunt said after Tuesday’s workout. “He brought that out
here today.”
Senior receiver Lance Lewis, one of Davis’s
favorite targets, said that ECU is fortunate to be returning home on the
heels of two road wins so that Homecoming Weekend can mark a spike in the
momentum they have already started to build.
Lewis, who considered Dwayne Harris his role
model last season for both his dominant receiving performances and his
strong leadership in the locker room, has taken it upon himself to provide
some of that same guidance to younger players this year.
His his motivational tactics aren’t limited to
his teammates. Lewis tries to post on Twitter each week before the games,
with the goal of getting fans excited for the contest ahead.
“I’ll probably tweet something like, “Is
everybody ready for this game?’” said Lewis, who transferred to ECU last
season from East Mississippi Community College.
“The last two games have been so exciting, and
we can’t wait to get back to the Boneyard," Lewis added. "It goes by so
fast, we just really want to enjoy ourselves.”
These Pirates are truly starting to have fun
now, but they hit enough rocky places earlier in the season to threaten the
enjoyment factor of the 2011 campaign. The blowout loss at Houston is
getting smaller in the rearview mirror, but lately Ruffin McNeill and his
team have had to contend with a rash of injuries to key offensive
contributors like Bullock, Justin Jones and Justin Hardy.
Injuries do force adjustments, McNeil said,
but he has been sounding the theme that a prepared, unified team has the
fortitude to step it up even when starters are felled. If their season
represents a battlefield, the coaching staff expects soldiers who can carry
on despite the circumstances.
“In the military, they talk about picking up
the flag,” McNeil said. “The next guy, he’s got to pick up the flag and go
on.”
Lewis, whose own unit has been depleted by the
injuries to Jones and Hardy, said that the healthy players see the shuffling
lineup as a challenge that will ultimately make them a stronger team.
“We’ve got two to three guys at every spot
that can pick up where somebody left off,” he said. “We’re reloading.”
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