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BAILEY'S TAKE
ON PIRATE SPORTS
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From the Anchor Desk
Tuesday, October 13, 2008
By Brian Bailey |
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Holtz makes the
point about points
By
Brian Bailey
©2009 Bonesville.net
All rights reserved.
East Carolina coach Skip
Holtz calls them “point
mistakes.”
Mistakes are a part of
football. For that
matter, mistakes are a
part of life.
Saturday night’s
mistakes in Dallas cost
the Pirates dearly. Good
teams can overcome a
mistake or two. Even
great teams can’t win
when they give away
gifts like the Pirates
did against Southern
Methodist.
East Carolina is not a
great team. The Pirates
are a good team still
trying to develop
consistency, especially
on offense.
Still, this squad
certainly performed well
enough to win in several
areas on Saturday night.
Add in the fact that
several players were
either out with the flu,
or playing with the
nasty bug, and the loss
to SMU will go down as
one of the most
frustrating losses in
Skip Holtz’s five years
at East Carolina.
Holtz was still shaking
his head about the plays
on Monday.
"The mistakes we're
making are point
mistakes,” said Holtz.
“It's not just a lost
yardage play. It wasn't
just a blocked field
goal, but a block
returned for a
touchdown. That's seven
points. The 96-yard
touchdown is another
seven points. The
interception for a
touchdown was another
seven points.
"Whether it's losing
your opportunity to
score, or giving SMU
points, it's a 28-point
difference in four
plays. That's
frustrating.”
The Pirates were the
much better team between
the lines against SMU.
The offense controlled
the football. The
defense was solid.
Holtz agreed. “There
were a lot of great
individual efforts," he
said, "and lots of
things we did well
offensively with
controlling the ball and
running so well.
Defensively, we were 80
percent on third down as
they were only
2-for-10.”
All of that despite the
flu outbreak, which
affected a number of the
Pirate players.
"When we got to Dallas,
four more players had
developed fevers of over
100 degrees," Holtz
said. "We had to isolate
them and put them in
their own rooms. We
didn't want this to
become something that
impacted the entire
team.
"The fever was what
indicated the flu
problem. They all
played, but how but how
much it affected them,
I'm not sure at this
point.”
Several Pirates
displayed incredible
bravery in the loss.
Dominique Lindsay ran as
hard as he ever has, and
then would sprint over
to the Pirate sideline
to puke in a garbage
can. Lindsay is as tough
of a player as I have
seen in my 25 years
watching this program.
Much maligned
quarterback Patrick
Pinkney laid around all
day, praying that he
would feel well enough
to play. Pinkney threw
the football well,
though the deep passing
game is certainly still
a work in progress.
Think about how you feel
when you have the flu.
I’m not talking about a
bad cough or a cold. I’m
talking about the high
fever, the aches and
pains, and all of the
junk that goes with the
illness. Most of us
don’t want to get out of
bed and don’t want to
see anyone. Imagine
trying to play football
with the flu.
The flu didn’t beat the
Pirates on Saturday, but
the many illnesses in
and around the team
didn’t help the ECU
cause.
Holtz hopes the bumpiest
stretch is in the
rear-view mirror as far
as the flu goes.
"I'm hoping that the
worst of it is behind us
now," he said. "With
today and tomorrow off
of school because of
fall break, I gave the
team all of Sunday off
to get some sleep and
rest. That's usually a
practice day for us.
We're giving them all
day off today and
they're going to come
back tonight for
meetings and practice.
I'm trying to give them
as much time off as we
can so they can get
their legs back under
them.”
Usually it’s orange
juice and plenty of rest
to combat the flu. This
week, it’s a helping of
Rice that should make
the Pirates feel much
better. The Owls come to
town at 0-6, and should
provide the remedy with
a big Homecoming
victory.
On the flip side, rarely
do teams go an entire
season without a
victory. Rice has played
well at times, and this
bunch of Owls is
certainly due. With the
Pirates struggling on
offense, the Rice game
plan is probably to keep
this week’s game close
and pull one out of the
fire at the end.
East Carolina needs to
come out and dominate
play early, leaving no
doubt which is the
better team. That has
been a difficult script
for the Pirates to
follow.
The Pirates can’t afford
to hand out any more
gifts. The longer the
Owls hang around, the
more difficult the game
will be.
Happy Homecoming if
you’re headed back to
town for the festivities
and camaraderie. It's a
game I look forward to
and a week when I always
get a chance to catch up
with so many who spent
time in Greenville.
BB
E-mail
Brian Bailey.
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10/13/2009 03:07 AM |
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