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PIRATES' CHEST GMAC Bowl Feature No. 3
Pirates Get Final Chance to Right Ship By
Denny O'Brien
©2001 Bonesville.net and Pirates' Chest
 East
Carolina has done just about everything in its power to cloud what was
forecast as a mostly sunny season. Most prognosticators tabbed ECU as the
team to beat in Conference USA. Many even etched the Pirates into their
pre-season Top 25.
None of that would come to pass, though, as the Pirates discovered
themselves to be their toughest foe during a rigorous 11-game season.
The self-destruction started in early September, back when expectations
among the faithful were astronomical. The Pirates' opening-day party was
crashed by some fella named Grobe, whose Demon Deacon football team cashed
in on a safety and three turnovers, which was more than enough to tote a
two-point victory back to Winston-Salem.
In that one, painful three-hour span, ECU was prescribed a season's worth
of reality — and the Pirates would be administered repeated doses of the
bitter pill all year long.
"That's just what happens, I guess," said senior quarterback David
Garrard, who would go on to become ECU¹s all-time passing leader during the
roller-coaster season. "I don't know how to call it. Things that could go
wrong did go wrong."
Trips to Syracuse and Chapel Hill were tough pills to swallow. The
Pirates were unable to protect narrow second-half leads, and in fact, looked
determined at times to squander them.
Consecutive home games with conference rivals Louisville and Southern
Miss could have sewn up a Conference USA championship, but the Pirates
managed to unstitch a broken heart, one that had taken four-straight wins to
heal after that narrow loss to the Heels.
But despite the disappointment, despite the unimpressive 6-5 record,
junior place kicker Kevin Miller refuses to accept the label of mediocrity
for this team. The Virginia Beach native points to the Pirates' collection
of close calls as evidence that ECU was a representative squad.
"You look at all five of our losses — number one they are all close
games," said Miller. "To me that means we are not a bad team. It's not a
lack of effort. It's not a lack of coaching. It's just a lack of execution,
and we didn't go out and take care of the football the last two games, and
really, all year."
With one final chance at redemption, Miller hopes the Pirates have
learned their lesson.
"We have nobody to blame but ourselves," he said. "Hopefully we can learn
from our mistakes." One thing is for certain, the Pirates have plenty of
mistakes to learn from:
• Against Wake Forest, Garrard batted a ball forward from his own end
zone, costing the Pirates a safety, which proved to be the winning margin.
His perfect strike to receiver Derrick Collier was bobbled, then
intercepted. Final score: Wake 21, ECU 19.
• In the Carrier Dome, running back Leonard Henry was well on his way
to a touchdown on the Pirates' opening drive, but was stripped from behind
after a 42-yard gain. A failed onsides kick with a 30-29 lead would prove
fatal. Final score: 'Cuse 44, ECU 30.
• At Carolina, two touchdowns were nullified by penalties. The Pirates
would miss opportunities for a sure-fire safety and an interception, and
Art Brown fumbled away victory on his 81-yard kickoff return. Final score:
Carolina 24, ECU 21.
• Hosting Louisville, ECU appeared ready to up its lead in the second
half when H-back Richard Alston floated a pass to a wide-open Arnie Powell
— a pass that was picked off. On the Pirates' ensuing possession, Henry¹s
fumble gave Louisville the ball in excellent field position. The Cardinals
would score to push their lead to 32-21. Final score: U of L 39, ECU 34.
• In their final home game, the Pirates would cough the ball up five
times against Southern Miss, which led to 12 Golden Eagle points. Final
score: USM 28, ECU 21.
With mistakes like that, it's easy to see how the Pirates lost five times
this season. At the same time, ECU stayed within striking distance each time
out, regardless of how many times they shot themselves in the foot.
"When you see all the scoring we did and you see us losing by just a few
points, I think that in itself tells you that it was a good team," Garrard
said. "On any given Saturday, Thursday, or Friday — whenever we play —
anybody could win. I thought that we were in every game. I don't think
anybody that we played just dominated us at all."
In fact, with the exception of two early-season games against Wake Forest
and Syracuse, the Pirates were the dominant team in most contests, including
losses to North Carolina, Louisville, and Southern Miss. But second-half
mistakes proved costly, and the Pirates were unable to hold on to
double-digit leads.
The series of heartbreaks has certainly taken its toll on 10-year head
coach Steve Logan, who admits that the season has been an emotional test.
"It (the season) has been really tough," Logan said. "It didn't seem to
balance out much this year, but if you stay in it long enough, all of that
stuff is going to happen. We're a hard-luck team. At the same time, you've
got to make your own breaks, and maybe we didn't do enough of that."
Maybe that luck has changed. East Carolina received a bid to the third
annual GMAC Bowl despite having lost its last two games. The Pirates will
face Marshall (10-2) on December 19, marking the third-consecutive
post-season game for the Bucs, which is unmatched among in-state Division I
schools.
The bid didn¹t come without controversy, though, as some C-USA coaches
felt their teams deserved the nod over East Carolina, which faltered down
the stretch.
But you won¹t hear Logan, whose team was ignored by the bowls in 1996
after a particularly impressive season, making any apologies.
"I knew this day was going to come," he said. "In 1996, we went on the
road and beat Miami, North Carolina State, and South Carolina, had an 8-3
football team, and sat at home.
"I knew that at some point we would be a 6-5 team [and get a bid]. That
year, I believe I counted five or six teams that went to a bowl at 6-5 while
we sat home. We're part of the system now and it's a compliment to
Conference USA."
It¹s a system that gave the Pirates a little vindication from that ¹96
slight. And it¹s a system that will give those hard-luck Bucs one more
chance to make it all right.
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02/23/2007 01:41:40 AM
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