Home > BLARRGH! > Archives > 2009 > September > 22 > Entry
Still cogent after all these years…
I believe it was Steve Logan who once prophetically stated something like: “Each team has a life expectancy of exactly one year.”
Regardless of your opinion of the former ECU coach, QB guru and football philosopher, he was right about that one. Each year’s team does have unique character traits that are not genetically encoded to be carried forth into future years. Theoretically at least, you could have eleven returning starters on both sides of the ball and have entirely different results.
That’s not what we want to hear. Fans naturally crave certainty and continuity, but that’s a rare commodity in this game. Looking over the first quarter of the game that is the 2009 Pirate football season, it appears this team lacks the focus, energy and perseverance that the 2008 team showed early on. And in this case, there are some aggravating factors in play.
I’m sure there’s a term for it in a sports psychology textbook, but it’s normal for fans to expect more every year. Throw in the fact that ECU beat West Virginia and Carolina the last time they played, and it’s easy to see how a lot of fans would have pencilled in a 3-0 start, just like last year. To his credit, Head Coach Skip Holtz has incrementally added one win to the total in each of his first four seasons. But in the process that improvement has created a false sense of security.
Throw in all those returning starters and the sixth-year of eligibility for Patrick Pinkney on top of last year’s nine win season and conference championship, it’s easy to see why many Pirate fans were looking for a banner year.
But if fans are nonplussed with the Pirates’ play, they are downright bewildered at the coaching staff. And while the team’s time-out to begin the second half in Chapel Hill was a prime example of poor game execution, the conservative play calling and soft zone defense has hurt this team as much as any position player’s performance.
Perhaps Coach is harkening back to the heart of the 2008 season, where ECU depleted troops reverted back to the days of the leather helmet, toughing out three point wins over UCF, Marshall and UAB. Fans may have not been thrilled with the bore-you-to-sleep offense then, because we were able to win. But now, with the three-and-outs mounting along with the losses, Skp’s play calling becomes an issue.
The staff did open up the playbook a bit for the UNC-CH game, mixing in a small dose of ‘Wildcat’ offensive set (though I like to refer to it as the ‘Buccaneer’) but it wasn’t enough to soothe the critics or get the win. Faced with a 4th and 1 with about eight minutes to go and trailing by 10, Skip opted for the safe bet, kicking the short FG and cutting the lead to seven.
But this is a team that hadn’t scored a second-half touchdown all season. And despite the relative closeness of the score, the stats were dominated by the Heels. Add in that this three pointer was the culmination of ECU’s longest drive of the day and well, you get the idea…
There are times when you have to lay it on the line, and that was it. And while we would all probably be howling if Skip had gone for it and failed, going for it in this situation would still have been the right call. More than anything, this team needs to know that this staff has confidence in them to get the job done.
Skip’s call didn’t exactly say that.
On the other side of the ball, I’d like to believe that the absence of Emmanuel Davis and Levin Neal hurt ECU”s deep-threat defense, but if they were going to be asked to zone cover like their replacements, then I don’t know if the result would’ve been any different. Since the second half of the ill-fated win over Appalachian, the Pirate D has not shown the type of aggression that makes winning easier. ECU has given up nearly a thousand yards over the last two games, so I can’t really see how ratcheting up the pressure could hurt.
It’s certainly not the end of the road for this year’s Buccaneers, as the Pirates begin their quest to repeat as CUSA champs this Saturday at the ‘Fick. You can throw out all of the bad calls, missed assignments and sluggish second half play, because this game Saturday means more.
Which brings me full circle to an truism shared by Logan, Holtz and every other coach to ever wrap a whistle around his neck: ‘There’s nothing wrong with this team that a win wouldn’t cure.’
Comments
By Mark
September 24, 2009 8:11 AM | Link to this
You may not get many comments because your article concisely described the concerns expressed in many conversations for the last three games. In other words there are no arguments here and not much to debate. Thanks!
By Jay Wilkes
September 25, 2009 6:24 AM | Link to this
Fitch and Shankweiler have been here for five years . We have a quarterback that has been here for six years . The Pirates are calling tme outs because they can’t get a play in the game . What’s the problem ?