Home > BLARRGH! > Archives > 2009 > October > 01 > Entry
Game Speed…
Regardless of how the Pirates fare this football season, there will be a point in time where we diehards scratch our proverbial bald spots and wonder aloud where the season went. We wait all year, go through summer single-minded with the notion of the opening kickoff and boom, 12 or more games sail past like a blur.
But the answer to where the season went is here. It’s now. It’s the conference road opener. It’s a game against a team that may soon surpass Southern Miss as our chief rival in the East. It’s another football Saturday that, like the weekend itself, is anticipated, savored, sometimes regretted, but always too soon gone.
Each week has it’s subplots, and this weeks contest in Huntington is no exception. The eleventh game in the ECU/Marshall series, thanks to UAB’s Thursday night’s win over Southern Miss, suddenly now pits the lone two undefeated teams in the C-USA East. It’s a battle for the early front runner as the season hits a point where teams can begin to see their goals come into view or fall, week by week, by the wayside.
Also among this week’s subtext is the return of Mike Hamrick to the CUSA fold, this time as the AD of the University of Marshall. Hamrick is of course, a native son, playing linebacker for the Herd back in the day. And while Hamrick has been almost suspiciously gracious in pre-game interviews, there’s no doubt he wants nothing more than to beat the defending CUSA Champion and rub all of his Pirate detractor noses’ in it.
Behind it all is the tragedy of 1970 and link we’ll share as a result. It’s been nearly 40 years since that plane crash that took the lives of so many Marshall fans and boosters as they descended back into Huntington, but even that doesn’t seem like all that long ago.
The speed of the game depends on one’s perspective and one’s age. There’s the speed of the action on the field and the velocity of the season. For example, there have been 16 ECU football games since the instant classic in Charlotte and 16 hours ‘til kickoff.
Wonder which one seems longer…
And now for a few random notes…
-ECU has won 8 out of their last 10 against CUSA East foes.
-ECU has won 3 out of the last 4 road openers.
-ECU has won 6 out of their last 8 conference games on the road.
-ECU has won 5 out of their last 7 on the road against the CUSA East.
-ECU is 7-3 all-time versus Marshall.
-In their series against Marshall, ECU has always won two and then lost one. If that holds true to form, ECU will win on Saturday.
-ECU is 3-2 in Huntington.
And a few observations…
-Patrick PInkney needs to show a renewed scrambling ability to keep the Marshall defense at bay. Not necessarily to run the ball upfield, but rather to find passing lanes. That’s when Pink is effective.
-The return of Emmanuel David and Levin Neal in the backfield allows the Pirate D to blitz. If we have a run blitz in the playbook, Saturday is the day to do it.
-I’d love to see Harris in the direct snap with Jonathan Williams set as a wideout. Then a rollout with Williams going deep….
-P Matt Dodge is currently fourth nationally in net punting, so please let’s not everyone pile on the first time he misfires…
-My preseason pick: ECU 27- Marshall 24
-My Gameday pick: ECU 22- Marshall 20
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