What a
day of college football it was on Saturday. After a long day of
covering the Pirates, I headed home flipped on the TV and watched NC
State with seemingly one last chance to come back against Boston
College. When Wolfpack quarterback Daniel Evans threw an
interception with 3:08 remaining and the Pack trailing 15-10, I flipped
the TV off and took my patiently awaiting dog for a walk. Imagine
my surprise when I saw the headline upon our return: “Evans Leads
Wolfpack to Stunning Upset of Boston College.”
It happens every week. Pollsters, prognosticators, and so called
experts do their best to predict outcomes with sometimes unbelievable
success. However, as the old adage goes, that’s why they play the
game and week in and week out there are so called “upsets.” Hey, it
wouldn’t be entertaining if there wasn’t a surprise here and
there.
Saturday, East Carolina was a couple of mistakes away from pulling out
one of the biggest upsets in school history. You can go back now
and pick out plays that potentially could have made the
difference. If Jerek Hewitt had fallen on that fumbled punt
instead of trying to and pick it up and score. If James Pinkey
hadn’t fumbled in the WVU redzone, and if the Pirates could have
stopped the screen pass to Darius Reynaud that went for 60 yards and a
score. If ECU had been able to flip these ifs, there might have
been a different outcome.
However, let’s focus on the positive. ECU just had the fourth
ranked team in the country on the ropes for three quarters. It’s
been a long time since ECU has had an effort like that against a team
with any credentials. See 2003 and 2004.
Sitting back and looking at it now, it was a solid effort. A good
game plan executed by an improving football team. On our 5th
Quarter post-game call in show I think we might have given the wrong
impression. Some listeners heard us being critical, questioning
calls, and pointing out mistakes. Please understand we weren’t
trying to take away from the play of the Pirates. That show
provides a forum for fans to voice their opinions, and bounce thoughts
off of our sports team. We play off of that and include our own
opinions about what could have been done better. And believe me,
hind-sight is 20/20, and it’s one thing for us to sit here and talk
about it, and as a wise man once said “a whole different animal” to
actually get it done on the field.
College football has become so competitive that just about every team
in every game has a chance to win. Heck, just ask Chuck Amato
about Akron. Look at Georgia’s game last weekend against
Colorado. The 9th ranked Bulldogs went into the fourth quarter
trailing 13-0 at home to winless Colorado. Had it not been for 14
4th quarter points, the Bulldogs would have been looking at a
monumental slip-up.
What about Tulsa’s overtime win at Navy. The Golden Hurricane won
on a blocked extra point after Navy scored the potential game tying
touchdown on its first offensive play of overtime.
It’s the reason we watch and it goes to show, you just never know.
