It's game
week! East Carolina takes on South Florida in the inaugural
Papajohns.com Bowl in Birmingham, Alabama this Saturday December
23rd. It has been a memorable year for ECU fans that have seen
the resurrection of a once proud program under the guidance of Skip
Holtz.
It's hard to characterize exactly why this team has been more
successful than recent years gone by, because they have done it in a
variety of ways. Sometimes the offense has carried the load. More
often than not the defense was up to the task. Plus it was a
special team's play that helped the Pirates secure one of the schools
biggest wins in a long time against Southern Miss.
So to help sort it all out, here's my list Most Valuables for the 2006
season. The selections were tough as many have contributed in
major ways. Therefore a list of honorable mentions will be
included as well.
Offense:
James Pinkney - I think of the three major phases of the game, this was
the easiest to select. James has been a rock for the Pirates this
year. Despite leading an offense full of change at nearly every
position, James has had a memorable year. Pinkney will go down as
the second best quarterback statistically in ECU history. He
holds the records for most completions, and most 200 yard passing
games. He's third in touchdown passes, and second in career
passing yardage. He needs only six pass attempts to set a new
record in that category.
Well documented are the career struggles of Pinkney, who has battled
through numerous coaching changes, academic problems, and some of the
worst years in ECU football history. Top it off with the fact
that this year James has been one of very few constants for the Pirates
offense. From a youthful, patchwork offensive line, to a banged
up wide receiver corps, and constant change in the backfield, Pinkney
was still able to throw for more than 2,600 yards and 11
touchdowns.
Honorable mentions: Brandon Fractious, Aundrae Allison, Davon Drew,
Phillip Henry, and that makeshift O-line
Defense: Kasey Ross
- This was a tough selection but when a play needed to be made, Kasey
was there. Twice this season, Ross sealed ECU victories with
interceptions that went back for touchdowns with less than two minutes
to play. He tied for the team lead with four picks and was second
with an additional 7 passes broken up. Ross had 46 total tackles,
including 3.5 for lost yardage. Tackling may have been his most
impressive asset. I can remember a number of times that Kasey was
out on an island, and was able to make an open field tackle that
prevented a big play. The fact that Ross was a mere honorable
mention, and was not on one of the all conference teams is a
travesty.
Honorable mentions: THE ENTIRE DEFENSE - What a season for these
guys. It's hard to single anyone out because the team effort was
the real story. If you followed closely you saw a number of young
players make a difference, especially on the front line. Early
season injuries that initially seemed to be back breakers, turned into
a coming of age for a lot of players that look to give ECU some talent
on defense for years to come.
Special Teams:
Ryan Dougherty - Ryan added another great season onto an already
impressive resume. He averaged 44 yards per punt (12th in the
nation), dropped 14 inside the 20, and set a new career long of 72
yards. Dougherty holds the C-USA and ECU record for punting yards
with 9,860, and is second on the league list of all time punts with 231
(needs five to set record - lets hope for the Pirates bowl chances that
he wont get it! sorry Ryan)
Honorable mentions: Chris Johnson, Markeith McQueen, Zach Slate,
Van Eskridge
Most telling stat of the
year: ECU is 7-0 when they win the time of possession
battle, 0-5 when they don't. You can read into that what you
will, perhaps about how important it was for ECU to have success with
the ground game, or how well the defense played to keep the other
team's offense off the field, but it is cut and dry. If the Pirates win
time of possession, they win the game.
For the Pirates, a seasons worth of work culminates in a bowl game for
the first time in five years. ECU will take on South Florida this
Saturday, December 23rd at 1 and you can count on Pirate Radio 1250
& 930 for your game-day coverage. We get it started Saturday
morning at 8am with a special one-hour bowl edition of A Pirates Life
for Me. Then at 9am, its four hours of in depth pre-game coverage
that leads you right up to kickoff, on the Budweiser Pre-Game
Tailgate. We'll have live ESPN radio coverage of the bowl game,
and immediately afterwards it's your chance to talk about the game on
the Bill Clark Homes 5th Quarter Call-in Show. Pirate Radio is
your home for ECU bowl game coverage! We'll see if the Pirates
can "git-r-done" on more time.
