One team will vie for a 3-0 start to the season, one team will try to rebound from a loss and two teams will wage an important in-state battle for bragging rights today in Chapel Hill.
Coming off a close call last weekend against Connecticut, No. 24 North Carolina hosts East Carolina today with hopes of a perfect 3-0 start to the season. ECU knows what it feels like, having done the same thing last season and on a much grander stage.
ECU enters today?s noon kickoff in Kenan Stadium feeling the sting of losing to West Virginia last weekend, a setback which overturned last season?s stunning Pirate win over the Mountaineers, part of ECU?s unprecedented start.
The Pirates hope to use the loss as a motivational tool toward better productivity.
A stagnant ECU offense (the Pirates rank 102nd in the nation in total offense) will be challenged to right itself against the Tar Heels? ferocious defensive front, but fifth-year ECU coach Skip Holtz knows as well as anyone that emotion can play a big role in games like these.
?We?re all intertwined and we live amongst each other,? Holtz said of the game, just the 12th installment in the series. ?I understand the significance and the magnitude and the history of this series. It will be more emotional, probably, than any other game on our schedule.?
If the last time counts for anything, both of today?s starting quarterbacks will hope for similar performances. East Carolina?s Ben Hartman kicked a field goal with no time left on the clock in Greenville in 2007 to help the Pirates pluck a 34-31 triumph in the last meeting.
But it was the brilliant performance of first-time starter Patrick Pinkney that made it possible. Starting in place of the suspended Rob Kass that night, Pinkney lit up Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium with a 406-yard, three-touchdown onslaught, which effectively erased the 344-yard, three-TD outing by UNC?s T.J. Yates.
Pinkney has struggled to hammer out 306 yards, two TDs and three interceptions in his first two games this season.
The ECU run game has been inconsistent both in delivery and in its overall usage. The only Pirate rusher to accrue more than 100 yards and 20 carries in the first two games, Dominique Lindsay, will miss today?s game with a shoulder injury, leaving most of the carries to sophomore Brandon Jackson and juniors Jonathan Williams and Giavanni Ruffin.
So far, that trio has a combined 31 carries for 138 yards.
Receivers Dwayne Harris (eight receptions, 72 yards, zero TD) and Jamar Bryant (7-70-1) have dominated the catches, but as a team, the Pirates have sunk to 114th nationally in pass efficiency and 101st in pass offense.
?Some of our woes in the passing game aren?t only with Patrick,? Holtz said. ?Patrick can be sharper, he could be crisper, he could throw the ball a little bit better than he has. But last weekend we had some protection problems at tackle and forced him out of the pocket, and we had four drops.?
Holtz knows UNC?s defense will make it difficult for ECU?s offense to reverse the sluggish trends, saying the Tar Heels remind him of the Virginia Tech team from 2007 that finished No. 1 in the nation in total defense.
The principle parts of the Tar Heel defense, which plays a good deal of man-coverage and has allowed an average of 174.5 total yards and 8.0 points in its first two games, are its linemen. Ends E.J. Wilson and Robert Quinn flank interior men Marvin Austin and Cam Thomas, combining to stifle opposing rushers to an average carry of 1.9 yards.
?I think Austin on the inside is an absolute beast, and I think Quinn on the perimeter is all over the field,? Holtz said. ?If we think our tackles were challenged a week ago, we?re really going to be challenged this week with the pressure their defensive ends can bring off perimeter.?
Middle linebacker Quan Sturvidant also helps clog the middle, and leads the Heels with 15 tackles. At the back, linebacker Bruce Carter and safety Duenta Williams each have a pair of interceptions.
The Pirate defense, which has been beleaguered by some marathon stints on the field in the first two games, faces a UNC offense that?s also fighting hard to put points on the board and employs a more traditional attack than those of previous opponents Appalachian State and WVU. ?I feel like it?s better to play a pocket passer (like Yates),? said linebacker Jeremy Chambliss, the Pirates? leading tackler with 19, followed by 18 from safety Van Eskridge, 13 from end C.J. Wilson and 12 from linebacker Chris Mattocks. ?(WVU?s) Jarrett Brown is more elusive and he?s hard to bring down. With a pocket passer, we can try to get pressure on him and start to surround him.?
The Tar Heels have allowed seven sacks already this season, and will face a bigger and more polished front today than that of The Citadel or UConn.
In those wins, Yates has turned out numbers similar to Pinkney?s ? 347 pass yards, three TDs and three picks. Still, Holtz said his game in Greenville two years ago was on par with the command performances had against ECU by Houston?s Case Keenum last season and WVU?s Brown last weekend.
Yates? principle targets have been junior receiver Greg Little (10-76-1) and junior tight end Zack Pianalto (8-112-1), but Pianalto is a question mark with an injury. In the backfield, junior Shaun Draughn has been the leading man, carrying the ball 34 times for 139 yards and a pair of scores, but he?s been complemented by junior Ryan Houston (13 carries, 78 yards, two TD).
The Pirate secondary played consistently at times in Morgantown, but were burned for a handful of big plays on the pass by Brown, including four touchdowns through the air. Holtz said each member of the defensive backfield was guilty at times on big plays, meaning the entire unit will have to be on the ball against Yates today.
That effort could get a boost from the possible return of sophomore corner Emanuel Davis, but the Pirates will likely get little or no help from injured strong safety Levin Neal, who practiced in a limited capacity this week.
The Tar Heels have won eight of the previous 11 meetings. ECU claimed the third game between the teams in 1975, and then not again until Hartman?s kick and Pinkney?s big day in 2007. The teams actually tied once, 24-24, in Chapel Hill in 1979.
Coming off a close call last weekend against Connecticut, No. 24 North Carolina hosts East Carolina today with hopes of a perfect 3-0 start to the season. ECU knows what it feels like, having done the same thing last season and on a much grander stage.
ECU enters today?s noon kickoff in Kenan Stadium feeling the sting of losing to West Virginia last weekend, a setback which overturned last season?s stunning Pirate win over the Mountaineers, part of ECU?s unprecedented start.
The Pirates hope to use the loss as a motivational tool toward better productivity.
A stagnant ECU offense (the Pirates rank 102nd in the nation in total offense) will be challenged to right itself against the Tar Heels? ferocious defensive front, but fifth-year ECU coach Skip Holtz knows as well as anyone that emotion can play a big role in games like these.
?We?re all intertwined and we live amongst each other,? Holtz said of the game, just the 12th installment in the series. ?I understand the significance and the magnitude and the history of this series. It will be more emotional, probably, than any other game on our schedule.?
If the last time counts for anything, both of today?s starting quarterbacks will hope for similar performances. East Carolina?s Ben Hartman kicked a field goal with no time left on the clock in Greenville in 2007 to help the Pirates pluck a 34-31 triumph in the last meeting.
But it was the brilliant performance of first-time starter Patrick Pinkney that made it possible. Starting in place of the suspended Rob Kass that night, Pinkney lit up Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium with a 406-yard, three-touchdown onslaught, which effectively erased the 344-yard, three-TD outing by UNC?s T.J. Yates.
Pinkney has struggled to hammer out 306 yards, two TDs and three interceptions in his first two games this season.
The ECU run game has been inconsistent both in delivery and in its overall usage. The only Pirate rusher to accrue more than 100 yards and 20 carries in the first two games, Dominique Lindsay, will miss today?s game with a shoulder injury, leaving most of the carries to sophomore Brandon Jackson and juniors Jonathan Williams and Giavanni Ruffin.
So far, that trio has a combined 31 carries for 138 yards.
Receivers Dwayne Harris (eight receptions, 72 yards, zero TD) and Jamar Bryant (7-70-1) have dominated the catches, but as a team, the Pirates have sunk to 114th nationally in pass efficiency and 101st in pass offense.
?Some of our woes in the passing game aren?t only with Patrick,? Holtz said. ?Patrick can be sharper, he could be crisper, he could throw the ball a little bit better than he has. But last weekend we had some protection problems at tackle and forced him out of the pocket, and we had four drops.?
Holtz knows UNC?s defense will make it difficult for ECU?s offense to reverse the sluggish trends, saying the Tar Heels remind him of the Virginia Tech team from 2007 that finished No. 1 in the nation in total defense.
The principle parts of the Tar Heel defense, which plays a good deal of man-coverage and has allowed an average of 174.5 total yards and 8.0 points in its first two games, are its linemen. Ends E.J. Wilson and Robert Quinn flank interior men Marvin Austin and Cam Thomas, combining to stifle opposing rushers to an average carry of 1.9 yards.
?I think Austin on the inside is an absolute beast, and I think Quinn on the perimeter is all over the field,? Holtz said. ?If we think our tackles were challenged a week ago, we?re really going to be challenged this week with the pressure their defensive ends can bring off perimeter.?
Middle linebacker Quan Sturvidant also helps clog the middle, and leads the Heels with 15 tackles. At the back, linebacker Bruce Carter and safety Duenta Williams each have a pair of interceptions.
The Pirate defense, which has been beleaguered by some marathon stints on the field in the first two games, faces a UNC offense that?s also fighting hard to put points on the board and employs a more traditional attack than those of previous opponents Appalachian State and WVU. ?I feel like it?s better to play a pocket passer (like Yates),? said linebacker Jeremy Chambliss, the Pirates? leading tackler with 19, followed by 18 from safety Van Eskridge, 13 from end C.J. Wilson and 12 from linebacker Chris Mattocks. ?(WVU?s) Jarrett Brown is more elusive and he?s hard to bring down. With a pocket passer, we can try to get pressure on him and start to surround him.?
The Tar Heels have allowed seven sacks already this season, and will face a bigger and more polished front today than that of The Citadel or UConn.
In those wins, Yates has turned out numbers similar to Pinkney?s ? 347 pass yards, three TDs and three picks. Still, Holtz said his game in Greenville two years ago was on par with the command performances had against ECU by Houston?s Case Keenum last season and WVU?s Brown last weekend.
Yates? principle targets have been junior receiver Greg Little (10-76-1) and junior tight end Zack Pianalto (8-112-1), but Pianalto is a question mark with an injury. In the backfield, junior Shaun Draughn has been the leading man, carrying the ball 34 times for 139 yards and a pair of scores, but he?s been complemented by junior Ryan Houston (13 carries, 78 yards, two TD).
The Pirate secondary played consistently at times in Morgantown, but were burned for a handful of big plays on the pass by Brown, including four touchdowns through the air. Holtz said each member of the defensive backfield was guilty at times on big plays, meaning the entire unit will have to be on the ball against Yates today.
That effort could get a boost from the possible return of sophomore corner Emanuel Davis, but the Pirates will likely get little or no help from injured strong safety Levin Neal, who practiced in a limited capacity this week.
The Tar Heels have won eight of the previous 11 meetings. ECU claimed the third game between the teams in 1975, and then not again until Hartman?s kick and Pinkney?s big day in 2007. The teams actually tied once, 24-24, in Chapel Hill in 1979.
