Don't be surprised if East Carolina's football players punch a timeclock as they walk onto the field to play Southern Miss this Saturday.
With one of their toughest games on the schedule now in the past, the Pirates brought home a losing record from their trip to West Virginia. But these are much different men than the ones who hopped off the plane last year. Same end result, different team. Much different.
As first-year head coach Skip Holtz continued to stress his blue collar approach to college football in the wake of ECU's 20-15 loss to the Mountaineers, he and his 80 adopted sons should have experienced an enlightenment in Morgantown, and some of the fruits of their labor.
As guys like Gary Freeman fought the war of arms, legs, wills and words with West Virginia's defensive linemen late in the fourth quarter, it wasn't a bunch of scrubs with whom he was locking horns.
That defense was the same that WVU will march onto the field all season, and the Mountaineers' starters didn't exactly get to punch out early. In truth, they spent the final two series of the game defending their turf and a slim five-point lead they knew could have been reversed.
Still, the East Carolina team went through the same emotional tumult it has after 22 of its last 26 football Saturdays. The team's last two disappointments, however, were played by a team that finally has some punches of its own to throw.
WVU coach Rich Rodriguez fumed on the sideline as his team won by the skin of its teeth, turning the ball over four times and running it for a modest 127 yards against the Pirates.
Some Mountaineer fans were clogging the exit corridors of Milan Puskar Stadium at the third-quarter turn. Their team wasn't losing, at least in the opinion of the scoreboard, but having ECU come to town was supposed to be a stress-free Saturday for them, a lightweight opponent tucked in between games with Maryland and Virginia Tech.
WVU fans saw some of the things they thought they would. They saw their linebackers and defensive backs weave through some blocks and light up ECU quarterback James Pinkney like a Christmas tree.
They saw their two quarterbacks each mount scoring drives in the first half en route to a 20-6 intermission lead.
But the view became a little hazy after that. Those 20 points from the first half didn't end up as 56 or 49 or even 35. They stayed right where they were.
Series after series, there was less and less to watch, except for the little dot of ECU fans in the bottom corner of the stands. At times, they were the only ones to provide proof the game was still going on.
It was right in front of them that Aundrae Allison, one of those newly-found punches, caught his fourth touchdown of the season to pull the Pirates within five points of giving both sets of fans something they wouldn't soon forget.
With that said and done, suddenly Conference USA doesn't seem quite so wicked.
It's silly to label games that haven't been played yet 'winnable,' especially for fans who have seen evidence of how 'losable' those same games can become. But this ECU team is far better equipped to tackle teams like Southern Miss, Rice, Memphis, etc., than those of recent memory.
After all, East Carolina became a losable game on West Virginia's schedule Saturday.
With one of their toughest games on the schedule now in the past, the Pirates brought home a losing record from their trip to West Virginia. But these are much different men than the ones who hopped off the plane last year. Same end result, different team. Much different.
As first-year head coach Skip Holtz continued to stress his blue collar approach to college football in the wake of ECU's 20-15 loss to the Mountaineers, he and his 80 adopted sons should have experienced an enlightenment in Morgantown, and some of the fruits of their labor.
As guys like Gary Freeman fought the war of arms, legs, wills and words with West Virginia's defensive linemen late in the fourth quarter, it wasn't a bunch of scrubs with whom he was locking horns.
That defense was the same that WVU will march onto the field all season, and the Mountaineers' starters didn't exactly get to punch out early. In truth, they spent the final two series of the game defending their turf and a slim five-point lead they knew could have been reversed.
Still, the East Carolina team went through the same emotional tumult it has after 22 of its last 26 football Saturdays. The team's last two disappointments, however, were played by a team that finally has some punches of its own to throw.
WVU coach Rich Rodriguez fumed on the sideline as his team won by the skin of its teeth, turning the ball over four times and running it for a modest 127 yards against the Pirates.
Some Mountaineer fans were clogging the exit corridors of Milan Puskar Stadium at the third-quarter turn. Their team wasn't losing, at least in the opinion of the scoreboard, but having ECU come to town was supposed to be a stress-free Saturday for them, a lightweight opponent tucked in between games with Maryland and Virginia Tech.
WVU fans saw some of the things they thought they would. They saw their linebackers and defensive backs weave through some blocks and light up ECU quarterback James Pinkney like a Christmas tree.
They saw their two quarterbacks each mount scoring drives in the first half en route to a 20-6 intermission lead.
But the view became a little hazy after that. Those 20 points from the first half didn't end up as 56 or 49 or even 35. They stayed right where they were.
Series after series, there was less and less to watch, except for the little dot of ECU fans in the bottom corner of the stands. At times, they were the only ones to provide proof the game was still going on.
It was right in front of them that Aundrae Allison, one of those newly-found punches, caught his fourth touchdown of the season to pull the Pirates within five points of giving both sets of fans something they wouldn't soon forget.
With that said and done, suddenly Conference USA doesn't seem quite so wicked.
It's silly to label games that haven't been played yet 'winnable,' especially for fans who have seen evidence of how 'losable' those same games can become. But this ECU team is far better equipped to tackle teams like Southern Miss, Rice, Memphis, etc., than those of recent memory.
After all, East Carolina became a losable game on West Virginia's schedule Saturday.
