Print
E-mail
Comment
Rate
Seek first conference championship since the 1976 season
By STEVE FRANKLIN, Sports Writer
GREENVILLE — The Pirates are looking to end three decades of frustration.
It’s been 32 years since East Carolina last won a conference championship — they won the 1976 Southern Conference title — but this weekend, the Pirates (8-4, 6-2) will have an opportunity to end that dismal streak, as they travel to Oklahoma to take on Tulsa (10-2, 7-1) in the Fourth Annual Conference USA Championship Game.
“I just think it speaks volumes for the players and their attitudes and drive,” said ECU coach Skip Holtz at his weekly press conference. “They laid out what they wanted to do at the beginning of the year and they haven’t let anything get in their way.
“We talked about this being the end of the dream, that we simply made it to the championship game, or just the beginning of (the dream),” Holtz said. “(Hopefully it’s just the beginning) because there are still some things on the table that we would like to accomplish. We know we’re going to have to beat one great football team in order to accomplish those things.”
It’s been a roller coaster season for the Pirates, who climbed as high as 14th in the nation after a 3-0 start that included wins over No. 17 Virginia Tech and No. 8 West Virginia.
But then injuries and adversity settled in, and the Pirates dropped three straight contests to fall to .500 on the year.
Since then, East Carolina has rattled off five victories in its last six contests to easily win Conference USA’s East Division.
“I’m really pleased with this football team and the attitude it has and the way it has really come together through an awful lot of adversity,” Holtz said. “When you go back to the sixth game of the year, when we lost three in a row and had some of the injuries that we did, a lot of the young guys started to step up. I think this football team has done an excellent job of staying together and becoming very close.
“You want to be playing some of best football at the end of your season,” Holtz continued. “Right now, I think it would be hard to argue that we didn’t play our best game on Friday (a 53-21 drubbing of UTEP).”
In order to snap the 32-year championship skid, East Carolina will have to do something no team has been able to do this year: Beat Tulsa at home. The Golden Hurricane are 6-0 at H.A. Chapman Stadium this season.
“This will be a heck of a challenge for us,” Holtz said. “But when you get into a championship game, you don’t expect it to be easy. You know you’re going to play the best team in the league from the West Division. Tulsa is that ... The more you come in here and learn about Tulsa, the more impressed I have become with that program.”
The Golden Hurricane feature one of college football’s top offenses. Tulsa is averaging almost 50 points per game and 578 yards of total offense. It’s even better at home, where it has averaged 60.5 points per contest and more than 600 yards of offense.
“When you look at Tulsa, the numbers are staggering. They’re like video game numbers, almost unrealistic,” Holtz said. “They’re averaging 50 points a game. We scored 53 on Friday, and to think that’s what they’ve been doing for 12 weeks of the year is absolutely incredible. They are averaging 578 yards per game, 259 rushing and 319 passing. They’re a very balanced football team.
“They’ve scored 81 touchdowns, which I thought was a misprint when I first read it. We’ve scored 33 and they’ve scored 81,” Holtz added. “To put it in perspective, Ben Hartman has kicked 79 PATs in his career, and he’s a junior. They’ve scored 81 touchdowns this year alone. This is kind of a David and Goliath story when I sit down and look at Tulsa’s numbers and what they’re doing right now.”
Nonetheless, the Pirates are focused on winning the C-USA title.
“I thought we were very focused (against UTEP),” Holts said. “I think this week they will really be dialed in as well. We had a team meeting on Sunday and we had 125 guys with 125 sets of eyes burning a hole in the back of your head. Everybody was really dialed in and sitting on the edge of the chair thinking, `What do I have to do?” They’ve worked very hard to get here. But they understand the challenge that we have and what we still want to accomplish.”
It’s been 32 years since East Carolina last won a conference championship — they won the 1976 Southern Conference title — but this weekend, the Pirates (8-4, 6-2) will have an opportunity to end that dismal streak, as they travel to Oklahoma to take on Tulsa (10-2, 7-1) in the Fourth Annual Conference USA Championship Game.
“I just think it speaks volumes for the players and their attitudes and drive,” said ECU coach Skip Holtz at his weekly press conference. “They laid out what they wanted to do at the beginning of the year and they haven’t let anything get in their way.
“We talked about this being the end of the dream, that we simply made it to the championship game, or just the beginning of (the dream),” Holtz said. “(Hopefully it’s just the beginning) because there are still some things on the table that we would like to accomplish. We know we’re going to have to beat one great football team in order to accomplish those things.”
It’s been a roller coaster season for the Pirates, who climbed as high as 14th in the nation after a 3-0 start that included wins over No. 17 Virginia Tech and No. 8 West Virginia.
But then injuries and adversity settled in, and the Pirates dropped three straight contests to fall to .500 on the year.
Since then, East Carolina has rattled off five victories in its last six contests to easily win Conference USA’s East Division.
“I’m really pleased with this football team and the attitude it has and the way it has really come together through an awful lot of adversity,” Holtz said. “When you go back to the sixth game of the year, when we lost three in a row and had some of the injuries that we did, a lot of the young guys started to step up. I think this football team has done an excellent job of staying together and becoming very close.
“You want to be playing some of best football at the end of your season,” Holtz continued. “Right now, I think it would be hard to argue that we didn’t play our best game on Friday (a 53-21 drubbing of UTEP).”
In order to snap the 32-year championship skid, East Carolina will have to do something no team has been able to do this year: Beat Tulsa at home. The Golden Hurricane are 6-0 at H.A. Chapman Stadium this season.
“This will be a heck of a challenge for us,” Holtz said. “But when you get into a championship game, you don’t expect it to be easy. You know you’re going to play the best team in the league from the West Division. Tulsa is that ... The more you come in here and learn about Tulsa, the more impressed I have become with that program.”
The Golden Hurricane feature one of college football’s top offenses. Tulsa is averaging almost 50 points per game and 578 yards of total offense. It’s even better at home, where it has averaged 60.5 points per contest and more than 600 yards of offense.
“When you look at Tulsa, the numbers are staggering. They’re like video game numbers, almost unrealistic,” Holtz said. “They’re averaging 50 points a game. We scored 53 on Friday, and to think that’s what they’ve been doing for 12 weeks of the year is absolutely incredible. They are averaging 578 yards per game, 259 rushing and 319 passing. They’re a very balanced football team.
“They’ve scored 81 touchdowns, which I thought was a misprint when I first read it. We’ve scored 33 and they’ve scored 81,” Holtz added. “To put it in perspective, Ben Hartman has kicked 79 PATs in his career, and he’s a junior. They’ve scored 81 touchdowns this year alone. This is kind of a David and Goliath story when I sit down and look at Tulsa’s numbers and what they’re doing right now.”
Nonetheless, the Pirates are focused on winning the C-USA title.
“I thought we were very focused (against UTEP),” Holts said. “I think this week they will really be dialed in as well. We had a team meeting on Sunday and we had 125 guys with 125 sets of eyes burning a hole in the back of your head. Everybody was really dialed in and sitting on the edge of the chair thinking, `What do I have to do?” They’ve worked very hard to get here. But they understand the challenge that we have and what we still want to accomplish.”
 |
 |
|
| Washington girls look to take another step forward under Jones | Goddard named to All-ACC First Team |
