N.C. State leads East Carolina 16-10 all-time in a rivalry that dates back to 1970 … Although the Pirates trail the overall series against the Wolfpack, ECU has has won five of the last nine meetings since 1987 (and seven of the last 13 since ‘83) … ECU and NCSU have split the only two contests in Greenville, and the Wolfpack are 14-7 in Raleigh … The Pirates have taken two of three neutral site matchups, two of which were played in Charlotte. I think we all know where the ultimate game of games was played. If not, eat a peach and click here.

It’s very exciting where these two teams find themselves at this point in the season. NC State at 5-1 looks like one of the best teams in the ACC and led by one of the best quarterbacks in the country in Russell Jesus Obama Wilson. Their only blemish is a battle with Va Tech which the Pack could and maybe should have won.

Notable: Wilson is second in the nation in passing yards, with 1,802. He has thrown 17 touchdown passes, seven more than any other quarterback in the ACC and the third most nationally. He is also the Wolfpack’s third-leading rusher with 59 attempts for 163 yards

ECU? At 3-2 the only thing predictable thing I can say about this Pirate ship is that it’s unpredictable. That, and they give up a lot of points. For a team that lost more letterman than any team in the country these Pirates finds themselves with a legitimate shot at winning C-USA for a 3^rd consecutive year. That’s not bad considering the complete overhaul in everything from the coaching staff, offensive and defensive schemes, and even the stadium in which they play.

Notable: East Carolina is one of eight programs at the FBS level that possesses a 100 percent conversion rate on fourth down. The Pirates top the nation with eight successful tries. ECU is also 18-of-18 this season when inside the opponents’ 20-yard line … ECU is one of only three teams to have a 100.0 percent red-zone efficiency rating and have the most chances of any of the trio. East Carolina has also made the most of its 18 red-zone trips with 14 TDs.

October 16, 2010, high noon

Tom O’Brien has done a phenomenal job getting NC State ready for these in-state rival games. NC State comes to Greenville favored by around 8 points. I’m pretty sure it would be more but ECU did upset Sothern Miss in another instant ECU classic. Also, ECU fans are hungry. Pirate Nation hasn’t been fed a home game in over a month so Dowdy will be rowdy. ECU players will get that extra energy from an electric crowd but what they do will be up to them.  What’s more, you can bet the players that were on the team two years ago remember when State ruined their dream of “BCS busting” in an overtime loss at Carter-Finley. This time the tables are turned, with NC State in the midst of one of their best seasons, they now have to come to Purpleville to face a surprising and determined East Carolina team.

I really don’t know what to expect; it could be close, it could be an upset or it could be a Wolfpack rout. With ECU giving up so many points and facing a good defense I would lean torward the latter. On the other hand when Dowdy gets rowdy anything can happen. Both teams can put points on the board so this could likely be a very high scoring shootout. It will come down to a few questions. Can NC State settle down and force their will in a ruckus atmosphere? Can ECU play a little defense and a complete game?

I do know this. It will be fun and when the dust is settled I hope both teams go on to win their respective conferences. In conclusion I’ll leave you with a good Tom O’Brien quote about this rivaly game. “It’s a great atmosphere. They love football. They’re like our people, they love football. These are the two best football loving schools in the state and it should be a great game on Saturday.”

And with that, lets eat some bbq, drink some beer and enjoy the game.

^Tailgating Violation for the half-full Corona^

It will be an early one in G-Vegas as the Pirates welcome league opponent Memphis at noon. This will mark the second league opponent in as many weeks with back to back home games. This is a change in scheduling strategy for ECU; usually the Pirates are playing big out of conference games like a Va Tech to start the season.

After last week’s crazy-wacky game against favored Tulsa many Pirate fans are hopeful for a blow-out win over Memphis. The Tigers are also in rebuilding mode and are not very good but those fans must of not seen ECU play Defense last week. Given that, this could be classified as a classic trap game. However, ECU does welcome 3 possibly 4 defensive starters back for Saturday’s game and if the Pirates can duplicate that offense a 2-0 start is likely.  Also this week unlike last week or the Wolfpack for that matter, ECU is favored against its C-USA challenger (-13.5). But as long as Tom O’Brian keeps considering UCF and ECU as a BCS game (explains why he’s 2-0 v ECU) I believe NC State will also win going away.

For ECU to have a winning season a 2-0 start is must. Next on the slate is murderers’ row as the Pirates have @ Va Tech @ UNC @ Southern Miss then welcomes NC State to town. Should be an interesting learning experience to say the least.

The Tulsa Catch

Winning Catch (with Confirmation) – ECU vs Tulsa – 9/5/10

Since Skip Holtz stepped away from ECU and our Purple and Gold, many have wondered and asked, what in the world did he do with all of his Pirate gear?  Well, after a little shopping trip earlier today, I have found the answer.

If you live in or around Greenville you may have heard of a consignment store called Twice is Nice. This store is located just off Arlington Blvd. halfway between Greenville Blvd. and Evans St.  Skip and his wife, Jennifer, took their clothes to this consignment store where they have been flying of the shelves for the past week.  I, myself, am now the lucky owner of a Robert Talbott $135 purple tie that Skip once wore.  Don’t even begin to think I paid $135 for it.  Each of his purple and gold ties are being sold for $16.95.  Not too bad of a deal.

Two months ago ECU had just won its second straight Conference USA championship and Pirate Nation joined Skip Holtz and the team on Bagwell field for a championship celebration. Fun was had by all, yo ho yo ho. But now that the college football conference championship weekend was over Pirate fans would also brace for the inevitable speculation that the C-USA Championship victory or the bowl game to come would be Skip Holtz’s last game as East Carolina’s football coach.

About a week or so later all seemed quiet on the eastern front.  At the time there just weren’t a lot of high-profile job openings.  As soon as we realized Skip’s name was not being mentioned, Skip’s name started getting mentioned. That same week Kansas and Notre Dame were the only BCS jobs remaining, however as we know, it only takes one opening to make the coaching carousel go round and round it went. Brian Kelly of Cincinnati went on to Notre Dame making Cincinnati available. That may of sounded like good news to East Carolina fans given Holtz’s connection to South Bend but that still meant there were two BCS jobs remaining and Cincinatti and Kansas had interest in Skip Holtz. Kansas felt like their fortune was with Buffalo coach Turner Gill and later that day Skip Holtz would become a top candidate along with Central Michigan’s Butch Jones for the Cinci job. While there were conflicting reports about who broke off with whom and who was tapped first, at the end of the day Cinci decided to keep to tradition by intriguing good coaches out of Central Michigan with the Butch Jones hire. Yo ho yo ho the coaching carousel ride was over; Holtz stays in Greenville and it was time to get down to business with preparations for the Liberty Bowl against SEC foe Arkansas.

Enter Shed-gate. Ruffin McNeill got on the college football radar after replacing Mike Leach at Texas Tech. McNeill was named interim coach for the Alamo Bowl after Leach was fired for his role in the Shed-gate scandal. At that time Pirate fans were gearing up for the Liberty Bowl and the Mike Leach saga was nothing more than back-ground noise. There was talk about McNeill and how he was a former Pirate and yeah, Skip’s name was going to get mentioned but it seemed Holtz wasn’t a top candidate. ECU went on to kick away the Liberty Bowl and 10 days later possibilities turn into probabilities, fortunes turn into misfortunes and vise versa depending on your carousel amusement.

Enter the slap in the face. Between Mike Leach’s Shed-gate and South Florida Coach Jim Leavitt’s slap in the face; those stories would shape the things to come forever for ECU football. Tommy Tuberville takes the job at Texas Tech and subsequently released Ruffin McNeill as defensive coordinator.  Holtz takes the job in Tampa leaving ECU behind and with national signing day looming, in a bind as time was not on the Pirate’s side. Because of that moment in time current head coaches whom Holland was seeking were committed to their staff and recruits a la Rick Stockstill. So the search was back on, the clock was ticking and Pirate Nation waited. Terry Holland did his due diligence and called on one of East Carolina’s own, bringing home Ruffin McNeill making him his choice just like McNeill’s destiny would have it.

Welcome home Coach Ruffin “Mac” McNeill. Good luck and Go Pirates!

I was talking to Capt. Obvious on the phone earlier about what we were going to call Ruffin McNeil when he became head coach of our East Carolina Pirates. We came up with some ideas that were sub-par and all involved words that rhymed with Ruff…and they were so bad that I am not including them on here.

I just came across this gem of a photo on Facebook from Dave Singleton. Incredible find!

Let’s get a list of nicknames going on in the comment section below. I will start after I post this.

Multiple outlets including the The Daily Reflector in G-Vegas are now reporting Ruffin McNeill to be the next ECU head coach.

McNeill, a Lumberton, N.C., native, played defensive back for the Pirates from 1976-79.

Congrats and go get em coach Ruff!

According to Fanhouse.com, Skip Holtz has accepted the head coaching position at USF. Sure, he presented many valid points for being interested in the Bulls but when you are a god in Greenville, why would you want to leave? Vent your frustration in the comment section below. Two questions: who are we going to get as a head coach and how bad will this affect our recruits’ decisions? UNC already scooped up a UT recruit after Kiffin got off of the Rocky Top.

I didn’t think Skip was going to do it. His twitter posts all day yesterday just toyed with my emotions. I know that this was a tough decision for him to make but he made me feel like we had him locked down. I wasn’t worried at all and then was just hit with this devastating blow. It is painful because he has been such a huge part of the rebuilding of our university and our football program.

There are worse places that Skip could have gone. If I had to see him in NCSU red, I don’t think I could take it. If I saw him wearing a Tar-hole hat, I would lose respect. My top choice (outside of staying) would have been to see him take over Lane Kiffin’s steaming pile of dookie that is the University of Tennessee football program and turn it around but Skip just doesn’t really seem like a mountain man to me.

I will support Skip while he is at USF (and wherever he may go after that) and hope that he will try to schedule a game against us so that we can beat them and then point and laugh at him for leaving.

Skip is meeting with the players at 3:00 p.m. est to talk about this. Here is a shot from his press conference which, by the way, looks like no one actually called the press and alerted them about the conference:

What a day…it is sad to see Skip out of Greenville but we have to look forward and need to keep all  hands on deck. Go Pirates! Looking forward to the next steps in our journey to the BCS.

UPDATE: He’s officially gone and has even gone on his Twitter account and posted the news.

According to reports Skip Holtz is emerging as the top candidate for the University of South Florida. The job became open after USF concluded in an investigation that Jim Leavitt slapped a walk-on player. While there are conflicting accounts to what really happened the fact remains Leavitt is out and the coaching carousel stops at an all too familiar place for Pirate fans, Greenville NC.

I’m going to go ahead and call it. With a team that had 28 seniors making next year a rebuilding year, Greg Hudson who doesn’t get nearly enough credit for ECU’s success abandoning ship for FSU and given the circumstances with Skip’s family ties down in Florida; Lou lives near Orlando and Skip’s wife is from Port Charlotte; they met at FSU. It just seems too easy; Skip will be the next USF coach if offered.

“I have gotten a call to find out if I had interest in talking to them,” Holtz said.” Obviously, there is interest from a standpoint of the league they play in, the Big East, and my parents live here in Orlando, my wife is from Port Charlotte. We would have four grandparents right there. There are a lot of positives to it. I think it’s definitely an up-and-coming program so, yeah, there would be interest.” – Holtz

If offered ECU fans should have no problems with Skip leaving. He’s been great for ECU.  I can’t blame him and would be surprised if he didn’t move on to a BCS school especially one closer to his family. ECU fans are proud but at the same time I think there is an understanding between the fans and Holtz similar to the understanding Holtz has with Terry Holland. All or most of the Pirate fans I know have always expected Holtz to leave at some point and would be relatively cool with it if he ultimately does. There would be some grumbling if Holtz left on what could be argued a lateral move and it’s going sting just a little bit more after thinking he was staying put but by and large if Holtz is offered the USF job and decides that’s where he wants to be than all we can do is wish him the best. But let’s get USF on the schedule.

As for the next ECU coach, Greg Hudson would have been my #1 choice…..Hey Florida, can we at least get Steve Logan back?

ECU played about as well has they could have against an SEC power like Arkansas. The Defense was especially stout holding one of the best offenses in the SEC to 283 total yards. ECU’s D also held Arkansas to zero 3^rd down conversions in 13 attempts making the Razorbacks the second major college team this season to win without converting a third down.

Now why we’re at it let’s go down the stat list, offense included and see where the Pirates prevailed; 1^st downs, check. Total yards, check. Passing, check. Rushing, check. Penalties, check. 3^rd down conversions, check. Time of Possession, check. That leads us to TURNOVERS and they are a killer. I thought going into this game it would be ECU who would need the turnovers and intangible play to win but it ended up being the Razorbacks who would capitalize on Pirate blunders for their plunder. Patrick Pinkney through a pair of interceptions in the 3^rd quarter, one I dubbed a “Pickney six” which allowed Arkansas back into the game. But it wasn’t just the turnovers that ultimately sank the Pirates; it was also two go ahead game winning missed field goals late in the fourth and another in OT that ECU could not overcome. For the Pirates the booted football in those attempts was liberty and the wind was tyranny. For Arkansas, the opposite; a 37-yard field goal with the wind in overtime gave the Razorbacks the 20-17 victory and the Liberty Bell was theirs.

Be that as it may,  the “meaningless” bowl games are behind us and once again we should all fight so that the real tyranny that is the Bowl Championship Series finally blow away once so we shall have playoff liberty for all.