Monday, September 18, 2006

Pirates a Trap Game?



Looking at the schedule this spring, I felt like East Carolina had the possibility of being a "trap" game. After the way last years game ended up, I thought this was a team that just might have our number. The one difference in that West Virginia team and this one is that, yeah you've heard it a million freaking times, Patrick White and Steve Slaton were not starting. Call it what you want, but those two have brought a spark to this team. They went from being a good team to being one of the scariest teams in the country. At some point, someone will get the right combination of scheme and talent to stop the running game, but it hasn't happened yet.

When they do, I'm not so sure that Patrick White isn't going to be able to pass his way out of it. He has looked real sharp in passing the ball this year. He just hasn't been aske d to do it very often. Actually, I'm really looking forward to the day someone dares us to beat them with the passing game. I have visions of the 2003 Viginia Tech game. What was that, a ninty-three yard bomb? Plus, I think Patrick White is already way ahead of where Rasheed Marshall ended up.

East Carolina has played everyone on their schedule tough. They pass almost twice as much as they throw, though. That could be because they have tried to make a comback in all of their games this year, but if they have plans on passing all day on West Virginia, they might be in for a long day. The Mountaineer defense is designed to make you work the ball down the field slowly with no mistakes. They try to keep everything in front of them. If you have success running the ball, you then have a chance to get the deep balls down the field. As the safeties will have to crowd the line. But with no running game, well you've seen the first three results.

This still could be a trap game if WV doesn't show up ready to play, but given how they played their first two games this year, I don't think they will be looking past ECU.

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