UNC - ECU

Some good satire here in providing the stats. This game looks to be simply awful.

No winner in ECU-UNC war of words
By Rob Daniels, Staff Writer, Greensboro News & Record
October 7, 2003

When the football game was scheduled by legislative decree several years ago, this North Carolina-East Carolina thing had such promise. The Tar Heels were working on their $51 million support facility, and the Pirates were flush with pride for beating the big boys, getting into Conference USA and expanding their stadium.

Most importantly, the culture of the message board was growing, sucking in a new demographic group almost daily.

There was going to be enough trash-talking in the second week of October 2003 to make Rasheed Wallace write an indignant letter of protest to Miss Manners.

Now look at it.

The Tar Heels have a Sparkman (Fred), a Cook (Rikki) and a Rice (Mickey), but they're the main course from Tempe to Tallahassee. The Pirates have a Desmond (Robinson), a Tutu (Moye) and a Pope (Brandon) and apparently no pull with the heavens.

The long-awaited showdown of 0-5 teams has all the import of Rush Limbaugh, football commentator: the nation's worst offense (ECU's at 8.4 points a game) against the worst defense (Carolina's at 41.8 allowed per game.)

Sure, something's got to give, but who's going to take it?

If you cheer for either of these teams -- and congrats on your loyalty if you do -- you've got an innate desire to talk smack to the opponent.

Theoretically, Pirates fans could have mocked Tar Heels supporters for the return on UNC's investment in the Frank H. Kenan Football Center. Since the thing was built, Duke (11-50) is the only ACC program with a worse record than Carolina's 27-37. The building is the Alex Rodriguez of college football. Hefty price tag, great product, little relevance.

The last time the Heels won at home, Bob Hope was alive.

One week after 60,000 showed up for the 2003 opener with Florida State, 47,000 attended UNC's game with Syracuse. That's a 21 percent dip in a span of seven days. There hasn't been that kind of ship-jumping in Chapel Hill since .... Oops. Never mind. Forgot about games two and three of the Torbush era.

Carolina fans could have returned the favor by laughing at ECU as never before. And that's saying something.

Those in purple have been kind of quiet lately, haven't they? It's hard to whine about conspiracy, exclusion and respect when you lose at home to Houston on a Tuesday night and start thanking your lucky stars that your conference still includes Army, which hasn't scored since Sept. 20.

When it comes to Conference USA and the Bowl Championship Series, BCS stands for Be Credible, Stupid.

The league's theme song is the Beatles' "Eight Days A Week." If there were, in fact, eight days in a week, C-USA would find a way to play on all of them.

But fans of the Pirates and Heels can't say these things. Their teams won't let them.

The banter, if warranted, would have been started by East Carolina. After all, the mighty Heels finally are being led on a forced march to Greenville, where they have never been and will not go again until 2011 barring edict of the Joint Legislative Education Oversight Committee and/or Molly Corbett Broad.

UNC suddenly had an opening for a nonconference game in 2004 when previously scheduled Virginia Tech -- with politics again acting as puppeteer -- woke up one morning and found itself in the ACC. Funny how UNC didn't fill the spot by calling ECU.

How exactly does a Pirates supporter get a Tar Heel's goat these days? Looking at the statistical summaries of the nation's 117 Division I-A teams doesn't offer much material.

"Our 103rd-ranked pass offense is better than your 111th-ranked pass defense" just doesn't work.

Another one: "Hey, three of our defensive linemen once committed to you guys and changed their minds."

Great. ECU is 116th against the run. Carolina is 110th. Trade one D-line for the other and call it even.

The best Tar Heels retort: "We stole your strength coach."

Problem: Carolina has been outscored 106-50 in the second half this year, which calls into question the Heels' conditioning.

Somebody call Seinfeld. And while you're at it, ask him if he can play safety.

 

hey 2 evenly matched teams this should be some headsup football.

 

The Tar Heels have a defense? It's almost inconceivable to think this is possible with a defensive-minded head coach, especially with his reputation in the NFL. Blurb from today's Greensboro News & Record...

Tar Heels'defense bad at historic level

The NCAA keeps five major team statistics for defense, and North Carolina is dead last nationally -- 117th out of 117 Division i-A programs -- in three of them (points allowed per game, yards allowed per game and passing efficiency allowed). The Tar Heels' realative strengths are in passing yards (111th) and rushing yards (110th) permitted.

Carolina is conceding 522.6 yards per game, which means it almost certainly won't finish as the worst defense in ACC history. The Heels will have to give up 575 yards a game voer their final seven to catch the 1993 Maryland Terapins, who set the league's standard at 553 a pop.

Carolina's statistical defensive nadir occurred in 1988, when it gave up 462.7 yards a game in going 1-10.

THIRD QUARTER BLUES: Leading 17-6 at the half Saturday, Virginia's coaches didn't want their defense to get complacent. Head coach Al Groh said the Cavaliers made some changes in the pass rush to make life more difficult for Heels quarterback Darian Durant.

Virginia stopped the Heels cold on their first drive after the intermission and recorded four sacks in the third quarter, when it outscored UNC 14-0.

"When it is a closely contested game at the half on the road, you need to come out in the third quarter and try to establish yourself," Groh said. "Otherwise, it just becomes a seesaw game, back and forth, and who knows what happens with those things."

North Carolina has done a particularly poor job establishing itself after the half -- hoem or away -- the past two seasons. The Tar Heels have been outscored 61-10 in the third quarter this year after being roughed up by a 135-44 count in 2002.

"That's probably a combination of a few things," UNC coach John Bunting said Saturday. "I wasn't very happy with the way we were playing at halftime. It shouldn't have been a 17-6 ballgame, and I let them know that."

BEST OF THE WINLESS? OK, North Carolina's first visit to Greenville to face East Carolina has lost some of its potential luster in the eight years since the state legislature strong-armed the Tar Heels into making the trip.

Nothing pretty about one 0-5 team playing another. But, fans of the two schools can at least take heart in the Sagarin ratings. The USA Today computer index of Division I teams looks favorably on their strengths of schedule, rating UNC's schedule difficulty up to this point second behind only that of Notre Dame; ECU is fifth.

 

I just wish THE MAN would put a total up on this game. I know there won't be one though.

 

That would be about the only thing interesting about it kshead, the nation's worst offense (ECU's at 8.4 points a game) against the worst defense (Carolina's at 41.8 allowed per game.

Will something give?

 

I would love to watch this game.

 

Yes. Both defenses will give generously.

Usually - to repeat, usually - a bad D like UNC's will let even the worst of offenses move the ball. The thing that would concern me is that ECU gives up most of its yards on the ground and UNC does not run the ball well. But I expect this game to be like a tennis match.

No way in hell I'd lay the 8 with UNC. Might be wrong about that, but I sure wouldn't bet it.

 

It'll be really cool if the players draw the winning play in the sand in the huddle. I saw a disney serial on the mickey mouse club like that once. It was really cool. We played football all week after watching that one. Moochie was in it.

 

UNC easy.