The C-USA Championship Game: Dead Center in the Crosshairs of the ECU Pirates

The East Carolina University Pirates are poised for a run to the Conference USA Football Championship in the upcoming 2008-2009 season.  Skip Holtz, head football coach at ECU, is coming off back-to-back winning seasons, along with two Bowl invitations.  Moreover, the Pirates return 21 lettermen on offense, and 24  lettermen on defense.

Although relatively young, the offensive line is projected to be one of their best in the past 10 years.  300 pound junior Doug Palmer will lead a platoon experienced players that are 2 deep at all positions.  Palmer will be joined by the 6-5, 282 pound senior Stanley Bryant, which started 8 games this past season.  . 

Similarly, the defensive line is stacked with 9 returning players, whom are lead by the tandem of pass rushing ends in junior CJ Wilson and senior Zach Slate.  Standing at 6-4 and 271 pounds, Wilson is a dominant pass rushing force that will terrorize C-USA lines.  Likewise, Slate is a proven pass rusher, who has shown a keen nose for the ball. 

Winning Conference USA will not be easy with the departure of the dynamic running back Chris Johnson, who was a 1^st round NFL Draft selection of the Tennessee Titans.  So, the Pirates will likely feature a running back by committee that is comprised of a stable of talented backs.  Dominique Lindsay, a 5-10, 210 pound senior, is the most experienced carrier in the group.  Lindsay is complemented by the skilled sophomores Jonathan Williams and Norman Whitley. 

Like the running back position, ECU appears to have a quarterback by committee situation as well.  Senior Patrick Pinkney and Junior Robb Kass both split time at the helm last season.  Neither of the two signal callers were able to distant themselves from each other coming out of Spring Camp.  Kass is your “prototype” tall, big armed passer, while Pinkney is your swift-footed play-maker.  Look for Pinkney to get the nod in ECU’s opener against Virginia Tech and their suffocating D.

Speaking of Virginia Tech, the Pirates play an out-of-conference schedule that is ambitious to say the least.    ECU will face the likes of West Virginia, NC State, and Virginia, in addition to the Hokies. Such a schedule will truly show whether or not the Pirates are capable of playing with the big boys on the block. 

So, could the Pirates finally take that C-USA Championship home?  Well, that is the primary goal according to Skip Holtz and his players, besides going to a 3^rd consecutive Bowl game.  If it is true that football games are won in the trenches, then the Pirates should be ready for battle against their C-USA foes.

Thankfully for the Pirates, those non-conference games have minimal bearing on their ultimate conference objective. 

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