By By BRIAN HAINES, Sports Writer
GREENVILLE — If you could travel back in time to the start of the college football season and ask fans which team would be 0-2 and 2-0 heading into the East Carolina-Virginia Tech game there wouldn’t be to many that would’ve picked the Pirates to be the undefeated team. However, as ECU gears up for its first road trip of the year at Virginia Tech that is the exact situation.
The Pirates (2-0, 2-0) got off to a great start as they won a thriller against Tulsa 51-49, then used that momentum to score 28 first-quarter points against Memphis in their 49-27 victory on Saturday.
Virginia Tech (0-2) has had momentum as well, only it’s the kind that can, and may have, ruined its season. The Hokies, who started the year with national title hopes, was ranked No. 10 in the country and dropped a tough season opener to No. 3 Boise State 33-30. The defeat lowered Tech down to No. 22 in the rankings as it entered its battle with FCS James Madison on Saturday and got blown out of the polls when it got stunned by the Dukes 21-6.
There is no doubt Virginia Tech is an extremely talented team, but the big question from East Carolina’s perspective is come Saturday can the Hokies really be upset twice in a season – in consecutive weeks?
That’s what the Pirates will be looking to accomplish on Saturday when the kickoff in Blacksburg, Va. at 1:35 p.m.
While the Boise State loss clearly effected Virginia Tech heading into its next game, East Carolina Ruffin McNeill was proud of the fact that his Pirates remained emotionally level after their heart-stopping win over the Golden Hurricane, and was able to convincingly beat Memphis.
“I’m very pleased with the win,” McNeill said. “I was really worried about the team rebounding from the exciting win versus Tulsa. It was a big win. A group of men who had not played much came out and won a game in the fashion. With the excitement from that game I was worried about a hangover going into the Memphis game … But I thought the kids adjusted to the short week and the coaching staff did a great job.”
In the past a game against Virginia Tech, especially early in the season, would be largely viewed as a measuring stick game, and this year’s matchup will be no different. Despite the Hokies recent woes, expect them to come out fired up at home.
After facing a decent Tulsa team and a rebuilding Memphis crew, Saturday’s game should provide a better glimpse of just how good this Pirates’ team can be.
Virginia Tech is loaded on offense as it features two NFL-caliber running backs in sophomore Ryan Williams, who rushed for 1,655 yard en route to being named the ACC freshman of the year, and Daren Evans who gained 1,225 yards his freshman year before missing the 2009 season with a knee injury.
Directing the offense is dual-threat quarterback Tyrod Taylor, who is 6-1, 210-pound with a strong arm and nimble feet. Taylor has thrown for only 310 yards in two games, but leads his team with 159 rushing yards.
After looking shaky in the season opener, the Pirates’ defense improved against Memphis and will face its biggest challenge of the year, and maybe the season, when it squares off against Virginia Tech.
Defensively, East Carolina is more aggressive this year than it has been in the past and it will be intriguing to see how its blitzing style works against a versatile quarterback like Taylor, who can make teams pay for blitzing him with his feet as well as his arm.
“You can’t have any fear, not in this game, you have to do what you do,” McNeill said. “The biggest thing with Tyrod is to contain him. He’s mobile and they do a good job of trying to get him on the edge. You have to be conscious of that and we are. We have some packages that can spy and those kind of things, but you can’t go in there fearing him. We won’t.”