Cincy Bearcats Boot ECU Pirates

Cincinnati head coach Tommy Tuberville has full confidence in his kicker Andrew Gantz but was
wondering if the game winner was a bit out of his range on a bitter cold night.

"Kicking almost a 50 yard field goal in that weather is hard." Tuberville said.  "I was more worried about snapping and the hold. I knew he could get it that far and make it, but that’s really out of his range."

With 15 seconds left Gantz nailed a 47 yard field goal with 15 seconds left to put the Bearcats in front for good 48-46.




"Adrenaline was obviously pumping and he made good contact with it." Tuberville said.  "I don’t watch the officials, I watch our fans. The fans told us it was good."

"He came up to me before we went out there and said, ‘hey it’s me and you, so if you get me down there I’m going to hit’ and ‘I told him I got you man, we’re going to do it.’" Cincinnati quarterback Gunner Kiel said.  "Gantz is unbelievable."

Terrell Hartsfield's 20 yard fumble return for a touchdown provided the final score 54-46.


Cincinnati quarterback Gunner Kiel completed 29 of 44 passes for a career high 436 yards and four touchdowns.

East Carolina quarterback Shane Carden for 418 yards and two touchdowns but was sacked four times by the Cincinnati defense.

It's The Pirate Way In North Carolina, East Carollina Has State Bragging Rights

My hats off to East Carolina since they own bragging rights in the state of North Carolina and made sure everyone knew it.  Following the Pirates 48-28 win over NC State Saturday this billboard appeared.

East Carolina beat NC State and already has a pirate-themed billboard up http://t.co/x0meWdJaY0 via @dennisglasgow pic.twitter.com/PE1UWNXmY1
— SB Nation (@sbnation) November 23, 2013

East Carolina is rubbing it in a little to NC State since the Wolfpack have been going with a "This Is Our State" campaign for a few years now.

 Pirate fans have a right to brag.  East Carolina defeated North Carolina and NC State this season.

A pirates life in North Carolina.

ECU Takes A Page Out Of Nebraska Playbook...

((HT: WNCT-TV))

And not like they're starting to run the wishbone or anything like that...

Remember when the Cornhuskers turned their spring game into a celebration for a kid fighting brain cancer...???

The Pirates had 8-year-old Noah Roberts run a 50-yard score in for ECU. He suffers from neurofibromitosis- a disease that has brain tumors form (the tumors could be either benign or malignant) and Roberts has had to go through two surgeries to try and treat the condition...

Here's how they covered it in Greenville...
WNCT | 9 On Your Side Greenville NC

East Carolina To New Big East In Everything, Now...

((HT: WNCT-TV))

All East Carolina University teams will join the soon-to-be ex/former Big East Conference.

Their start date will be July 1, 2014. Initially, ECU was planning on only being a football-only with a gradual roll-in for the other sports. Chancellor Steve Ballard was just waiting on the official word from the conference as to what the new start date would be...

He now has it, and probably, knows what kind of a check he has to cut so he won't be spending a lot of time in court with his ex-conference. The Pirates will continue to play in Conference USA until then.

Here's the latest from Greenville...
WNCT | 9 On Your Side Greenville NC

BUZZER BEATER: UTEP's McKenzie Moore Hits A Half Court Bomb For The Win

UTEP’s McKenzie Moore might have kept the Miners NCAA Tournament hopes alive.  Moore hit a shot from mid-court at the buzzer on the road to shoot down East Carolina in a battle between Conference USA bubble teams.

Here’s the highlights with the big shot at the end.

"Anytime you make one like that at the end, you feel like you've got a horseshoe up your tail.” UTEP head coach Tim Floyd said.  “It was a great win and it's a spirited locker room, obviously. Our young team needed something like that.”

"The last time I made a shot like that was probably in seventh grade.” Moore said. “I was playing for Martinez Junior High and I made a half court shot at the buzzer at halftime against Dallas Ranch Middle School."

‘It was a heck of a basketball game and heartbreaking loss for us," East Carolina Head Coach Jeff Lebo said. "You kind of feel like you have it and then getting it taken away from you like that is tough.”

McKenzie Moore’s ended the game 3-4 from behind the three point arch for 17 points but the biggest one was the half court bomb.

John Bohannon led the Miners with 23 points.

UTEP is now 11-7 overall but 4-1 in Conference USA.  If the Miners want to make the NCAA Tournament UTEP will need to keep winning.  There are no quality wins on the schedule however they get a bit lucky.  The Miners only play conference heavyweight Memphis once and the Tigers come to El Paso.

This type of win on the road might be the catalyst for a winning streak for UTEP.

Big East Raids Conference USA: Gets E.Carolina and Rutgers (UPDATED With WAC Movement)

All hail the Big East!

We aren't sure this necessarily would be classified as "Galactic Realignment", but the Big East made a move on Monday to keep themselves at least viable for the immediate future.

That move is adding East Carolina and Tulane to the mix. And it should be noted East Carolina is only bringing their football team.

The move makes up for the loss of Rutgers to the Big 10 and supplements the Big East maneuver to become the "New" Conference USA. We say that because noted powers SMU, UCF, Memphis and Houston, all C-USA teams are heading to the Big East/West.

It should be noted that the Big East will lose their "Automatic" BCS status in 2014. They will be a part of the "Group of 5" in the new playoff system with the Sun Belt, Conference USA, the MAC and the Mountain West. The best/highest ranked team in that group; will have a shot at the playoff. A shot, not a guarantee.

Here's coverage from WNCT-TV on the East Carolina end...


PM UPDATE: And in another part of global realignment, the Western Athletic Conference (or what's left of it...) is adding Grand Canyon and losing the University of Denver to the Summit- after one season...

How's that for stability...??? And they need to find another school quickly to keep their automatic bid in the post-season tourneys...

Grand Canyon joins Cal State-Bakersfield, Idaho, New Mexico State, Seattle and Utah Valley in the WAC starting in 2013-14.

That just screams "power conference..."
((HT: Azfamily.com))

Damage Done To Dowdy-Ficklen Now $35K And Climbing

((HT: WNCT-TV Greenville, NC))

An East Carolina University freshman, William Banks (pictured right, thanks WCTI-TV), was arrested Sunday and charged with a boatload of things that went wrong at the home of East Carolina football.

Police claim that someone drove sports utility vehicles on the field overnight Saturday and also took out concession stands and water fountains with his alleged driving prowess while under the influence.

Banks was arrested and charged with breaking and entering, first-degree trespassing, injury to personal property and injury to real property.

Here's the update from WNCT and Dowdy-Ficklen...


Banks, or someone who claimed to be him, took to a Twitter account "@xXWillECU16Xx" to explain what he did and, eventually, somewhat-apologize (pictured again, right, thanks WCTI-TV)

Banks was busted when he went back to the stadium to find a phone he allegedly dropped there- even after he was arrested earlier on Saturday for possession of marijuana.

Oh, and the person (or persons) claiming to be Banks deleted his twitter account.

TWTW: Upsets And People Just Upset... Oklahoma, LSU, Clemson, East Carolina

The HQ knows that, after this Saturday, we won't hear the end of it from Coach Tub after his upset win in Norman over Oklahoma...

The 39-game home streak is, officially, kaput...
Mike Baldwin and Berry Tramel discuss...
((HT: Newsok.com))


So much for that whole "national title" idea at OU...

Rueben Randle caught a 42-yard scoring pass from Jordan Jefferson and a 46-yard touchdown pass from Jarrett Lee. LSU blew out Auburn 45-10...

It was the most points scored by LSU over any Auburn team and it was the 4th-worst loss by a defending national champ in the next year...

LSU will now get Alabama in prime time in two weeks...
((HT: WBRZ-TV Baton Rouge))


Clemson honored its 1981 National Championship football team at Death Valley Saturday, and the 2011 Clemson Tigers tied one of its records.

"Points in a quarter" with 35 in the third, while the defense forced six turnovers in a 59-38 victory over North Carolina.

The 1981 team scored 35 points in the second quarter of its 82-24 victory over Wake Forest on Halloween of that year. The 2011 Tigers also joined the 1981 team as well as the 1948 and 2000 teams as the only squads to start a football season with eight straight wins.

Here's Dabo's postgame...
((HT: WSPA-TV))


And over at East Carolina, QB Dominique Davis set a first-half record for completions in a row connecting on all 26 of his first-half throws to extend his streak to 36 straight over two games when they beat Navy 38-35.

It was set in 1998 by Tee Martin of Tennessee against South Carolina and tied in 2004 by Aaron Rodgers of California versus Southern California.

Davis completed his final 10 passes against Memphis last week, so his stunning first half against Navy gave him 36 completions in a row - breaking the NCAA mark of 26 set by Rodgers in 2004.
((HT: WNCT-TV))

East Carolina Applies To Big East

((HT: WNCT-TV))

Now we have some of the "falling up" of the Galactic Realignment...

East Carolina has applied for membership in the Big East attempting to fill the gap left by either Syracuse or Pitt ((or some school that wants to leave that hasn't yet... Rutgers *cough* UConn *cough8))

Here is the statement released by East Carolina a few days ago on the topic...

The university leadership and the Pirate Nation have been steadfast and undaunted in preparing and positioning our athletics program to be a viable conference member that wins championships on and off the field and has the opportunity to participate in BCS bowls. The achievements include $92 million in facility improvements and additions, growing football attendance figures that produced an average of 49,665 fans per game in 2010 and record football season ticket sales reaching over 24,000 this fall.

In addition, statewide television viewership of ECU games equals the top five DMA areas in the nation for a football program that has won two of the last three Conference USA championships and earned five consecutive bowl appearances.

Recent announcements related to conference realignment have created an atmosphere of urgency and uncertainty across the nation for institutions, athletics departments and fan bases at those institutions. The leadership at East Carolina University is actively engaged in conference realignment discussions and remains aggressive in positioning the athletics program in an ever-changing conference landscape.

At this time, no one knows exactly how the future of the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) will look. While many of the developments are not in East Carolina’s control, we will continue to work diligently to influence any realignment possibilities as opportunities present themselves. There will be intense competition for any available automatic-qualifying BCS slots, which could include anything from a realigned C-USA to any number of other conference configurations.

In these uncertain times, we must remain focused and determined on what we can control and what has brought success to our program thus far. For our coaches and student-athletes, that assignment is to prepare, compete and win in the classroom and on the field, and for our loyal Pirate fans, it is imperative that we continue to fill our stadiums and arenas in Purple and Gold.

Steve Ballard
Chancellor, East Carolina University

Terry Holland
Athletics Director, East Carolina University

Here's coverage from WNCT-TV about some kinds of mergers and acquisitions...


Currently, the Big East is looking at ECU, UCF, and the service academies to fill slots in an attempt to remain relevant...

Now, today, Holland and Ballard released this:

"While we have formalized our interest in Big East Conference membership as a viable option, ECU will remain focused on competing at the highest level through the efforts of Conference USA."

Whether or not, ECU will fly may not be the question... the larger question will come from expanding a viewer footprint... the ECU spin is in paragraph two of the bolded statement...

In NASCAR, they'd be called a field-filler...