Return
to the "POINTER VIEW"October 4, 2002
Return
to the "POINTER VIEW"
October
4, 2002
The Army Black Knights football squad hit the road this week to visit Greenville, N.C. to face Conference USA rival East Carolina Saturday at 2 p.m.
Both the Pirates (1-3 overall, 1-0 in C-USA) and the Black Knights (0-4, 0-2) are looking to improve their lots within the conference.
The game is not televised, but can be heard at 1050 ESPN Radio and also worldwide on the Soldiers Radio Satellite Network.
Both teams have young inexperienced teams going through the growing pains of rebuilding.
The game features Division I-A football’s two worst teams in terms of turnover ratio.
East Carolina is ranked 116th (Minus-9 on the season or 2.25 per game), while Army is dead last at 117th (at minus-10, 2.5 turnovers per game).
The Pirates are coming off a 37-17 loss to West Virginia where the Mountaineers racked up a stunning 526 yards rushing. The Black Knights hung tough for a half before dropping their fourth straight game to Southern Miss. 27-6.
"We have a basketful of problems around here," ECU head coach Steve Logan said Tuesday.
After what Logan deemed three good defensive outings he was at a loss to explain his teams lapses Saturday.
"We had four red-shirt freshman linebackers, all good players who (let things) get away from them (against WVU). Our kids just got stupider and stupider as the game went on," Logan added. "We have a lot of guys without a lot of experience."
Berry compared the Pirates defense to Southern Mississippi’s in terms of talent, the exception being that the Pirates are not as seasoned.
"I worry about how multiple they are," Berry said. He went on to explain that ECU’s stop-unit has some fine athletes that need to continue to pick up the system they are using.
On offense the Pirates are facing some of the same problems Army is. Though they don’t have the injuries at their quarterback position they are still growing sophomore QB Paul Troth into the position as he replaces four-year starter and current Jacksonville Jaguar David Garrard.
"He has a very strong arm," Berry said of the Pirates 6’5" 240-pound signal caller. "He has great pocket presence. He reminds me of a young Dave Ragone (of Louisville)."
East Carolina head coach and long-time Berry friend Steve Logan described his young quarterback as needing more game experience.
"(Troth) throws a great intermediate ball and he’s going to be a great long ball thrower," ECU’s all-time winningest coach said. "He’s very accurate and is the smartest quarterback I’ve ever been around."
Troth has completed 65-of-123 passes for 702 yards and three touchdowns. He also has nine interceptions.
Logan’s offense also misses running back Leonard Henry, who now toils for the Miami Dolphins practice squad.
"Henry was a banger," Logan said. "These two (fullbacks junior Art Brown and sophomore Marvin Townes) are much faster and can make you miss. But the way our offensive line is playing doesn’t match their talent.
"They remind me more of (former ECU star and current Army running backs coach) Junior (Smith). He was a make you miss kind of guy. We have to get back to that," Logan said.
Brown is the Pirates leading rusher with 384 markers on 82 rushes and five rushing touchdowns. He also leads ECU in receptions catching 14 balls for 51 yards.
Townes is second on the team in all-purpose yards, with 126 rushing and 121 in kickoff returns.
Army has problems of its own, of course. First is at quarterback, where sophomore Matt Silva looks to get his second career start after a record-setting performance against Southern Miss.
"I was proud of Matt," Berry said Tuesday about his young signal caller’s six interception day versus the Golden Eagles. "Offensively, we opened things up and threw the ball a bit more than Southern Miss. probably expected. (Silva) kept trying to make plays for us and I commend him for that.
"Some of his problems are certainly fixable. For example, he double-pumped on three passes and two of them were intercepted.
"He will be fine," Berry added.
"We ran the ball better because we loosened up Southern Miss.’ defense with our ability to throw the ball. I think 393 yards of total offense shows that we can be productive," Berry pointed out. "We just can’t turn the ball over."
The Army coach was less than pleased with the play of some of his offensive linemen, who, he said should be playing like more experienced players.
He is pleased though with the development of his young receiving corps, (sophomores Aaron Alexander and William White and freshman Jacob Murphy), but can’t quite explain the unexpected high level of play his young defense has been able to display.
"In some ways, I am surprised we are playing as well as we are. I thought there was potential for this, but there is still some more room to grow defensively," he said.
Berry stressed that the mood of his young team is upbeat and not discouraged by the 0-4 record.
"We have been able to go into the film room and see that the mistakes we are making are fixable," Berry said. "That used to not be the case because our opponents were just more talented.
"I think our players understand that they can play with anybody in this conference," he added. "The pieces of the puzzle are here. We just need to put them together."