No Quarter?: ECU Pirates Need to Prove It

Tomorrow marks the first release of the College Football Playoff Selection Committee Poll. Personally I think it is a mistake for the Committee to release any poll during the season, because the whole reason for such a committee is analyze bodies of work. They not supposed to create week by week rankings that ultimately mean nothing to their final decisions.

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The only thing it does is paints the committee members in a corner and make them explain why Michigan State got in over Auburn in the final week of the season when Auburn was #4 and Michigan State was #5 going into the selection. Without previous rankings, we would be forced to accept their superior expertise. With rankings, we think we know how they think and therefore can be more angry over snubs, legitimate or not.

Since we have these things, the thing I will be looking for is how the Committee ranks East Carolina overall and how the Committee ranks East Carolina vis-à-vis Marshall. I do not have any dream where East Carolina becomes a playoff team. I do believe that East Carolina should get that Alliance bowl spot reserved for the top team outside the Power 5 if they run the table in the American Athletic Conference.

Their ranking, if any, and Marshall’s will tell me all I need to know about whether that will play out.
In the meantime, East Carolina needs to control what it can control. The last four weeks have seen underwhelming performances as mid-tier at best American Athletic Conference teams have played them close or closer than makes since. That list includes SMU, South Florida, and now Connecticut. A good team in a mid-major must put its foot down on the rest of the conference. It can get a pass for one escape, not more than that.

Oct 4, 2014; Lexington, KY, USA; Kentucky Wildcats cornerback Cody Quinn (16) and linebacker Josh Forrest (45) tackle South Carolina Gamecocks wide receiver Nick Jones (3) in the first half at Commonwealth Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark Zerof-USA TODAY Sports

East Carolina has seen its non-conference schedule sort of implode on it. Virginia Tech and North Carolina have both been mired in the ACC Coastal, and they will be discounted unless either manages to rise to the top. South Carolina has proven to be a mid-level SEC squad this year and has even lost to Kentucky.

Therefore the only way for the Pirates to ascend is to take their ‘No Quarter’ slogan and live by it. The only ‘sexy’ game left on the schedule is Central Florida. Cincinnati will not allow the same sort of performance the Pirates have put up the last couple of weeks. North Carolina was NOT the Super Bowl and that 70-41 result will not impress either the in-conference rivals or the Alliance Bowl people.

The only reason I am pushing for this seemingly unsportsmanlike approach is because I think the Pirates deserve it, but they must earn it. Remember the Big Ten piece? Think you could beat Michigan and Iowa on the road now? Sure you could. That would make a 6-2 Big Ten squad. Yet it means nothing without that New Year’s Day bowl berth.

Oct 25, 2014; Huntington, WV, USA; Marshall Thundering Herd quarterback Rakeem Cato (12) warms up before the game against the Florida Atlantic Owls at Joan C. Edwards Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Michael Shroyer-USA TODAY Sports

Marshall is right there with you. They are arming a PR campaign and they will likely be undefeated out of Conference USA. The country’s underdog lovers will start to embrace the unbeaten Herd and interest will grow. Then the Alliance Bowls will have a choice to make: ECU or Marshall? Which team would get them better television? Then they will peak at last season and notice that the Pirates lost to Marshall.

You must take the choice out of their hands. There is no game on Marshall’s schedule that can burnish their resume for the do not play West Virginia this year. ECU still has UCF and Cincinnati. ‘No Quarter.’ It’s time to prove it.

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