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Bragging rights will be at stake when Heels, Pirates get together for one of their rare meetings
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Published: September 19, 2009
Two schools separated by about 100 miles of asphalt and distinct opinions of each other will get together today for one of their rare meetings in football.
East Carolina will play North Carolina at noon at Kenan Stadium. Bragging rights will be the most important issue for fans, but the teams will be trying to improve before conference play.
It will be the fourth game between the programs in 28 years, but the gaps in the series only serve to create more intensity and animosity. Safety Deunta Williams of UNC has prepared all week for ECU's loud and rabid fans.
"It's funny," Williams said, with a smile. "They can be the nicest people in the world, but once they come to that game, they transform a little bit. I don't think (our) guys will be quite as used to it.
"Some guys come from rough neighborhoods and stuff like that, so it wouldn't be anything to them. The fans are going to be a little bit juiced up and all that good stuff, so I think it will be a fun crowd out there."
UNC (2-0) has won eight of the 11 games in the series, but ECU (1-1) won the last one, 34-31 in Greenville in 2007. The outcome, decided in the final seconds on a field goal, has been on the minds of the UNC players who were on that team, including quarterback T.J. Yates.
"I didn't know much about the rivalry until we went down there," Yates said. "It's a big game for both of us. It's kind of payback for us because they kind of stole one from us when we went down there. We know they're going to come in here and play hard…."
One player instrumental in ECU's 2007 win, quarterback Patrick Pinkney, is back, and Williams remembers that he executed several screen passes to near perfection. Williams is confident that the UNC defense is more disciplined than it was two seasons ago and will defend Pinkney better.
Pinkney has struggled in ECU's first two games, but Williams considers him one of the top quarterbacks that UNC will play against this season. Pinkney has completed 42.4 percent of his passes, but Coach Skip Holtz said that he was victimized in last week's 35-20 loss at West Virginia by four dropped passes.
"I think we've got to prepare for him to be at his best," Williams said. "I think we've got to go out there and think that he's going to give us his best shot. They're all going to play like it's the end of the world to them, and we need to do the same."
Holtz said that ECU seems to be missing something in its execution on offense. And the defense allowed four big plays at West Virginia and eight plays that accounted for 267 yards. Holtz is hoping that a game against the Tar Heels will bring out the Pirates' best.
"Many of our players were told that they weren't good enough to play at North Carolina," Holtz said. "This will be a game that they put a chip on their shoulder.
"It's an in-state game that is very emotional for our players, fan base and alumni. It'll be more emotional than probably any other game on the schedule."
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