It is getting down close to game day and soon ECU will find out if their preparation has paid off against a Navy football program that has had the Pirates’ number over the course of time.
This Saturday’s game comes down to assignment football on defense and scoring points on offense for ECU while finding ways to eat a little clock of their own.
For ECU defensive coordinator Bob Trott, it’s early in his tenure at ECU and really early in the season to try to have his unit fully ready to defense the triple option but he and his group are doing everything possible to make it happen on Saturday.
“We’re getting better every day and like Coach said, it’s a process and we’ve got to do it over and over and over again so you can do it in a game,” said Trott, “That’s why they run it. That’s why when I was at Air Force Coach Hatfield started running the whole thing because he looked at our team and say we’re not going to be able to get big players. We’re not going to be like everybody else, so he was the first one to put the option in.”
“I’ve been on that side and it’s kind of nice,” said Trott, “You only have to play twenty minutes of defense when you keep the ball that much time but I was part of a defense where we had to play BYU with Jim McMahon and Jim Young so we ran the option all spring so we said can we do a little drop back pass, so it’s a challenge. But that’s why they do it because you have to prepare for it.”
Trott said Navy has going to more of a slot bone where they move the flex runners up so now you have to concern yourselves with their ability to slide out of the backfield for open passes and some other things.
“The run really sets up their passing game. It’s a lot of play action. You’ve got to be really disciplined with your eyes so that when they do run the pass - also being a part of a wishbone team some fans want you to be able to throw it more,” Trott stated, “I remember we played Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl. They were running the wishbone and they threw 125 pass attempts for the whole year. They played Colorado and didn’t even throw a pass and they won by fifty, so they’ll throw some when they have to.”
Trott talked about the progress that his guys are making in getting used to defending the option and he talked strategy a little on how best to defend against it.
“They’ve done a nice job at it. I think we’ve had a good plan on how to prepare them but we’ll see on Saturday,” Trott told PirateIllustrated.com, “I think we’ve all been pleased about how hard they’ve studied and prepared for it. You’ve got to time your stunts and change ups. I think you do have to do some change ups. It’s hard to just run up the field because if the quarterback makes the right reads, they’re hard to stop. If you are disciplined and then every now and then do some stunts, you can cause them to make some turnovers.”
For ECU’s first year head coach, he says the tables have turned from the many years that his teams ran the option and had to prepare for him.
“I think this week is payback for all those years of me running the triple option and everybody scrambling to get ready for us,” head coach Mike Houston said, “Now the tables have been turned on me a little bit. It was a whole lot easier to get a look when your offense was running this offense, but right now you’re in a race against time to try to get all of the looks down.”
“You cannot rep this stuff enough to prepare for the speed and the precision in which Navy runs this offense. The thing we’ve got to be ready for is we’ve got to be ready to go up there and fight for four quarters,” said Houston, “It’s going to be a back alley brawl.”
While there are always a lot of mosques, the players are putting forth a great deal of effort.
“It will continue to clean up as we get closer and closer to game day. It’s one of those things where you’ll probably see us walking through a bunch of stunts and stuff against the triple option in the parking lot right before kickoff. You can’t get enough reps against it and that’s where we are.”
Scoring a boat load of points against Navy is never a bad strategy and Houston said that might be one of the best ways to combat the Midshipmen Saturday afternoon.
“Absolutely. You know it’s going to be one of those things where we’re going to try to do the same thing they’re going to try to do,” Houston told PirateIllustrated.com on Wednesday, “We’re going to try to drive the football and keep their offense on the sideline and hopefully stick the ball in the end zone. That’s one thing. If you can be productive offensively against a team like this and keep that offense off the field, certainly that’s a big step.”
Houston said that for about half the practice on Wednesday they practiced their defense against no ball on offense. Everybody had to tackle their responsibility.
“They force you into a lot of one on one matchups and now you’ve got to make the play in space a lot of the time,” Houston stated, “It’s very much that you’ve got to take care of your responsibility. You go around and try to sniff out the ball and stuff like that, those big plays happen.
The first year ECU coach announced that Little River, S.C. senior defensive back Colby Gore will participate on Saturday after being suspended for the first two games of the season. He said it will be good to have him back.
“Colby will dress and play on Saturday. Just his presence will be good to have back. He is a great young man. He made a mistake, it’s been a while too - back in the winter, but he’s paid his price and the consequences and all of that and he’s fully reinstated.”
Houston said the reps on the field are very important but so is seeing themselves defending the triple option on tape is part of the learning process in correcting the mistakes.
Game time is at 3:30 p.m. in Annapolis for ECU - Navy on CBS Sports Network television.
