University of North Carolina Athletics
One Thing to Watch: East Carolina
September 18, 2014 | Football
By Turner Walston
If the college football-watching nation wasn't aware of Shane Carden and the East Carolina Pirates before last weekend, they are now. Carden threw for 427 yards and three scores, engineered the game-winning drive and rushed for the final touchdown himself in the Pirates' 28-21 victory at Virginia Tech.
The nation is aware of Carden now, but Tar Heel fans –and the Tar Heels themselves– certainly sat up and took notice last September, when the Pirates shocked Carolina 55-31 in Kenan Stadium. On that day, Carden torched the Tar Heel secondary for 376 yards on 32-47 passing and three touchdowns. The Tar Heels said then (and they'll tell you a year later) that they hadn't taken the Pirates seriously, a mistake they vow not to make again.
It would be hard not to take East Carolina seriously after the Pirates' start to the season: they are 2-1 with wins over the Hokies and North Carolina Central; their lone blemish a 33-23 loss at South Carolina. ECU pulled within a touchdown in the third quarter of that game before the Gamecocks chewed up more than 10 minutes of clock and kicked a field goal. Carden was as advertised, an accurate 32-46 for 321 yards through the air. But Carden isn't doing it alone: he has a trio of wideouts in Justin Hardy, Isaiah Jones and Cam Worthy who have combined for nearly 800 yards receiving through three games. Hardy, a senior from Vanceboro, leads the team with 23 receptions. “He's a heck of a football player, is what he is,” Larry Fedora said of Hardy. “He's got great body control, he can get in and out of routes, he understand their system completely, so he knows how to use open grass and get open in grass, and I think the quarterback's got a lot of confidence in him. When he needs to, he knows he can go to him.”
On the other side of the ball, the Tar Heel secondary has played just one game at full strength (Brian Walker and Des Lawrence returned from a one-game suspension to play against San Diego State). San Diego State quarterback Quinn Kaehler passed for 341 yards and a score, though the Tar Heels did pick him off three times, including the game-sealer from Tim Scott. All told, Carolina has forced nine turnovers through two games, and if they can grab the ball and flip the field for the offense, they'll give themselves a chance to win on the road.
Most concerning for the Tar Heels is the number of missed tackles in the San Diego State game, an eye-opening 34. The Pirate offense will spread out defenders, so the Tar Heels are going to have to make open-field tackles. If not, Scott says, “It's going to be just like last year. We're going to get embarrassed. This year we made it a big emphasis. We're going to have to be able to tackle in space, so if we don't do that, it's going to turn out bad.”
