DODGE, CHARGER: HE WON AT ASU IN 2005, DECIDED TO MOVE TO ECU Winston-Salem Journal By Tommy Bowman September 2, 2009 Matt Dodge said that it's important to put individual goals second to team goals, but a peek inside his journal reveals one personal ambition that sits at the top of his motivational list. "I write down in my journal every day, Win the Ray Guy, win the Ray Guy,' " said Dodge, an East Carolina punter who is on the watch list for the Ray Guy Award, given annually to the nation's top college punter. Aside from that indulgence, Dodge said he just wants to win. That effort will start on Saturday when Dodge meets his former team, Appalachian State. Dodge, a 6-2, 220-pound senior, could pass for a linebacker after bulking up more than 20 pounds since he was a freshman at Appalachian four years ago. He grew up as a soccer player, then made a career change at West Carteret High School. "I was late to soccer practice my freshman year, and the coach told me to leave," Dodge said. "I was like, shoot, I'll go play football." That worked out well. Dodge became a Shrine Bowl kicker and drew interest from a few college programs. "I originally had made my mind up on going to East Carolina," he said. "I was set up to go to camp there the summer after my senior year. I had a dorm assignment and everything." But, he said, he just wasn't sure. He felt as if he hadn't explored other options. "I told my parents that I felt like I had decided so early, that I hadn't really put a lot of thought in it," Dodge said. "I had a visit set up to Appalachian State, and I loved it. I took another trip up there; me and my dad drove up for the weekend. I was still unsure about it, and we prayed about it every day. I just had a good feeling about Appalachian State and decided that's where I wanted to go." Dodge had an immediate impact. The Mountaineers needed a punter, and he was it. He played in all 12 games in 2005, averaged 39.7 yards a punt and capped his freshman season with a big performance in the NCAA Division I-AA championship game. He helped the Mountaineers to their first national title -- averaging 42 yards a punt and pinning three inside the 20-yard line against Northern Iowa. After the season, Dodge decided to transfer. He said he had discovered that he was more at home near the coast than in the mountains. "After that season, I just stepped back," Dodge said. "I was as happy as any national champion could be. I definitely respected the coaching staff. It was just different there from what I'm used to. I'm from Atlantic Beach. Going to the mountains was a change of pace, but I never really felt like I was at home there." Jerry Moore, Appalachian's coach, said that there weren't and aren't any hard feelings. "He was a really good kicker in high school, but so many of us (FCS schools) don't have scholarships for kickers," Moore said.
"We like for those guys to walk on and earn scholarships. He needed a scholarship and we just didn't have one. It didn't have anything to do with his ability. We thought he was a good kicker, and we just didn't have a scholarship available for him. "That was the biggest thing, he could get a scholarship (at East Carolina). And he had some friends there." Dodge said: "I'm certainly grateful for Coach Moore, he allowed me to start as a freshman, and I gained so much experience that year. "Winning a national championship, I wouldn't trade that experience for anything. "But I was six hours away from home. I had gotten a little homesick early. I had a lot of friends going to East Carolina. I wouldn't say that App State wasn't where I needed to be, I guess I was just indecisive." Dodge said he hasn't looked back. "Being a kicker, I try to have a short-term memory," he said. As a transfer, Dodge had to sit out the 2006 season, and he knew that a roster spot wouldn't be available until the next season. "I got the chance to be a normal college kid," he said. "My dad bought me four footballs, and I would go over to the intramural fields and kick by myself." In 2007, Dodge won the starting job for ECU. He averaged 41.3 yards a punt and capped the season with 61-yard punt against Boise State in the Hawaii Bowl. Last season as a junior, Dodge ranked 14th in the nation with a 43.9-yard average and also handled a few kickoffs. He had 20 punts spotted inside the 20 and boomed a career-best 73-yarder against Tulsa. Dodge doesn't hesitate when asked about the key to being a good punter. "Consistency," he said. "If you consistently hit a 44-yard punt, then you'll be a great punter. If you can get the other guy to fair catch a 44-yard punt, then you're a great punter. "Early in my career, I tried to hit everything a little too hard. I would wind up with a decent average, but I'd have maybe a 30- yard punt and then come back with a 55-yard punt. The average was good, but I wasn't as effective as I'd like to be." His numbers have improved every season. And his goals have grown. "I'm not too concerned with personal goals, the main goal is to help East Carolina win," Dodge said. "I definitely have some figures I'd like to hit, but if I punt well, I feel like our team has a good chance to win. Getting those W's is the first goal. "I wake up every morning, and I've got this little notebook I write in, and I have written some personal goals down for the year. I definitely want to be the best I can be. I do that, it helps us win." Among the notes: All-Conference USA and All-America. "I'm definitely shooting for that," Dodge said. "I feel like I've got the ability, I've been blessed."
INTRODUCING: THE HYPE THEORY Bonesville.net By Adam Gold September 2, 2009 I wasn t very good at math back when I was in high school. In fact, I came very close to flat-out failing Algebra 2 and Trigonometry. I think it had something to do with having letters and numbers combined within the same equation. As for tangents and sines and cosecants, if I can t add em up, I don t want to even think about it. But when it came to things like figuring out someone s slugging percentage or my golf handicap (a more complicated, numbers-only formula you will not find), I m more in my element. It may have something to do with selective memory, or it may just be easier for me because it s statistics. As a baseball fan, first and foremost, I m inherently a stat geek. That s just how we roll. So, it should come as no surprise that I have unlocked the formula for inclusion into the Bowl Championship Series conversation possibly even the title game. But Adam, you say, Boise State and Utah and Hawaii have already cracked the safe, haven t they? Well, they have to a certain degree. But it always seems to be after the fact. I know how everyone was talking after Utah shellacked Alabama in the Sugar Bowl, but Utes coach Kyle Whittingham himself only voted the Utes No. 5 on his final regular season ballot. So spare me the revisionist argument about how the system is set up to screw teams like Utah or Boise State. Whether or not the Utes or the Broncos are good enough is hardly the point. Neither team played a schedule that was worthy of BCS-game discussion. For the record, neither does Penn State this year, but that s another story altogether. It s all about the quality of your overall opponents. The fact that Boise State and Utah won games against Oregon and Michigan, respectively, last year is beside the point. Because one game does not a schedule make. As an aside, most people thought that it was nearly impossible to lose nine games in one season at a place like Michigan. But, if you work hard enough as it appears Rich Rodriguez and his staff has anything s possible. For schools beyond the traditional BCS leagues, you have to load up your non-conference schedule because there s just not enough punch within the normal conference slate to equal what teams in the SEC and Big XII have to deal with on a regular basis. That brings us to the formula: Q + U + P = BCS. Quality Schedule + Undefeated Season + massive Public Relations campaign = BCS viability. A few years ago, when East Carolina director of athletics Terry Holland told me that he felt it was a good idea to schedule their bowl games by loading up the non-conference schedule with regional power-conference opponents, we thought it was suicidal and that he clearly hated Skip Holtz. But then the Pirates started winning those games and, suddenly, those bowls have become part of the plan inadvertent as they might be. As a result, this year s games against North Carolina and West Virginia on the road and Virginia Tech in
Greenville shift from being in-season bowl events to post season stepping stones, and quite possibly could land East Carolina in a BCS game. The only catch for teams like East Carolina is that there is no margin for error. You lose and you re out. The Bowl Championship Series doesn t take one-loss teams from outside the power conferences unless you re Notre Dame and you have more fans than Michael Jackson. Last year, ECU had four BCS teams on its schedule. The Pirates beat the first two, Virginia Tech and West Virginia, but they followed that up with losses to N.C. State and Virginia. That works in contrast to this formula. So, with the Q and the U taken care of and, yes, for the sake of argument, I m assuming a 13-0 season with another Conference USA Title that leaves the P in our little formula. What Utah was missing last year until it was too late is something that is ultimately in the control of every school s department of media relations: Tell us how good you are! During the season it s going to come off as bragging, but the only way schools from outside the traditional power structure are going to break through that glass ceiling is if someone starts demanding attention. If Whittingham had voted his team No. 1, oh, like in 2008, maybe we d buy his vote after the bowl in 2009. So the onus is on Skip Holtz and East Carolina s media relations staff to let the voters know how good the Pirates really are. Do interviews, send out posters, make up mouse pads, create an iphone app, produce a breakfast cereal, whatever. Don t stop until you have the voters' attention. No group is more easily influenced than voters. They re inherently lazy and misinformed. They can be had. They can be shamed. Considering what we already know about voters, they re downright shameful to begin with. This sounds so easy that I m going to print up the East Carolina national championship T-shirts, straight away. Now all the Pirates have to do is win in Morgantown and Chapel Hill and Tulsa and well, you get the idea. The point is that it s not impossible. There is a formula. It s just not easy to get it right. But, unlike trig, at least its fun trying to solve the equation. Enjoy the 2009 season, ECU Nation, it could be a fun trip.
WILSON MASTERING HIS CRAFT The Daily Reflector By Nathan Summers September 02, 2009 C.J. Wilson has been around East Carolina football so long now, he's down to asking some very particular questions when it comes to playing defensive end. The senior is already entering the 2009 season as Conference USA's Preseason Defensive Player of the Year, but Wilson still goes through plenty of Q & A with defensive ends coach Vernon Hargreaves every day at practice. That's because Wilson, like the other veterans who comprise ECU's front seven, is beyond the mere X's and O's. Now, he's trying to fine-tune his game to help the Pirates to an even better finish than last year's 9-5 mark. The homework is pretty much done, Wilson said of opening his final collegiate season Saturday when the Pirates host Appalachian State at noon. The physical work has pretty much been done the last few weeks of camp and now we're just polishing it up. There is no pressure. The standard has been set and the bar has been set, and we're not lowering it for anybody. We had a good year last year but we want to have an even better one this year. Wilson wrapped up a team-high 10.5 sacks to go along with 70 total tackles during a memorable junior season. Coupled with fellow senior end Scotty Robinson, Wilson heads a defense that's likely the best of the tenure of head coach Skip Holtz and defensive coordinator Greg Hudson. I have to give a lot of the credit to coach Hargreaves, Wilson said. I'm glad he came here and I'm glad to be a student of his. He teaches me a lot about the game. The things I see out here now and the approach I take, it's totally different. Kicker quandary Holtz said following Wednesday night's practice it was still unclear who the Pirates' field goal kicker will be Saturday. Although senior incumbent Ben Hartman has returned to kicking after a long layoff with a recurring hip injury, Holtz said it would still be a tough choice between Hartman and sophomore Ben Ryan. Senior punter Matt Dodge has also been heavily in the mix this summer. Hartman, Holtz said, has simply been away too long to jump right back into the lineup. I don't know who will kick off and who will do field goals at this point, Holtz said. Both Ryan and Hartman are competing for the field goal duties, and Ben Ryan and Matt Dodge are competing for the kickoff duties. Holtz said he's tried to give his kickers more opportunities than normal to compete for the jobs during team drills. The fifth-year coach said he would let them compete again today and then make his final decision for Saturday's game. To date, Dodge has never attempted a field goal for the Pirates. In two seasons, Hartman has made 37-of-58 field goals, including game winners against Southern Miss, North Carolina, Boise State, UCF and Marshall. He also booted the eventual game winner with under two minutes to play against Tulsa at last year's C-USA championship game. Ryan spelled the injured Hartman for the first three games of last season, making 1-of-3 attempts.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL KICKING OFF ECU renews rivalry with App State The Wilson Times By Natalie Sayewich September 2, 2009 The college football season will begin this week for teams and their fans, kicking off with tonight's clash between South Carolina and N.C. State in Raleigh. But the weekend's biggest game for area fans is likely to be in Greenville on Saturday where East Carolina takes on Appalachian State in a noon showdown at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium. The Pirates and their fans place a lot of emphasis on in-state rivalries, and this year they are renewing a state-spanning matchup that's been in remission for 30 years against the Football Championship Subdivision powerhouse Mountaineers. With two opponents ranked in the preseason Top 25, Appalachian State is as close to a "cupcake" as the Pirates will see in their daunting non-conference schedule. But ECU head coach Skip Holtz isn't making the mistake of underestimating the Mountaineers, who have won three of the last four FCS championships. "We go to North Carolina and N.C. State with a little bit of a chip on our shoulder that we are trying to prove that we are on a competitive playing field with them and I think players find a way to dig a little bit deeper," Holtz said. "I think App State is going to come in here with that very same mindset and we've tried to prepare our team for that and utilize that same analogy to get them to understand how hard they're going to play when they come in here. And they've got a very good football team." Appalachian fell to eventual champion Richmond last season in the semifinal round of the FCS playoffs, but the Mountaineers are once again ranked as the top FCS team heading into this season. While the Pirates haven't played App State in three decades, Holtz said he's expecting to see an offense Saturday a lot like that of West Virginia, which ECU has faced every year since 2002. Appalachian, however, may be playing without its biggest weapon -- senior quarterback Armanti Edwards. Last season, Edwards was the team's leading rusher with 72.4 yards per game and 11 touchdowns, in addition to his 223.2 yards per game passing with 30 additional TDs en route to winning the Walter Payton Award given to the top offensive player in the FCS. But, according to ASU head coach Jerry Moore, a gash Edwards suffered in his right foot while mowing his grass on Aug. 5 hasn't completely healed. "I'd have to say he's really doubtful," Moore said Tuesday. "His foot, obviously is getting better. We're like anybody, we're not going to put somebody out there who's two-thirds ready to play....i'd really be worried about him playing on that thing right now."ecu prepares for role-reversal in season opener.