Patterson warns of attack from East Carolina offense
By Danny Gillham
Sports Editor

When the Frogs take the field at East Carolina Saturday afternoon, it will be two weeks since their last game.

Head coach Gary Patterson said at his weekly press conference he could have done without the week off.

He felt the Frogs developed a rhythm and doesn’t want it to affect his team like it did Tulane, the team TCU beat two weeks ago.

Tulane had won four straight before an off-week, then a loss to the Frogs.

The main focus of Patterson was the Saturday matchup with the Pirates, whose offense he compared to Tulane.

“All of those guys are modified wide receiver/running back types, and when they catch the ball they can break it and go,” Patterson said. “You’ve got to be very good tacklers, because they’re very big and very strong.”

Patterson said with the aggressive style of defense that the Frogs play, he hopes the team will be able to continue the results that have them ranked second in the nation in total defense.

“Our defense puts ourselves in one on one situations, and lately we’ve been able to control those,” Patterson said. “They have good enough athletes on the perimeters that if you give enough time to the ball to them, then they can make plays.”

Patterson said despite the defensive play, he feels the way to beat East Carolina will be to have a productive offense.

He referred to comments earlier this season in which he said to win the conference the team will need to average 27 to 28 points a game.

“If you want to beat East Carolina you have to outscore them,” Patterson said. “South Florida is the only team to go into (its) place (this year) and beat them, and (it) had to score 45 points to do so.”

Depth at tight end
After graduating Matt Schobel and B.J. Roberts last season, the experience at tight end was very thin. However a veteran and two young guys have stepped up. Patterson said senior Quint Ellis is playing about 70 percent, but has stepped up to the plate as a leader. He said sophomore Cody McCarty, a converted quarterback, is coming into his own and his best days are ahead of him. Patterson also said true freshman Chad Andrus has shown a strong work ethic, and it has showed with him receiving more playing time in recent games.

Madise to return
Senior wide receiver Adrian Madise was unable to play against Tulane, and his team leading 26 catches were missed. Senior LaTarence Dunbar received more attention, and the Frogs depended on less experienced receivers to shoulder some of the load. Patterson said after the off week, he fully expects Madise to be in the lineup Saturday.

Stilley looking good
In his return to the lineup against Tulane, senior quarterback Sean Stilley’s stats were less than flattering: 11-of-26, 96 yards and one interception. Patterson said the soreness is now out of the shoulder that sidelined Stilley and live drills against the first team defenses last week helped. He also re-emphasized that Stilley doesn’t have to do too much, and just needs to manage the offense for success.

Defensive line clicking
Patterson said the coaching staff did not panic at the beginning of the year when the starting defensive line was unable to take many snaps together due to injuries. He said they kept rotating people in and over time the group has gotten healthy.

The end result: 25 sacks in the last three games.

Danny Gillham