Scheduling future games for ECU against NC State and UNC will be complicated

After Saturday’s matchup, East Carolina has two more games on the books with N.C. State and one more with North Carolina.

And after that?

You don’t need a flux capacitor to figure out that future games between the Pirates and either Wolfpack or Tar Heels will probably be scarce.

ECU will get UNC in Greenville in 2018, go to N.C. State in 2019 and the Wolfpack is scheduled to return to Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium in 2022.

It might take another round of political maneuvering to get the Pirates back on the in-state ACC schools schedules in the future.

The problem is the game means more to … wait for it … the respective fans than it does television executives (gotcha there didn’t I?).

ESPN has told the ACC that starting in 2019 it needs to play 10 games annually against “Power 5” opponents. The league will decide next month if that will break down into eight conference games and two against teams from Power 5 conferences (SEC, Big Ten, Big 12 or Pac-12) or if there will be a 9-and-1 split.

Either way, with ECU in the American Athletic Conference, one of the so-called “Group of 5” conferences, a game with the Pirates won’t fulfill that contractual obligations for UNC and N.C. State to ESPN.

Given the extra money the ACC Network will eventually mean, you won’t see State or Carolina take a stand against ESPN, either.

That means the ACC teams will have a free choice for the two games on its schedule. Louisville is the only ACC team that doesn’t play at least one “Football Championship Subdivision” opponent this season. (UNC has two for the second year in a row.)

That’s a trend that will continue until the ACC follows the Big Ten’s lead and scotches such games.

So where does that leave ECU?

Well, UNC or State voluntarily could decide to use that last open spot on a date with the Pirates. It’s more likely a few years after that last scheduled meeting in 2022 happens, the state Senate will have to get involved again, as it did in 1995.

Hopefully it won’t have to come to that but there might not be any other options.

On to the Twitter portion of our programming:

What is the main thing the Pack has to do on defense to leave Greenville with a W on Saturday?

– @PackofPanthers

Pressure quarterback Philip Nelson, who threw for 398 yards and five touchdowns in last week’s 52-7 win over Western Carolina.

N.C. State’s strength is its front four, but the Wolfpack had only one sack in its lopsided win over William & Mary and that was nullified when Kentavius Street took off his helmet to celebrate the moment.

William & Mary quarterback Steve Cluley only threw for 99 yards and was picked off twice by the Wolfpack defense, but he was effective in getting receiver DeVonte Demond isolated on the outside.

Going back to last year, that was an issue for N.C. State’s secondary and with top corner Juston Burris now in the NFL. Dedmon, who caught five passes for 75 yards and a touchdown, is a good player, but ECU will have better talent in the skill positions.

The easiest way to play better pass coverage is to give the quarterback less time. The Wolfpack needs a big game from defensive end Bradley Chubb against ECU.

Stop crying about the calls #UNCvsUGA

– @chuck_mcpherson

Look, I get it nobody likes a sore loser but there’s a difference between “crying” and pointing out the officiating affected North Carolina adversely in last week’s 33-24 loss to Georgia.

A rare “technical foul” against UNC coach Larry Fedora directly contributed to Georgia’s third-quarter safety (a penalty Fedora picked up while correctly arguing about an incorrect call).

A questionable flag against receiver Mack Hollins, off of a “pick play” – football’s equivalent of a speeding ticket – also stalled any chance UNC had a comeback after Georgia took a 26-24 lead late in the fourth quarter.

True, UNC couldn’t stop Nick Chubb, and Mitch Trubisky could have played better. And, true, three calls don’t make a game, but they certainly played a part in the outcome.

This story was originally published September 9, 2016 at 10:14 AM with the headline "Scheduling future games for ECU against NC State and UNC will be complicated."