As a public service to Hog fans everywhere, we've been bringing you a few reasons to hate the upcoming opponent all season long. It is with a heavy heart and a single tear rolling down our cheek, then, that we muster up that hate for the final time in 2009-10. Here we go:
1. We're Due, Dammit. This one isn't about East Carolina specifically, but if the Hogs' miserable bowl record can't generate some animosity against whoever they're playing then nothing can. It's been so long since the last Arkansas postseason win that we can barely remember what it feels like...now seems like a perfectly good time to reverse that trend.
2. They Could Send Ryan Mallett to the NFL. We all know that Mallett is seriously considering jumping to the pros after this season, and no doubt considers the Liberty Bowl an audition of sorts for the scouts who will certainly be watching. If he puts up one of his vintage 5 TD, 400 yard efforts he's likely as good as gone. Unfortunately, the Pirates passing defense was ranked 110th nationally this year, giving up 3,410 yards and 23 TDs in the process, so now might be a good time to start getting mentally prepared for the Tyler Wilson Era.
3. The SEC Needs Us. The World's Greatest College Football Conference hasn't been so impressive this bowl season, with Kentucky, LSU and Tennessee all losing and Auburn being fortunate to squeak by Northwestern. So, instead of being the annual turd in the SEC's bowl punchbowl, the Razorbacks could help set things right.
4. Apparently The Pirates are a Pretty Disagreeable Bunch. We don't pretend to understand the backwoods internal rivalries of the North Carolina sports world, but our trusted NC correspondent Tarheel Willie has informed us that East Carolina is at the bottom of the barrel. In an earlier comment, he wrote:
"It’s a universal truth that anybody with any allegiance to a school thinks that fans from every other school are awful. But rest assured that East Carolina fans are a special breed. With a major inferiorty complex from enduring references to EZU (their admissions and curriculum are E-Z) and ECTC (formerly East Carolina Teaching College — for women), they are delisuional in their aspirations for becoming a big-time program and showing everybody else who ever kicked sand in their faces. I’ve watched 14-year-old EZU fans give the finger to my dad. I’ve seen their t-shirts: "One in the poo, two in the goo, c’mon SHOCK ’em ECU!" And they take the pirate thing a little too seriously. Argh, and all that."
That's reason enough for us. Go Hogs!