Ruffin McNeill contended that some games are decided before they are actually played, hinting that was the case in last Saturday’s 35-28 triumph over Virginia Tech.
But the East Carolina head football coach did not likely mean it in the same seemingly divisive tone that Hokies head coach Frank Beamer used when shrugging off a second consecutive loss to the Pirates as “an exhibition.”
What McNeill meant is that there is no trumping preparation, and that he was certain before the game against VT that his team was as ready as it could have been.
“A lot of these games are decided before kickoff, in practice,” said McNeill, who won his fifth straight game against an Atlantic Coast Conference team.