East Carolina-West Virginia Recap: Pirates hang tough with #4 Mountaineers

CUSA-fans.com has a new staff of team correspondents this fall to help bring you, the fan, more detailed Conference USA football coverage. Today, our ECU Correspondent Thomas "Bubba" Rosenbaum recaps the East Carolina Pirates 27-10 loss to the #4 West Virginia Mountaineers.

West Virginia had won its first three games handily and entered East Carolina’s Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium as 21-point favorites. ESPN College Gameday’s Lee Corso and Kirk Herbstreit told viewers that if they were attending the game that they had better get in early because it would be over by halftime, as Heisman Trophy candidate Steve Slaton would run roughshod against the overmatched Pirates.

However, in a game that was similar to last year’s, the Pirates competed well with the heavily favored Mountaineers before falling.

Entering the game, East Carolina knew that it would have to play very well in all phases of the game in order to have an opportunity to pull the upset. ECU must at least slowdown the potent Mountaineer ground attack, while forcing some turnovers as it did a year ago in Morgantown.

Last year, the Pirates held WVU’s rushing attack to only 127 yards, but that game didn’t feature the Mountaineers’ star back Slaton. They also forced WVU to commit four turnovers.

East Carolina was able to accomplish both of these goals, and it forced WVU to attempt to beat them left-handed with their passing attack. The Mountaineers were able to do just that, and that is the mark of a solid team, particularly one that plans on contending for the national championship.

Although Pat White threw the ball effectively all in all, he did throw three interceptions.

The ECU defense forced West Virginia and White to go to the air by doing a commendable job on Steve Slaton and the Mountaineer rushing machine. The Pirates held Slaton to 80 yards on 24 carries, while White ran for 39 yards on 11 attempts. Overall, WVU netted 153 rushing yards on 42 attempts in the game, which left them 197 yards shy of their nation leading average of 350 per contest.

The East Carolina defense also played very well on third down, as they allowed the WVU offense to convert only three of it’s ten attempts.

However, the Pirates’ offense was unable to muster enough points in this one, as a poor rushing attack and turnovers plagued them.

ECU received the opening kickoff and didn’t exactly get off to the start it had hoped for. The Pirates went three and out and were then called for a bogus kick-catch interference call where Markeith McQueen was blocked into the Mountaineer return man.

The WVU offense took advantage of the short field after getting the ball at the East Carolina 37. After converting a key fourth and less than one at the ECU 28, the Mountaineers would need only four plays to make it 7-0.

On ECU’s second drive, it would show the resiliency and determination that it would play with all day. After picking up one first down, the Pirates face a fourth and less than one at their own 44. Holtz showed guts and confidence in his team early on, and they did not let him down. Two plays later, on second and three, James Pinkney hooked up with Aundrae Allison for a 47-yard touchdown. Allison made an excellent run after the catch before diving into the end zone to cut it to 7-6. Robert Lee then knotted it at seven with four minutes remaining in the opening quarter.

The remainder of the first half was a matter of survival for East Carolina, as they couldn’t generate any offense. They rushed for only two yards in the half, while totaling a mere 87 yards compared to 221 for WVU. However, the Pirates were able to stay in the game due to a couple of interceptions in the end zone. The second was on a White desperation heave as time expired, but the first was on a third and two play at the ECU eight when Jamar Flournoy broke in front of a crossing route.

The Pirates trailed only 14-7 at the half, but WVU was going to be getting the second half kickoff.

The Mountaineers looked as if they would make it 21-7, but the East Carolina defense stiffened and held them to a 26-yard Pat McAfee field goal.

On the strength of three pass plays, the ECU offense would move to the WVU 22. This included two 20-yarders to Kevin Roach, one of which was on third and ten, and a 17-yarder to Phillip Henry.

However, just as they were knocking on the door with a chance to cut it to a touchdown or a field goal, the Pirates turned it over when quarterback James Pinkney fumbled at the 12-yard line after appearing to have picked up another first down.

The Pirates were down ten and needing another stop when their defense rose to the challenge yet again. WVU would get two first downs by penalties, one when East Carolina’s Scotty Robinson was wrongly flagged for roughing the passer and another on a legit personal foul call on Travis Williams. However, on third and 14 from his own 42, Pat White scrambled to his left, back to his right, and then heaved it to the Pirate 33-yard line where Travis Williams made a jumping interception.

The ECU offense would convert this turnover into points, but it was forced to settle for a 27-yard Robert Lee field goal after James Pinkney misfired on a third and goal play, throwing the slant behind an open Phillip Henry.

East Carolina now had the momentum, and the crowd was very much into the game as the Pirates were trailing 17-10 with 13:41 remaining.

This would be short-lived though. Desperately seeking some breathing room, Patrick White hooked up with Darius Reynaud on a screen pass for a 60-yard touchdown. Reynaud caught the pass, and then did the rest, as he zigzagged across the field and through the Pirates’ defense for the score. Pirate cornerback Kasey Ross appeared to get clipped on the play, but it went uncalled, and the Mountaineers had extended their lead to 24-10 with just under ten minutes left.

After forcing East Carolina to go three and out, WVU tacked on a 29-yard McAfee field goal to build their lead to 27-10 with just over six minutes left.

Although they trailed by three scores with six minutes left, these Pirates proved once again that they have no quit in them as they would drive to Mountaineer 14-yard line and then to their four-yard line, only to come up empty handed on both possessions. The first drive ended with ECU turning the ball over on downs, while the second concluded with back up quarterback Rob Kass being intercepted in the end zone.

James Pinkney finished the day 20 of 40 for 247 yards with one touchdown and one interception. The Pirates’ leading receiver was Phillip Henry, who caught six balls for 54 yards.

Patrick White went 17 of 24 for 216 yards with two touchdowns, but also had those three interceptions. WVU’s leading receiver was Darius Reynaud, who hauled in six receptions for 110 yards.

Despite a respectable performance against the fourth ranked team in the nation, Holtz and his Pirates insisted that this was not a moral victory in any way, shape or form. After all, they came close last year against West Virginia in Morgantown and Holtz reiterated that fact after the loss to the media.

This group of Pirates has displayed tremendous heart, passion and intensity in their 1-3 start. If they can develop more success running the football, and keep playing well defensively, they will win their share of football games.

While the game wasn’t a moral victory, the East Carolina program did receive great national exposure on ESPN2. It was an absolute gorgeous day for football and the Pirates hung tough with a Top Five team before a raucous crowd in Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium.