ECU - Tulsa Recap: Golden Hurricane blows past fumbling Pirates, 31-10

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 31-10 loss to the Golden Hurricane of Tulsa.

Tulsa used a power rushing attack and an efficient passing game to defeat East Carolina, 31-10. The Golden Hurricane were the recipient of three Pirate fumbles, which they converted into ten points, and they were able to continue their program’s best start since 1982 with a record of 5-1.

Tulsa and East Carolina warm up thirty minutes prior to their game on Saturday.  The Golden Hurricane defeated the Pirates, 31-10.

Tulsa (5-1 overall, 2-0 CUSA) entered the game with Conference USA’s top defense, as they were allowing only 268 yards per game. That impressive average will drop even lower after TU held ECU to only 241 total yards.

The Pirates, who were without star receiver Aundrae Allison for a second consecutive week, could not get much established offensively. Tulsa, despite not recording a sack, did a very good job of getting pressure on East Carolina quarterback James Pinkney. They disrupted the Pirates’ senior signal-caller all day, as they had him constantly trying to find his receivers while scrambling out of the pocket or moving within the pocket. This pressure helped the Golden Hurricane secondary drape a blanket over the Pirates’ receivers, holding Pinkney to a season-low 92 yards through the air.

East Carolina’s defense played well in the first half, but was held hostage in the first quarter by the Pirate offense. The Golden Hurricane’s first touchdown was set up by a Pirate fumble at their 29-yard line.

The Pirates also took advantage of a short field in knotting the game at seven. Following a poor Tulsa punt, ECU went 44 yards in seven plays. The drive culminated with a four-yard touchdown run by Pinkney.

The Golden Hurricane seized the momentum right before the half, driving 76 yards in eight plays for a touchdown. Junior quarterback Paul Smith scored on a spectacular five-yard run, which required him to go airborne over the Pirate defenders.

Trailing 14-7 with 28 seconds left in the half, East Carolina dodged a huge bullet on the ensuing kickoff. Tulsa kicker Jarod Tracy sky kicked the ball to around the East Carolina 35-yard line, but Pirate up man Davon Drew allowed the ball to hit the ground. Tulsa recovered it, but fortunately the Pirate defense and the clock prevented another Golden Hurricane score. This was huge, as TU would get the second half kickoff.

The Pirates, needing a big play to swing the momentum as the third quarter began, recovered a fumble at the Tulsa 47. Two plays later, East Carolina gave it right back and Tulsa would take advantage. The Golden Hurricane would score on three straight possessions (two touchdowns and a field goal) while dominating the time of possession in the second half. Tulsa had the football for 21:57 in the half. This included a 17-play, 91-yard “death drive” that consumed 7:37 of clock, while putting TU up 24-7 with just under 13 minutes left in the game.

Down three scores and needing a quick strike, the Pirates moved down to the Tulsa 14 in a hurry, but their drive stalled. They settled for a 31-yard Robert Lee field goal, which cut the score to 24-10 with 11:19 left.

However, the defending conference champions did what good teams do and once again answered the Pirates’ attempt to get back in the game. They put together a nine-play, 56-yard touchdown drive that elapsed five and a half minutes off the clock. TU, leading 31-10 with just under six minutes remaining, had essentially locked it up with the way its defense had been playing.

The Pirates’ last attempt at scoring resulted in a turnover on downs at the Golden Hurricane 14-yard line. Tulsa would continue their dominance of the ground game, and run out the remaining time.

As East Carolina head coach Skip Holtz stated after the game, it is easy to see how Tulsa is the reigning conference champions. The Golden Hurricane dominated the line of scrimmage in the second half, rushing for 160 yards. Courtney Tennial rushed for 88 yards on 22 carries and Dexter Taylor totaled 62 yards on eight carries.

Junior quarterback Paul Smith managed the game well minus the exception of one first half interception. He finished the day going 15 of 21 for 124 yards with one touchdown and one interception through the air, while running nine times for 40 yards and two touchdowns.

East Carolina’s defensive front hung tough in the first half, but wore down in the second half when the Pirates’ offense could not sustain any drives. Tulsa, which did an excellent job on first down, was able to grind out first down after first down behind their behemoth offensive line on the way to the endzone. The fatigued Pirate defense had no answer for the combination of Tennial and Taylor.

The Golden Hurricane defense was as good (or better) than advertised as they kept the Pirates’ offense out of sync for the majority of the day. Linebacker Chris Chamberlain led Tulsa with eight tackles, including four unassisted.

With the exception of their defensive play in the first half, it was just not a very good all-around day for the Pirates. As good as the offense had looked against a pretty good UVA defense, they looked about that bad yesterday against the top defense in CUSA. They also made at least a couple special teams’ errors, as they missed a field goal and failed to make an attempt to catch (actually fair catch) a kickoff.