East Carolina-UCF recap: Pirate "Road Warriors" win 23-10 at UCF with strong "D" effort

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 23-10 win at UCF on Saturday.

Most people expected this to be an offensive showcase; however, when all was said and done, it was the defenses that stole the show in East Carolina’s 23-10 win over UCF in the Florida Citrus Bowl on Saturday night. The Pirates (5-4, 4-2) failed to put the Golden Knights (2-7, 1-4) away throughout the fourth quarter on Saturday night, but in a defensive game, it was appropriate that a 51-yard interception return for a touchdown by East Carolina’s Kasey Ross delivered the knockout blow to UCF with 50 seconds remaining.

After struggling with consistency to start the season, the Golden Knights’ offense had begun to click in the past few weeks; however, a constantly improving ECU defense held them to 263 yards on the night. East Carolina had already done an excellent job on two of the nation’s premier backs this season in West Virginia’s Steve Slaton and Southern Miss’ Damion Fletcher. The Pirates’ defense rose to the challenge again, holding UCF’s Kevin Smith to only 50 yards on 18 carries. Smith had recorded four consecutive 100-yard games coming into this one.

The Pirates’ offense wasn’t as sharp as it wanted to be either. Quarterback James Pinkney only threw for 135 yards, as he completed 16 of his 30 attempts. He also threw two interceptions and no touchdown passes. It seemed as though Pinkney was just a little out of sync for much of the night with the majority of his throws missing high. Aundrae Allison led the Pirate receivers with eight receptions for 67 yards.

Following the game, East Carolina coach Skip Holtz spoke on the below average passing performance by his team, saying, “ We were not seeing the field very well in the passing game, and sometimes you are going to have nights like that. They changed an awful lot; I talked about that in the press conference. They said that they were going to become a lot more aggressive with blitzing and everything. They did, they came after us and played a hard nose tough physical game.”

"The historic Florida Citrus Bowl will only be the permanent home of UCF football for one more game. Next season, the Golden Knights will move into Bright House Networks Stadium, their new $47 million, 45,000-seat on-campus stadium."

Fortunately for the Pirates, the running game picked up the slack. Brandon Fractious, who ran for 107 yards last year against UCF, bettered that effort this year as he rushed for 128 yards on 23 carries. East Carolina finished with 170 yards on 46 carries, averaging 3.7 per attempt. However, that number doesn’t portray how well the Pirates ran the ball and that is due to the five sacks that the Golden Knights recorded in the game.

UCF’s night was a microcosm of their season, as it was full of unfulfilled opportunities. This was seen in the game’s first series. The Golden Knights picked quarterback James Pinkney off on the game’s second play from scrimmage, but they were not able to convert that turnover into points. The East Carolina defense forced UCF to attempt a 39-yard field goal, but Michael Torres’ kick was wide right.

The Pirates drove 63 yards in nine plays, setting up a 31-yard Robert Lee field goal. Lee, who had been beaten out by redshirt freshman Ben Hartman, went three of five on the night. The key play in the drive was a 34-yard run by quarterback James Pinkney, which moved the ball down to the UCF 28-yard line.

The Golden Knights responded quickly, taking a 7-3 lead less than two minutes later. The six-play, 73-yard drive was fueled by a couple of big pass plays and a personal foul (15-yard) facemask by the Pirates. Kyle Israel hooked up with tight end Corey Rabazinski for 28 yards and wideout Mike Walker for 15. The completion to Walker carried down to the ECU three-yard line, where Kevin Smith would cap the drive with a touchdown run on the next play.

As the second quarter began, UCF drove to the East Carolina 22-yard line; however, they once again came up empty when they turned the ball over on downs after going for it on fourth and 11 at the Pirate 26. This decision was dictated by the wind, one that was so strong that it played a large role throughout the entire game. ECU opted to squib kick their kickoffs that were into the wind and there were other field goals that were not attempted.

The Pirates would make the Golden Knights pay. After taking over at their own 17-yard line, ECU went 83 yards in 11 plays to take a 10-7 lead midway through the second quarter. The drive consisted of a nice mix of running and passing, as Fractious had three carries for 34 yards while there were completions to Allison, Rogers and Henry.

East Carolina would get the ball right back then proceed to ride their workhorse Fractious into field goal range. Robert Lee would nail the 42-yard field goal and the lead was 13-7 with just under three minutes to play in the opening half.

The defense rose to the occasion, as they forced a three and out by stopping UCF on third and one.

The Pirates' Brandon Fractious would rush for ten yards on this first and ten play from the Golden Knights' 28-yard line.

With just under three minutes remaining, UCF opted to go for it on fourth and ten from its own 36-yard line. The Pirates held, but then they could only muster two yards on three running plays. They attempted a 51-yarder, hoping that they would make it a two-possession game; however, Robert Lee’s kick went wide left and the score remained 16-10 with just over a minute remaining.

UCF was 66 yards away from pay dirt with no timeouts at its disposal. They got a nine-yard completion to Mike Walker—who had a game-high nine catches for 85 yards—on first down, but then on second and one East Carolina senior cornerback Kasey Ross picked off Kyle Israel’s pass and returned it 51 yards for a touchdown. This sent the 1,500 or so Pirates who were present in Orlando into a wild frenzy and set off a chorus of E-C-U chants.