East Carolina vs. Virginia

Date: Saturday, October 7, 2006

Location: Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium, Bagwell Field (43,000); Greenville, NC

Time: 6:00 pm

Television: CSTV

Records: East Carolina (1-3 overall, 1-1 CUSA); Virginia (2-3 overall, 1-1 ACC)

Rankings: None

All-Time Series Record: East Carolina leads 1-0

Last Meeting: November 8, 1975- Charlottesville, VA-East Carolina 61 UVA 10

Injury/Personnel Report:
East Carolina has two players who are done for the season—LB Orlando Farrow (torn Achilles tendon) and RB Norman Whitley (shoulder). Others who are definitely out for the Virginia game include: RB Dominique Lindsay (knee),

The Pirates are pretty banged up right now, so they really needed the open date to help get some people healthy. However, in addition to those injuries, ECU players were also suffering from the flu at the beginning of the week. 19 players missed practice on Sunday and 22 were absent from practice on Tuesday. Of course, this made practicing more difficult as Pirates’ coach Skip Holtz noted.

Some of the players that East Carolina hope will be able to play, but are at best questionable at this point include: WR Aundrae Allison (ankle), RB Chris Johnson (turf toe), DT Brandon Setzer (knee), and DE Shauntae Hunt (aggravated his ACL injury). DT Wendell Chavis (knee) and LB Quentin Cotton (ankle) returned to practice, but still remain somewhat questionable at this point.

Skip Holtz and offensive coordinator/offensive line coach Steve Shankweiler are also experimenting with some changes along the offensive line. Tom Wingenbach has been moved to guard, former left guard Matt Butler to center, and reserve center Stephen Heis to tackle. Redshirt freshman Cory Dowless has also been seeing significant reps with the first team.

Running back Brandon Simmons (6-1, 223) had a couple carries against West Virginia and could likely see an increased role this week, as he offers the Pirates much of what the injured Dominique Lindsay did. He is a more powerful back for short yardage situations.

Virginia appears to be entering the game as a pretty healthy team. WR Deyon Williams , who injured his foot during the preseason, returned on a limited basis last week against Duke and made one catch. He said that he felt no pain in his foot.

East Carolina - Virginia General Overview

The Pirates and Cavaliers will be meeting for just the second time ever on Saturday. East Carolina won the previous meeting, which was played 31 years ago in Charlottesville. The Pirates won that game, which was referred to as “The Apple Bowl”, in a 61-10 rout. The legendary Pat Dye coached ECU, while former ECU coach Sonny Randle coached UVA. The game was dubbed “The Apple Bowl” because Randle upon leaving ECU for UVA said that comparing ECU to an ACC team was like comparing Apples and Oranges. Well, during the waning moments of the Pirates’ victory, apples littered the field at Scott Stadium and ECU fans chanted “We can handle Sonny Randle!”

This year’s game matches up two teams who really need a win. The Pirates enter at 1-3 overall and have not played that poorly, but have not done the little things that are required to win close games. They lost two five-point decisions at Navy and UAB and played No. 4 West Virginia tough before falling, 27-10. East Carolina is sick of being close though and definitely isn’t taking a “moral victory” out of the WVU game.

The Cavs come into Greenville with a 2-3 record overall. The schedule provided just what the doctor ordered for the struggling Cavs last week, as they traveled to Duke. UVA, who has struggled offensively this season, only posted 253 yards against the Blue Devils; however, the Wahoos defense limited Duke to only 100 yards of offense and sacked Blue Devil quarterbacks eight times.

Both teams really need to win this game in order to get the ball rolling in the right direction for the remainder of their seasons, which they of course plan on ending in a bowl invitation.

East Carolina Offense vs. Virginia Defense

Advantage: EVEN

The Pirate offensive line has undergone some changes during the off week in attempts to improve production, particularly in the running game. East Carolina has averaged 366 yards of offense, but only 98 of those have been on the ground. After rushing for a season high 177 yards against Memphis, the Pirates were only able to net 41 rushing yards against WVU.

The East Carolina passing attack will likely be as good as any that the UVA defense has seen thus far. While the Pirates don’t have a tall receiver with the abilities of Georgia Tech’s Calvin Johnson, they do have the explosive Aundrae Allison and a solid receiving corps from top to bottom.

The Pirates are hoping that their play-making senior Allison will be able to go, as he is still recovering from an ankle injury. It would obviously be a big blow to ECU if he were not in the lineup.

The trio of Chris Johnson, Brandon Fractious, and Brandon Simmons will likely handle the East Carolina ground attack. Johnson, who is suffering from turf toe, may not be able to carry as much of a load as usual. Expect Brandon Simmons, who got his first carries as a Pirate versus WVU, to see an increased role against UVA. Simmons, who is a bigger and more physical back than Johnson and Fractious, gives ECU the facet of the rushing attack that it lost when Dominique Lindsay went down with a knee injury in the UAB game.

The UVA defense has been one of the nations best this year, allowing only 263 yards per game, which ranks them in the nation’s top 20. They are second in the ACC in pass defense, as they are led by senior corner Marcus Hamilton. Hamilton, who Al Groh says prepares like a pro, leads the Cavaliers with three interceptions.

Hamilton and the Wahoo secondary have been the beneficiaries of a very good pass rush. The Cavs have registered 17 sacks through five games, including eight against Duke last Saturday.

They are allowing slightly less than 100 yards on the ground, which means East Carolina will have its work cut out for them if they are going to run the football.

If Aundrae Allison doesn’t play, give UVA’s defense a slight edge; however, if he can go, it should be a pretty good match up between an offense whose better days are still ahead and a solid Cavalier defense.

Virginia Offense vs. East Carolina Defense

Advantage: East Carolina

As good as UVA has been defensively this year, its offense has been equally as bad. The Cavaliers, who are only averaging 218 yards per game, seem to have found themselves a starter at quarterback in freshman Jameel Sewell. Sewell has started the last two games, and has been steady at the position. He completed 14 of 20 for 105 yards and a touchdown against Duke.

Jason Snelling gets the most carries in the Cavaliers’ ground attack. He has rushed for 220 yards on 53 carries, which equates to slightly over four per attempt. As a team though, the rushing game has been sub-par, as has virtually every aspect of the UVA offense.

Sewell’s top targets in the passing game are Kevin Ogletree, Tom Santi, Fontel Mines and Emmanuel Byers. Ogletree has hauled in 25 receptions for 236 yards and two touchdowns.

This struggling UVA offense will have its hands full against an ever-improving Pirate defense. Most people expected East Carolina to get steamrolled by West Virginia’s slash, dash and bash rushing attack, but the Pirates more than held their own. Statistically, East Carolina doesn’t appear to be very good against the run, as they are allowing nearly 194 yards per contest; however, what most people forget is that this average is distorted by the 403 yards that a unique and potent Navy attack posted on ECU. Since then, the Pirates are only allowing 124 per game on the ground. Steve Slaton managed but 78 yards on 24 carries against this stingy ECU defense; therefore, don’t expect the Cavs to rush for more than what the Pirates have given up since Navy.

The Pirates’ defensive front could be strengthened with the return of defensive tackles Brandon Setzer and Wendell Chavis. Linebacker Quentin Cotton, ECU’s leading tackler, should be able to go, but nothing is certain at this point.

The secondary is experienced and made great open field tackles on the perimeter versus West Virginia. The unit, who is coached by one of the nation’s best secondary coaches in Rick Smith, also defended the deep ball well. The Pirates have done a very good job of this throughout the season, as they have forced opponents to drive the field for their scores with the exception of a 60-yard touchdown on a screen pass by West Virginia.

The Pirates are in the top five in the nation in takeaways with 14, which includes eight interceptions. Senior corner Kasey Ross, who has two on the season, leads them. He returned one 77 yards for a touchdown against Memphis.

Special Teams

Advantage: East Carolina

The Pirates get a slight nod in the special teams’ phase due to the presence of Lou Groza Award candidate placekicker Robert Lee and Ray Guy Award candidate punter Ryan Dougherty. Lee is 4-6 on field goal attempts, which includes a long of 48. He has made all of his extra point attempts. Dougherty, who handles the punting and kickoff duties, is averaging 43.1 per punt with a long of 67. He has dropped six inside the opponent’s 20-yard line.

UVA’s Chris Gould handles the punting, field goal and kickoff duties. Gould is 6 of 9 on field goals, with a long of 48. He has averaged 40.3 per boot, but has pinned opponents inside their 20 on 14 occasions. 11 of his 19 kickoffs have been touchbacks.

The East Carolina return game features Chris Johnson and Jerek Hewett bringing back the kickoffs, while the Pirates will replace Aundrae Allison with Bobby Good as the teams punt returner. The ECU coaching staff has been displeased with Allison’s decision to not field punts, which has hurt the Pirates in the field position battle.

Virginia will most likely use Andrew Pearman to return Ryan Dougherty’s punts, while Cedric Peerman and Michael Johnson will probably return his kickoffs. Peerman is averaging 22.7 per return on ten returns and has a long return of 38.

Intangibles

Advantage: East Carolina

East Carolina is sick and tired of being close, but not being able to make the necessary plays to win the close ones. They insist that they don’t take any moral victories, and I don’t blame them. Why would they be satisfied with playing a quality opponent close? They don’t shed their blood, sweat and tears to do anything but win. The Pirates plan on getting to a bowl game and in order to do that, they really need a win in this game to build some momentum before a tough conference stretch. Also, it is an opportunity for East Carolina to garner some national attention with a win over an ACC program on national television.

On the other hand, many people think that if UVA is going to go bowling this season, then this is a game that they can’t let slip by. If they are unable to win this game, it may be too tall of an order for them to win four of their last six, when three of those are against Florida State, Miami and Virginia Tech.

Final Prediction

Most analysts foresee this being a close, relatively low-scoring game. I agree with them. The Pirates definitely have the better offense and that will be the difference, as James Pinkney and company will have another good day. I think you’ll see the Pirates post between 300 and 350 yards of offense, with anywhere from 200-250 of that coming through the air.

The East Carolina defense will continue to improve and will hold an impotent UVA attack to under 300 yards of total offense, which will be nothing new.

ECU forces UVA freshman quarterback Jameel Sewell to commit a couple turnovers and the Pirate offense finally makes the plays in the red zone to put the points on the board.

I’ll say……… East Carolina 24 - Virginia 13.