East Carolina Preview
September 03, 2008 02:48 PM | General
September 3, 2008
EAST CAROLINA RELEASE | VILLANOVA SIGHTS
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – No. 8 West Virginia facing East Carolina in Greenville is being picked by many as the upset special of the week - and why not? East Carolina (1-0) has been on a roll of late.
 |
||
| T.J. Lee returns a blocked punt for a touchdown in East Carolina's 27-22 come-from-behind win over No. 17 Virginia Tech last Saturday in Charlotte.
AP photo |
The Pirates are coming off an impressive 41-31 victory over Boise State in the Sheraton Hawaii Bowl last December. Before the season, East Carolina locked up its Coach Skip Holtz to a new long-term contract and Holtz rewarded ECU’s loyalty by upsetting No. 17 Virginia Tech in the 2008 season-opener in Charlotte.
“We’re going to have to be on our A-game all week and go in there and face a hostile and enthusiastic crowd on the road in Greenville,” Stewart said. “They beat a very highly ranked Virginia Tech program last Saturday. We’re very much aware of what the Pirates can do.”
West Virginia has won the last seven meetings but two of the last three victories were a struggle, especially in 2005 in Morgantown when the Mountaineers needed a punt return from Antonio Lewis and a sack on the last play of the game to pull out a 20-15 victory. In 2006, West Virginia had a 17-7 lead heading into the fourth quarter before getting a 60-yard touchdown reception from Darius Reynaud on the way to a 27-10 triumph.
On both occasions in 2005 and 2006, East Carolina completely shut down West Virginia’s running game. Quarterback Pat White had one of the most effective passing performances of his career in Greenville in 2006, completing 17 of 24 attempts for 216 yards and a pair of touchdowns to go with three interceptions.
“(East Carolina defensive coordinator) Greg Hudson will be a household name,” Stewart said. “This guy is a guru because he is a fantastic defensive coordinator. His defense absolutely stymied us in ’05 and ’06.”
Last weekend, White set a career-high for attempts (33), completions (25) and touchdown passes (five) in West Virginia’s 48-21 victory over Villanova. White may be required to go to the air once again this week against a Pirate defense that held Virginia Tech to just 12 first downs and 243 yards of offense.
East Carolina has nine starters returning from last year’s defense including senior linebacker Pierre Bell, who has made 26 career starts. Nine of East Carolina’s 11 defensive starters have made at least 10 career starts, though one of them is not senior Kalif Mitchell who is one of the tallest nose guards in the country standing 6-6 and weighing 306 pounds.
Offensively, East Carolina has a proven performer in Patrick Pinkney, a senior who beat out Rob Kass for the starting job this fall and is coming off a 19-of-23, 211-yard, two-touchdown performance against Virginia Tech last weekend.
Pinkney threw for a career-high 406 yards in last year’s win against North Carolina and he also had an outstanding passing performance against Southern Mississippi (203 yards and two touchdowns). Sandwiched in there were sub-par games like a 7-of-14, 43-yard effort in a 48-7 loss to West Virginia in Morgantown and a 5-of-14, 46-yard effort against Houston last year.
“For that young man to rally his troops against a pretty stout Virginia Tech defense was very impressive,” Stewart said. “He is a gamer, a senior, and hr really looked like he got into a groove and kept everyone at bay.”
Senior running back Brandon Simmons continues East Carolina’s outstanding tailback tradition. Last week the 6-foot-1-inch, 223-pounder rushed 17 times for 54 yards. Backup Jonathan Williams added 48 yards on 10 carries and scored East Carolina’s first touchdown of the game against the Hokies.
“They’ve got some guys who can run right around us, guys who will run through us and they got guys that can make us miss,” Stewart said.
Senior tight end Davon Drew led the Pirates with five catches for 65 yards against Tech. He shows 40 career grabs for 448 yards and five scores.
East Carolina’s top all-purpose performer is sophomore wide receiver Dwayne Harris, who shows 23 career rushes for 229 yards, 30 career catches for 314 yards and two scores, and 33 career punt returns for an average of 8.9 yards per return.
“This will be one of the fastest teams we face all year,” said Stewart. “You can look at our schedule and use your imagination.”
The Pirates’ offensive line features just one senior and a pair of 300-pounders on the right side in Doug Palmer (6-3, 300) and D.J. Scott (6-6, 320). Starting center Sean Allen stands 6-3 and weighs 307 pounds.
West Virginia is coming off a 48-21 victory over Villanova last Saturday but despite its 27-point triumph, questions linger about a remodeled defense that has just two returning starters from a year ago.
Villanova amassed 399 yards of offense including 133 on the ground. The Wildcats were 8 of 14 on third down and had a 37:22-to-22:38 advantage in time of possession. Those numbers are concerning to Stewart.
“There are throwing lanes that can be disrupted with the passing lanes so you can push the pocket and disrupt the quarterback,” Stewart explained. “You’ve got to get the quarterback out of his rhythm and his comfort zone.”
Another concern is possible issues with weather this weekend. The Carolinas could be in the path of Tropical Storm Hanna which is expected to strengthen to hurricane force and make landfall sometime on Friday.
As of Wednesday morning the National Hurricane Center expects the storm to hit South Carolina Friday evening and continue north through central North Carolina Friday night and Saturday morning. Another scenario takes the storm east of its predicted path and makes landfall in eastern North Carolina.
Stewart said both schools will continue to monitor the situation.
“That’s the last thing on my mind right now – that’s way above my pay grade,” Stewart said. “If we’re going to need a boat let’s do it. Maybe we can get Wake Forest’s stadium to play in – I don’t think it rains over in the mountains too much. We’ll play wherever they want us to play whenever they want us to play.”
Kickoff is set for 4:30 pm and the game will be televised nationally on ESPN (Mike Patrick, Todd Blackledge and Holly Rowe).
Of note: The last time East Carolina defeated a Top 10-ranked team was in 1999 when the Pirates had to move their game with Miami to North Carolina’s Carter-Finley Stadium in Raleigh because of Hurricane Floyd. East Carolina owns nine victories over Top 25-ranked teams including back-to-back wins against No. 22 Boise State and No. 17 Virginia Tech.
