GREENVILLE — Someone should do some research on the title deed of Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium. Certainly it belongs to East Carolina, but there's a continuing problem. Every time the Southern Miss Golden Eagles come to Greenville, they play like they own the place.

Southern Miss's 28-21 win in the Conference USA opener gave USM a whopping 15-2 lead over the Pirates in games played on ECU's home field.

The Golden Eagles' last seven trips to Dowdy-Ficklen have produced wins and, when the game was on the line Saturday night, Southern Miss seized the opportunity to continue its dominance like a man overboard grabs a life vest.

The game started well for the Pirates as the defense got a three and out, and the offense moved from its 43 to the Southern Miss 9-yard line before Ben Hartman provided some undesirable deja vu from last week's 34-31 win over North Carolina.

Hartman, who missed three tries from 37 yards or closer against the Tar Heels, pulled a 27-yard field goal attempt wide left.

Maybe Pirates coach Skip Holtz should have called time and told the sophomore a joke like he did last week before Hartman finally nailed a 39-yarder as time expired to top UNC-Chapel Hill.

"I don't know how many we have missed inside the 20 at this point, but we have missed enough for a lifetime," Holtz said. "When Ben came off the field, he said that he just didn't feel like he was in a rhythm. I told him to tell me what I have to do to get you in a rhythm.

"I don't know why I need to ask you that question. I've never had that response. That's how it was offensively. No consistency."

Hartman's inability to find his rhythm soon spread throughout the offensive unit and lasted until the outset of the third quarter.

In the meantime, the Golden Eagles, who seem to enjoy spoiling the excitement in Greenville, were riding the running of Damion Fletcher and the passing of Jeremy Young to a 14-0 lead at the break.

"We kept shooting ourselves in the foot," lamented Holtz on his way to making halftime adjustments.

ECU had seven of its nine penalties in the first 30 minutes.

"We started off slow," said ECU quarterback Patrick Pinkney. "We couldn't find any rhythm with penalties and not executing our plays. We came along in the second half and started executing."

Southern Miss coach Jeff Bower may have had more confidence in the Pirates than they had in themselves at the locker room break.

"Good teams are going to make a run," Bower said. "I told them at halftime all good football teams are going to make a run at you sometime."

ECU took the second half kickoff and found a cure for its execution problems for most of the third quarter. Pinkney connected with Dwayne Harris for a 17-yard touchdown that got ECU within 14-7. That came after the Pirates had a TD toss to Jamar Bryant called back for holding.

Then linebacker Quentin Cotton, who led ECU with eight tackles, picked off a Young pass that had been deflected upward and rambled 16 yards to the Southern Miss 1-yard line. Dominique Lindsay got the tying score behind a good push on the left side of ECU's offensive front.

The Pirates scored on all three of their third quarter possessions, completing a 59-yard drive as Pinkney tossed to Chris Johnson for a 6-yard touchdown with 2:34 left in the period for a 21-14 lead.

The Pirates seemed ready to take control on Southern Miss' ensuing series when Cotton sacked Young to bring up 3rd-and-15 for the Golden Eagles at their own 25. Young flipped a seemingly harmless pass into the left flat that Fletcher caught well short of a first down.

But the Golden Eagles sophomore cut toward the middle of the field and then back to his sideline as Pirate tacklers slid off of him like he was coated with WD-40. The ECU pursuit finally forced him out of bounds after a 48-yard gain. Two more snaps and Southern Miss tied the score at 21 with 14:36 to go.

"Big play would be an understatement," Holtz said of Fletcher's effort on the 3rd-and-15. "He did a great job. He caught it, a couple of guys overran it and we missed a couple of tackles. He's a tremendous back. He runs hard, he runs physical and he breaks tackles. I was really impressed with him. We can take some lessons on how he runs."

Fletcher ran 27 times for 118 yards, outgaining the Pirates as a team who managed a net of 97 yards on the ground.

"I did not think our running game was very good and I don't think our running backs are making a lot happen," Holtz said. "I don't think we are creating a lot of holes for them, but when we do, we are not making a lot of things happen on our own."

The Golden Eagles got the ball back at their own 20 with 6:40 left and consumed the clock until scoring the winning touchdown with 32 seconds left on a 1-yard keeper by Young.

The Pirates got the ball back at their own 29 with 26 seconds left and Pinkney couldn't muster any Doug Flutie "Hail Mary" magic.

But maybe there's a lesson to be learned from a team that takes its swagger on the road like Southern Miss brings it to Greenville, especially with ECU heading to West Virginia this week where the Pirates are 0-11.

"Give credit to Southern Miss," said Pinkney, who completed 20 of 33 passes for 203 yards with two scores and one interception. "We knew they would come in here and play physical and play aggressive."

Perhaps the Pirates can ratchet themselves up a few notches in terms of their physicality and aggressiveness when they invade Morgantown. That approach has surely been proven effective by the Golden Eagles in Greenville.