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Blackwell, turnovers ensure Pirates' demise
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The game story
and the post-game
audio, as penned and
digitally recorded by
Denny O'Brien. |
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ECU-USF: THE VITALS |
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CAROLINAS/C-USA
Football Scoreboard
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USF 46, East Carolina
30
USM 23, Cincinnati 14
Houston 56, Army 42
Tulane 35, UAB 14
Miss. St. 29, Memphis 17
TCU 45, Louisville 31
N.C. State 24, Duke 22
Virginia 37, UNC-CH 27
Clemson 31, WFU 23
LSU 38, S. Carolina 14 |
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By Denny O'Brien
©2002 Bonesville.net
GREENVILLE — South Florida, which first unveiled its football
program in 1997, can't officially compete for the Conference USA
championship until next season.
Judging by the ease with which they defeated East Carolina on Saturday,
the Bulls looks as if they are capable of challenging for the league crown a
year ahead of time.
Propelled by four ECU turnovers and another all-star performance by
quarterback Marquel Blackwell, South Florida used its quick-strike offense
to build a 20-point fourth quarter lead and hold on for a 46-30 victory.
It was the second-consecutive week that USF (5-2) knocked off an
upper-echelon C-USA opponent. It was the first time in 13 years that East
Carolina (2-4) suffered a homecoming loss.
"We turned the ball over four times and didn't generate any turnovers,"
head coach Steve Logan said. "That's what got us into the fix that we are
in.
"We're just not mature enough yet to cure that. We're not generating any
turnovers. We had the ball out of their hands three times I believe — maybe
four."
The Bulls fumbled four times on the day, the first of which followed an
early ECU score. But each time they bobbled the ball, the Pirates were
unable to make them pay.
It proved costly, as the record-setting Blackwell burned the Pirates all
day long, completing 19-of-33 passes for 321 yards and five touchdowns. His
ten-yard touchdown toss to Huey Whittaker with 10:10 remaining took the wind
out of the Pirates' sails, giving the Bulls a 43-23 lead that proved
insurmountable.
"He's a marvelous player," Logan said of Blackwell. "He really is. He's
done it to all kinds of football teams. He's hard to sack — mobile. He's a
package guy."
And he seemed at his best following each East Carolina score.
Trailing 15-10 at intermission, East Carolina opened the second half by
marching 80 yards in ten plays, capping it off when Paul Troth found a
diving Tutu Moye from 16 yards out, giving the Pirates a 17-15 edge and
momentary momentum.
That lead was short-lived, however, as Blackwell hit DeAndrew Rubin on a
54-yard catch-and-run to put the Bulls back in front for good at 22-17.
"In the second half when we took the lead, (USF) came back with an
explosion play on a scramble, got behind our secondary, and that’s just a
tough thing to deal with," Logan said. "They answered all of our scores and
that was to their credit. Our defense flew around and played physical, but
their offense, man, they made a lot of plays.”
The Pirates made plenty of plays of their own and, in fact, held an
advantage in almost every statistical category. East Carolina out-gained
the Bulls 510-410, highlighted by another big day by running back Art Brown,
who finished with 290 all-purpose yards, 188 rushing and 102 receiving.
Despite two interceptions, Troth enjoyed his best day statistically under
center, completing 25-of-46 passes for 339 yards and three touchdowns. His
34-yard hurl to Edwin Rios with just under seven minutes to play moved the
Pirates to within striking distance at 43-30.
The Pirates would get no closer, though, as Santiago Gramatica's 41-yard
field goal with 3:29 to play ended any thoughts of a homecoming
celebration. ECU did have one more chance to score, but Brown was unable to
punch it in on fourth-and-goal from the one.
"Turnovers killed us," Troth said.
Troth's most costly interception occurred with just over five minutes
remaining in the third quarter. Feeling intense pressure from a rabid USF
pass rush, the sophomore field general unloaded a pass in the direction of
Bulls defensive end Shurron Pierson, who snared the errant throw, setting up
a key touchdown that lengthened the Bulls' lead to 36-17.
"They executed well and we turned the ball over," Brown said. "Anytime
you turn the ball over, you're not going to win the ballgame — especially
four turnovers."
Things started promising for East Carolina, scoring on its first play
from scrimmage when Brown took a swing pass from Troth and dashed 56 yards.
South Florida answered on its next possession when Gramatica nailed a
19-yard field goal to make the score 7-3 early in the first quarter. The
Bulls were unable to punch it in after a 75-yard pass play from Blackwell
to Whittaker set up first and goal at the Pirates' two-yard line.
The Pirates bumped their lead back to seven with 7:48 remaining before
intermission on Kevin Miller's 21-yard field goal. It was Miller's
21st-straight field goal from within 41 yards, capping off a ten-play,
76-yard drive.
The Bulls then responded with 12 points in 1:10 span to take a 15-10
halftime lead.
First, Blackwell's hit Hugh Smith on a 43-yard scoring strike to narrow
the Pirates' edge to one at 10-9. An unsportsmanlike conduct penalty
lengthened the extra point try, which was missed.
Ron Hemingway then recovered a Troth fumble in the end zone, giving the
Bulls a 15-10 advantage heading into the locker room.
"You get 10-12 possessions a game that are meaningful," Logan said. "You
take four of them away, and you're not going to win that football game,
especially when you don't take some back.
"That's been disappointing to me that we can't create turnovers, because
we're getting the ball on the ground. Beginning with the very first game of
the season, we've gotten the ball on the ground several times. It's just
kind of a bad karma deal right now."
BOX SCORE...
BONESVILLE GAME CENTER...
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02/23/2007 01:50:57 AM
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