GREENVILLE — Rain has seemed to bring out the best in East Carolina's football program.

The Pirates prevailed in a virtual monsoon at South Carolina in 1992 and plucked the Gamecocks again in the rain in 1996.

One of the greatest wins in program history came in 1999 when Hurricane Floyd forced the Miami game to be moved to Raleigh and ECU inspired its flood-ravaged region by rallying for a 27-23 triumph.

Showers accompanied wins over Syracuse in 2000 at home and again that season at Southern Miss.

The Oyster Bowl in Norfolk against William & Mary in 1977 didn't yield a win in wet conditions but it did provide one of the great stories in ECU lore as aging former Pirates coach Jim Johnson came off the sideline to make a tackle.

It was an unusual Saturday night at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium as Texas-El Paso came in but you had to like the Pirates' chances as a storm approached from the west.

Even before lightning rolled in and stopped play, the East Carolina coaches' headphones went out and they had to communicate by cell phone from the upper levels of the press box to the sideline.

Shortly after 8 p.m., there was a public address announcement that play would be stopped and fans were told to leave stadium seating in an orderly manner.

Like a snow day in school, the situation created some unique excitement. Pirate Nation was advised that it could return from beneath the stands at 9:20 p.m.

UTEP was leading 10-7 at the time but the Miners were no match for the Pirates once conditions got tough. ECU retreated to the Murphy Center during the delay and scored the next 21 points after the restart.

"We concentrated on keeping our focus," said ECU coach Ruffin McNeill on how the Pirates occupied their time during the unanticipated break. "We've had several practices interrupted by rain so we have gotten used to that."

It took a while for the offense to click when the game began again but the defense stepped up like it was protecting buried treasure.

The Pirates had possession at the UTEP 6-yard line when play was halted. The Pirates restarted with a pass off play action and it was intercepted by UTEP's Shane Huhn. ECU got the ball back and threw another pick that left the Miners at their own 4-yard line.

ECU's defense stepped up again and the offense finally got it right as Shane Carden hit Justin Hardy on a 3-yard fade. The play was initially ruled an incompletion but replay showed that Hardy got his right foot down inbounds on the right side of the end zone. The review put ECU ahead to stay.

Vintavious "Ta" Cooper ran 23 times for 151 yards as ECU's running back by committee looked like it could be reduced in size.

The harsh conditions Saturday evening didn't seem to bother Cooper, a former option quarterback on the Mississippi junior college scene. His bursts across the wet turf were key in the 28-18 Pirate victory.

"It's tough when you're already warmed up and then (you get) cold in the building and you go back out and there's not as much excitement as there was, but you fight through it and just try to make plays," Cooper said.

Reggie Bullock went down on the opening kickoff and that created an opportunity for Cooper to get more touches. The offensive line was a big part of his success on the night.

"They opened up lanes and made plays," he said.

Cooper had to make sure he held on to the ball under the slippery conditions.

"It's horrible," he said. "I had to take off my gloves because I'd rather use my hands than my gloves in that situation."

Carden finished with 28 completions on 40 attempts for 258 yards with three interceptions and one TD. He ran nine times for 63 yards and two scores, validating the summer contention of offensive coordinator Lincoln Riley that the sophomore from Houston can make plays with his feet.

Halftime was trimmed to 10 minutes. Miners coach Mike Price said he would have been fine with no intermission since play had already been stopped for one hour, 20 minutes.

Price also said that teams traveling two time zones win only 15 percent of the time.

It may not have been the travel that got the best of the Miners on Saturday night.

It seemed like weather, fit only for a determined band of Pirates, was the deciding factor.

View box score and statistics on ecupirates.com