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Game 5: ECU 37, Houston 35 |
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Game
Slants
Sunday, September 30, 2007
By Denny O'Brien |
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Pirates live to tell about
Texas shootout
By
Denny O'Brien
©2007 Bonesville.net
All Rights Reserved.
HOUSTON – Better prepare for a shootout
when you travel to Houston. That’s what greeted East Carolina in Robertson
Stadium, an old-fashioned battle of six-shooters that had no shortage of
gunslingers.
And true to tradition, it was the precision
passing of an understudy that nearly sliced through the heart of the East
Carolina defense, much like many of the performances that torched the
Pirates in the past.
Backup quarterback Blake Joseph rifled
numerous shots at the ECU secondary — 24 to be exact. In the end, it wasn’t
enough.
Two misfired field goals inside the final
two minutes gave East Carolina a wild 37-35 win and renewed hope in the
Conference USA race.
“This game is a crazy game,” Pirates coach
Skip Holtz said. “I’m so proud of this team for the way that they competed,
the way that they fought.
“We talked about this is going to be a
heavyweight fight, that this is the best team in the league. We feel honored
to come in here and have the opportunity to turn and stand toe-to-toe with
them and play.”
Houston receiver Donnie Avery certainly
provided many opportunities for the Pirates to wilt.
There was his 64-yard touchdown reception
featuring footwork that was eerily reminiscent of West Virginia receiver
Darius Reynaud last week. There was his stomach-sinking 36-yard scoring haul
on fourth-and-eight, which understandably could have left the ECU defense
emotionally depleted.
Then there was the curtain call, his
100-yard kickoff return that pulled the Cougars to within two, nearly
evaporating all of ECU’s 13-point cushion.
But ECU didn’t shrivel. Not once. Because
East Carolina expected an old-fashioned gunfight from Art Briles’ quick-draw
bunch, and the Pirates were prepared to take the Cougars’ best shot.
“We talked about it early,” Holtz said. “At
Virginia Tech, we said we’ve got to win a baseball score. This one, we said
we’re going to have to put up some points. The defense is going to have to
compete its tail off.
“I think Coach (Todd) Fitch and Coach Shank
(Steve Shankweiler) did a great job of putting this gameplan together from
an offensive standpoint. The red zone productivity, I just think that they
did a phenomenal job.”
Try perfect.
The Pirates performed with as much
precision inside the red zone as they have at any point during the Holtz
era. Much of that can be attributed to the resurfaced rushing attack that
has been AWOL for much of September, and it was sparked by running back
Chris Johnson’s 147-yard performance.
Though not a career high, it was as
complete an effort as we’ve seen from Johnson. Instead of that familiar
Texas two-step in the backfield, he darted around, past, and over Houston
defenders with the type of purpose that has been missing in the ECU
backfield since the days of Leonard Henry.
That much of his damage occurred after
intermission can’t be understated.
“We came in at halftime and said we’re
going to need to score three, maybe four times,” Pirates quarterback Rob
Kass said. “Not to take anything away from our defense, but they have a very
strong offense, and we knew that.
“We knew our defense would do their best to
hold them, but we knew as an offense that we needed to put some points up on
the board. We got it done.”
And Kass is largely to credit. Though he
completed only 6-of-12 passes, his 110 yards came in bunches, like the
momentum-shifting 34-yard touchdown he tossed to T.J. Lee to open the second
half.
It was the first meaningful action this
season for Kass, and he came out firing from the word “Go.” His accuracy on
the deep ball stretched the Cougars’ defense vertically and opened running
lanes for Johnson.
For a change, it was the ECU backup QB who
delivered the knockout blow. And for ECU’s season, it couldn’t have come at
a better time.
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09/30/2007 04:13:35 AM |
