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Mark Weber/AP
East Carolina's Dominique Lindsay, middle, scrambles past Memphis defenders Memphis' D.A. Griffin, left, and Marcus Ball, right, during first quarter NCAA college football action at Liberty Bowl Stadium on Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2009 in Memphis, Tenn.

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Mark Weber/AP
East Carolina's Darryl Freeney, left, fights for a first down while taken down by Memphis' Cam Baker, right, during second quarter of an NCAA college football game on Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2009 at Liberty Bowl Stadium in Memphis, Tenn.

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ECU VS Memphis

Pirates win 38-19 in Memphis

By Nathan Summers
The Daily Reflector

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - East Carolina rocketed back into sole possession of first place in Conference USA East Tuesday night, weathering a brief rally attempt by host Memphis by scoring 14 third quarter points en route to a 38-19 victory.

The win grew ECU’s C-USA record to 4-1 and kept the Pirates unbeaten against East Division foes this season.

After taking on more than an inch of rain leading up to the game, the field inside Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium and the host Tigers were trampled by the ECU rush offense, which exploded for 275 yards.

After ECU jumped out to a 21-3 edge in the first half, the Tigers (2-6, 1-4 C-USA,) responded with 13 straight points. But the Pirates (5-3), who have struggled to finish opponents in the second half this season, enjoyed their second straight 60-minute performance, running over the Tigers down the stretch.

“When you can run the ball and you can put some touchdowns on the scoreboard instead of having to kick field goals all the time, it makes a difference,” said fifth-year ECU head coach Skip Holtz, who received congratulations from his father, Lou Holtz, after the game. “The only way to take the air out of someone’s sail is to be a physical-natured football team.”

Senior running back Dominique Lindsay, a question mark entering the game with an ankle injury, dominated the Tigers with 22 carries for 139 yards, his third 100-yard performance of the season. He had 98 of those yards at halftime.

Junior Giavanni Ruffin added 14 totes for 87 yards and a touchdown.

“Our coach tells us the little things eventually make a big difference, and eventually they did,” said Lindsay, who averaged 6.3 yards per carry in the win. “I was telling our guys this was a trap game. It was rainy, and there weren’t a lot of people out here (the announced attendance was a paltry 4,117). I had to tell the guys, don’t fall into the trap, stay focused.”

In the pass game, sophomore Darryl Freeney exploded for five catches and 116 of the Pirates’ 497 yards of total offense. Senior quarterback Patrick Pinkney finished with 216 pass yards.

Despite the first half dominance by the Pirates, Memphis began to slowly creep back into the game late in the first half. Following a late second quarter touchdown, the Tigers picked off Pinkney early in the third quarter and promptly cut the ECU lead to 21-13.

Pinkney threw behind Alex Taylor on the Pirates’ first possession of the second half, Bryan Wright intercepted the pass - Pinkney’s sixth pick in five games - and Memphis responded with a scoring drive. Despite stopping Memphis on the ECU 28-yard line, Tiger kicker Matt Reagan legged out a 45-yard field goal to trim the lead to eight points with 8:37 to play in the third.

But the Pirates, who had scored just 19 third quarter points all season, had a decisive answer. They marched the other direction, paced by receptions of 24 and 21 yards by Freeney, and Ruffin rambled 19 yards around the left end for a touchdown and a 28-13 ECU edge with 4:40 left in the third.

On the ensuing ECU drive, the Pirates rammed another touchdown home when Pinkney lofted a 31-yard arc into the end zone to Freeney, who hung on to the ball despite a big end zone hit from corner Marcus Ball, and the Pirates were sitting on a comfortable 35-13 lead.

Memphis cut the lead to 35-19 on quarterback Will Hudgens’ 43-yard scoring pass to Marcus Rucker with 12:42 left in the fourth quarter, but the Pirates added three more on Ben Hartman’s season-best 48-yard field goal to make it 38-19.

“In the back of your mind, you know we already stubbed our toe once (a loss at SMU Oct. 10) and you can’t do it again,” Holtz said of the importance of the game. “You’re playing on the road and it’s going to take a complete performance. This is a good Memphis football team. Fortunately, we were the beneficiaries of a couple of turnovers early in the game.”

The saturated field wreaked havoc on the host team in the first half, and the Pirates cashed in a pair of touchdowns off Memphis turnovers to craft a 21-10 lead at the intermission. The Tigers fumbled three times in the first half, losing two of them.

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herb

10/30/2009 06:30:52 AM

motion, big fullback, Utility players used everywhere...add a couple of Plays from UNC Tech game...The gobbler is ours...;)

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