By Denny O'Brien
©2012 Bonesville.net
All Rights Reserved.

GREENVILLE – Maybe Brian Mitchell wasn’t the problem with the East Carolina defense.

That’s one conclusion that can be drawn from the Pirates’ 52-38 victory over Old Dominion. The Monarchs, in a transition year before becoming a full-fledged FBS member, carved up an ECU defense for 460 yards and at times seemed unchallenged.

ODU quarterback Taylor Heinicke kept the Pirates off balance for much of the night, inflicting significant damage both with his right arm and nimble feet. He finished with 338 yards passing, 52 yards rushing, and accounted for four scores.

It was a one-man Monarch show that threatened an upset but ECU didn't fold under pressure.

“We hung in there,” Pirates coach Ruffin McNeill said. “From the very beginning, I said that Bobby (Wilder) does a great job of coaching. The only ones who didn’t say that were maybe somebody outside of the program.

“We watch film. We knew that Taylor (Heinicke) was a great quarterback and has the ability to extend plays.”

And it didn’t take long to recognize that. By the time the first half ended, Heinicke had thrown for nearly 200 yards, two touchdowns, and rushed for 30 more.

His quarterback rating at intermission? Only 188.6. Not exactly steel curtain stuff.

Outside of a scoop and score by linebacker Ty Holmes and a late three and out, it didn’t get much better in the second half. The Monarchs found little resistance from the ECU defense, regardless of the down, distance, or score.

First and ten? The Monarchs regularly gained seven.

Third and long? ODU just went longer.

It was perplexing given the number of defensive returnees and the changes to the defensive staff. New defensive coordinator Rick Smith was a catalyst to the Pirates’ defensive resurgence during the Skip Holtz era, and many were betting on a sudden 180.

That obviously didn’t occur, nor should it have been the expectation. Despite any schematic issues the Pirates might have had during Mitchell’s time at ECU, the Pirates weren’t exactly manufacturing NFL defensive talent.

Especially in the secondary. The Pirates have an obvious void of talent there. So much so that it’s too bad quarterback Shane Carden and receiver Justin Hardy can’t pull double duty and give the defense a little help.

All that tandem did Saturday was register their best games in an ECU uniform. Carden finished with 447 yards passing and five scores, with Hardy snagging 16 of his throws for 191 yards.

If there is a bright side to ECU’s defensive performance, it’s that Heinicke won’t be visiting Dowdy-Ficklen again. The rest of the quarterbacks who visit should be easier to corral, and probably won’t possess the same degree of poise.

“The whole defense needs to improve,” Pirates safety Damon Magazu said. “We need to run to the ball a little bit better. I think we need to create more turnovers.

"We did score tonight, but we only had one turnover. We did have a fourth down stop, so I guess that counts. We need to get more three and outs and get the ball back to our offense. As you can see, they can put up points.”

Lots of them. But at some point this season — probably sooner rather than later — ECU can’t expect that its offense will just score at will.

The difference between simply making a bowl and winning a Conference USA championship isn’t dependent upon offensive improvement.

Success this season clearly will be determined by how quickly ECU can knock the rust off its defense.