Inside
Game Day
Saturday,
October 5, 2013
By Al Myatt |
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Won and done with Raiders
Al Myatt
©2013 Bonesville.net
All rights reserved.
MURFREESBORO, TN — East
Carolina showed its depth, focus and desire in getting to 2-0 in Conference
USA on Saturday with a 24-17 win at Middle Tennessee State's homecoming.
The teams may not play again
as the Pirates leave C-USA after this season, but the Blue Raiders'
homecoming was competitive enough to be remembered for some time.
ECU showed few after effects
from
last week's 55-31 win at North Carolina
as Shane Carden completed five passes for 66 yards on the game's opening
possession and Vintavious Cooper went into the end zone from a yard out just
2:30 into the game.
Strong safety Damon Magazu had
11 tackles and the hosts never got the ball back after his interception at
the ECU 30-yard line with 5:10 to go.
The Pirates obviously didn't
dwell on last week's accomplishment. That was a good thing as they had their
hands full with MTSU.
"We came back out to practice
on Sunday and it was a new week," Magazu said.
Within the ECU team, the
celebration of the triumph over the Tar Heels lasted one day.
"The 24-hour rule, like Coach
Ruff (Ruffin McNeill) says," Magazu said. "We actually really mean that so
after the 24 hours we started focusing on (Middle Tennessee). They're a
great football team as they showed today. ... We really had to focus on
fixing our mistakes from the North Carolina game.
"We just preached the 24-hour
rule and that's what we did."
Carden had a big game as has
become a factor consistent with ECU success. The offense played fast and
totaled 511 yards on 98 snaps.
The junior quarterback from
Houston said the goal of a league championship helped the Pirates regain
their focus after the performance against UNC.
Carden completed 43 of 57
passes for 365 yards and one throwing score against MTSU. He also had a
keeper for a 14-10 ECU lead at the half, although he was stopped short of
the goal on another scoring chance at the close of the second quarter.
ECU is minimizing
distractions.
"We don't listen to the
outside noise, whether it's good or bad," Carden said. "They don't know
what's going on in our locker room.
"I think we have a great
attitude and we know our goal. This was a huge game for us. We understand
Carolina's a big game. It's a great one for our university, but it doesn't
help us get to our goal of a championship."
The Blue Raiders (3-3, 1-1
C-USA) answered the Pirates' first scoring foray and led 10-7 after a field
goal following a potentially-game changing situation involving running back
Vintavious Cooper.
The senior back, who had 186
yards rushing in Chapel Hill, appeared to take a helmet-to-helmet hit and
fumbled in the first quarter. Cooper left the game with concussion symptoms.
Chris Hairston stepped in to
keep the run game going, He totaled 94 yards on 18 carries.
"You've got to really be
focused," Hairston said. "That's what we prepare for. The coaches get you
ready for things like this that happen. I was ready."
The term the coaches use is
"Carry the flag" when someone goes down with an injury.
"That's what we want to see,"
McNeill said of the response to the depth-challenging loss of Cooper.
Junior college transfer Breon
Allen also picked up the banner, contributing seven carries for 28 yards in
his first significant action.
After MTSU tied the score at
17 on a 26-yard pass from Logan Kilgore to Tavarres Jefferson with three
seconds left in the third quarter, Lance Ray of the Pirates returned the
ensuing kickoff 51 yards to the Raiders' 42-yard line.
Carden completed two passes to
Danny Webster for 16 yards and had a 5-yard toss to Davon Grayson. The
winning touchdown covered 21 yards to Justin Hardy, who dived into the end
zone with 13:31 remaining in the game.
"A great football game," said
MTSU coach Rick Stockstill, offensive coordinator on John Thompson's staff
at ECU in 2003. "It breaks my heart that we didn't get the win. ... Our guys
played hard against a really good team."
McNeill put the magnitude of
the outcome in perspective.
"This was a big win for us, as
big a win as last week," said the Pirates coach. "To win this one, under
these circumstances, coming off last week, is big. We get 24 hours to enjoy
and then we start getting ready for the next one."
ECU (4-1) heads to the
Superdome to play Tulane on Saturday at 3:30 p.m.. Counting
the New Orleans Bowl last year, it
will be the Pirates third contest in the structure in their last eight games.
E-mail Al Myatt.
PAGE UPDATED
10/06/13 02:00 PM.
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