Inside
Game Day Thursday, November
13, 2014
By Al Myatt |
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Time to deal with tough loss
Al Myatt
©2014 Bonesville.net
All rights reserved.
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CINCINNATI
—
The schedule will soon compact for East Carolina's 2014 football team with
three games in 13 days.
The Pirates will host Tulane on
Saturday, Nov. 22 to start the close to the regular season. They'll play at
Tulsa the following Friday before returning home to face Central Florida on
Thursday, Dec. 4.
There will be a little time
before the focus shifts to preparations for the Green Wave and the span will
have some value. After the game-ending sequence Thursday night, ECU could
use an interim to regain its composure and focus its competitiveness on the
next challenge.
What had the look of a dramatic
and vital American Athletic Conference football win for the Pirates against
Cincinnati on Thursday night at Paul Brown Stadium transformed into an
agonizing loss over the final 62 seconds.
The Bearcats won a showdown for
a share of the AAC lead by a 54-46 margin after a Shane Carden keeper with
1:02 remaining had put the Pirates ahead, 46-45.
A pass interference call on
Howard Wilder as he defended Justin Hardy in the end zone set up Carden's
scoring run.
A fumble recovery by Lamar Ivey
at the Bearcats' 27-yard line led to ECU's go-ahead possession.
Cincinnati inexplicably went
for a fourth-and-3 at its own 33 with just over two minutes to go.
Bearcats quarterback Gunner
Kiel ran an option to the left after a pair of timeouts. Kiel had initially
tried to get the Pirates to encroach.
Then came some fourth down
foolishness.
"We were kind of in a man
coverage and I saw the quarterback rolling off," said Ivey, who had already
picked off a pair of Kiel passes. "I got off the block to make the tackle on
the quarterback or running back. When he pitched it, I just saw it hit the
ground so I just went ahead and jumped on it."
Chris Hairston ran for five
yards to the Cincinnati 22 on first down with ECU trailing 45-40.
Cam Worthy was a pass
interference victim to move the ball to the Bearcats 7.
After three incompletions,
Wilder drew a late flag and the Pirates got a first down at the Cincinnati
2-yard line.
Carden scored from two yards
out on second down to give ECU its second lead. The Pirates were down 17-6
early in the second quarter and rallied to go in front 20-17. The Bearcats
forged a 38-20 advantage in the second half before ECU came back again.
"It was a zone read on the end
to an option," Carden said. "The end crashed and the linebacker flew out. He
was playing the pitch man pretty well. I was able to get underneath him."
Carden completed 35 of 61
passes for 418 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions.
Justin Hardy had 15 receptions
for 181 yards to pull within four catches of breaking the Football Bowl
Subdivision career record of 349 receptions by Ryan Broyles of Oklahoma
(2008-11).
Breon Allen had 12 carries for
129 yards and a TD. Marquez Grayson and Hardy also had rushing scores.
ECU left a little too much time
for Kiel after a Carden pass for a two-point conversion and a three-point
advantage fell incomplete.
Kiel completed three passes for
35 yards to set up a career-longest 47-yard field goal by Andrew Gantz to
put the hosts ahead 48-46 with 15 seconds left.
A desperation trick play by the
Pirates with nine seconds to go resulted in a fumble that was returned 20
yards for a touchdown by Terrell Hartsfield as the game ended.
"It was a tough game," Carden
said. "Both teams knew how much was on the line. You put your heart in
something like this and it's hard when you come out on the wrong end."
The Pirates slipped to 6-3
overall and 3-2 in league play. Cincinnati (6-3) and Memphis are each 4-1 in
the conference. Central Florida is 3-1 in the AAC with a home game tonight
against Tulsa.
The temperature was 27 degrees
at kickoff with southwest winds at seven miles per hour.
The Pirates were equipped for
the conditions and wore new white helmets. There were four heated benches on
the sideline.
ECU played better under adverse
conditions than in the rain, wind and chill that accompanied
a 20-10 loss at Temple on Nov. 1.
Penalties decreased from the
game against the Owls. Pirates coach Ruffin McNeill had officials work
practice three times since the loss in Philadelphia when ECU was flagged 12
times for 120 yards. ECU drew five penalties for 38 yards against the
Bearcats.
The Pirates lost five fumbles
at Temple. That number diminished to two as the Pirates played in an NFL
venue for the second straight week.
"Some tough things happened,"
McNeill said. "The kids rose up and played the next play."
In successive games, the
Pirates have seen their major bowl hopes deflated, they've fallen out of the
rankings and they've lost control of their fate in terms of winning an AAC
title.
All of that is tough for young
men who have worked hard to be in those positions.
Now it's time to evaluate
another loss and make improvements. The good thing about the schedule at
this point is that there will be some added time to do that.
"It's going to sting for a
little while," Carden said. "But we've got three (regular season) games left
and we've got to finish off the season strong."
E-mail Al Myatt.
PAGE UPDATED
11/14/14 05:30 AM.
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