Inside
Game Day Saturday,
September 5, 2015
By Al Myatt |
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Towson tests Pirates in opener
Al Myatt
©2015 Bonesville.net
All rights reserved.
Post-game
audio: Ruffin
McNeill...
GREENVILLE
—
East Carolina coach Ruffin McNeill tells his players not to apologize for
wins.
The Pirates were challenged
Saturday night in a 28-20 win over Towson at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium but that
might have been just what ECU needed. With things to work on, the players
will hardly be overconfident going forward. They should be ready to take the
coaching this week.
The matchup bore little
resemblance to the springboard that
a 52-7 win over North Carolina Central
provided a year ago, although the formula was similar – a Football
Championship Subdivision warm-up before a road trip to play a Southeastern
Conference heavyweight.
Last year, ECU outgained host
South Carolina in a week two matchup but turnovers and settling for short
field goals led to
a 33-23 loss.
Towson had the appearance of a
speed bump on the road to Florida for East Carolina but midway through the
second quarter, the Tigers, an FCS team coming off a 4-8 season, trailed the
Pirates by a scant 14-10 margin.
The Tigers didn't care that ECU
spent a month or more in the Top 25 in 2014. Towson was focused on upsetting
a more highly regarded foe, a position the Pirates will be in next week. The
upset bid Saturday night was bolstered by 19 returning starters for the
Tigers.
It's unlikely the Pirates
prepared exclusively for the Tigers in the preseason, not with Navy's option
attack on the docket in two weeks in the American Athletic Conference
opener.
There was a question of when
ECU's 85-63 advantage in scholarship limits might kick in.
It didn't happen in the first
half when Connor Torruella missed a 37-yard field goal and DaShaun Amos
dropped a potential interception that hit him in the hands in Towson
territory.
A crowd of 40,712 tried to lend
its support and maybe a 45-yard touchdown run by Chris Hairston on the first
series of the season provided a false sense of security.
It was the first of four TDs
for Hairston, who ran 18 times for 154 yards.
"Whatever coach (offensive
coordinator Dave Nichol) called, I just ran it," Hairston said. "He wanted
to run the ball a lot so I'm here to do that. ... I owe it all to the O-line
They've had a great offseason. Coach (offensive line coach Brad Davis) has
coached them up. They worked hard in camp and it showed tonight."
Towson answered the initial
score with a 30-yard scoring pass from Connor Frazier to Brian Dowling and
the Colonial Athletic Association entry had confirmation that it could
compete.
If Appalachian State could win
in the Big House in 2007, the Tigers might be able to do the trick in the
Fick.
Blake Kemp was one reason the
upset bid was foiled. The left-hander completed 29 of 37 passes for 230
yards with no touchdowns and no interceptions.
"I thought we played well,"
Kemp said. "We were all on the same page. We had a good game. Glad to come
out with a win. ... We were running the ball so well, we didn't really have
to go down the field (vertical routes)."
Kemp admitted to some nerves
during game week but said a conversation with his dad helped settle him
down.
Isaiah Jones had six catches
for 77 yards.
Penalties continue to be a
factor. Holding calls defused some drives. Generally law-abiding in
Conference USA, the Pirates were last in the AAC last season in penalty
yardage per game (77.2). The AAC crew flagged ECU five times for 67 yards in
the first half. Towson was penalized twice for 20 yards.
The Pirates finished with eight
penalties for 102 yards.
"Got to work on that," McNeill
said.
An unsportsmanlike conduct call
on corner Josh Hawkins gave Towson a goal-to-go opportunity early in the
second half. That is what McNeill calls a selfish penalty. The Tigers got a
32-yard field goal from the field position to draw within 14-13 with 10:18
left in the third quarter.
That may have created a sense
of urgency as the Pirates drove 75 yards, converted a fourth down and went
up 21-13 on a 1-yard scoring blast by Hairston.
An 11-yard scoring run by
Hairston completed a 69-yard series and put the Pirates ahead 28-13 with
12:21 left in the game.
The Tigers closed the gap to
28-20 with 7:53 to go.
Two plays were crucial in
maintaining the eight-point lead. Davon Grayson was ruled to have lost a
fumble at the ECU 32 but a replay showed his knee was down before the ball
came out.
The possession concluded with a
44-yard punt by Worth Gregory, who averaged 47.3 yards on three boots.
Towson drove to the ECU 16 and faced a 4th-and-7. Safety Terrell Richardson
applied a powerful hit that resulted in an incompletion.
"Big time," McNeill said of
Richardson's clutch contribution with 1:55 left.
The Pirates took possession and
ran out the clock.
Towson had 27 first downs to 23
for ECU. The Pirates led 440-416 in total yardage.
Frazier completed 15 of 28 for
the Tigers for 221 yards with one score and one pick. Stocky Towson running
back Darius Victor went forward for 137 yards on 28 carries.
"A bowling ball of butcher
knives," was how McNeill described Victor.
Jordan Williams had 10 tackles
at the buck linebacker, including five solos. He and Johnathan White had
sacks. Patrick Green forced a fumble and Fred Presley recovered it. Hawkins
had an interception. Mike backer Zeek Bigger was in on 10 stops.
"Pretty good test," Bigger
said. "A good workout. It was the first game. We had to knock off the rust.
We had to see what we've got to do and get better each and every day. We'll
watch this film and see what we can correct and move on to the next one."
The 28-20 score was
the same margin by which the Gators topped ECU
in the Birmingham Bowl on Jan. 3, completing an 8-5 season for the Pirates
in 2014.
E-mail Al Myatt.
PAGE UPDATED
09/06/15 01:31 PM.
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