TUSCALOOSA, AL — East Carolina got some on-the-job training and earned a financial guarantee of $1.5 million in the process.
Alabama exposed some areas that ECU will have to work on in a 48-10 win for the Crimson Tide in the season opener for both teams at Bryant-Denny Stadium on Saturday.
Missed tackles, a struggling rushing attack and undisciplined penalties will be addressed before the Pirates host Appalachian State on Saturday at noon.
Keelon Russell made his first start at quarterback for Alabama and sparked a 480-162 lead in total yards. Russell completed 18 of 30 for 256 yards without a touchdown or interception. He was sacked once.
Russell kept 13 times for 86 yards with one score.
“You always find out a lot about yourself in game one,” said ECU coach Blake Harrell on the Pirate radio network. ” … After you play a ball game, you find out where you’re at.
“If you don’t play a good football team, some of those things get overlooked. Alabama does what a good football team does. When you make mistakes, they capitalize on it.”
ECU showed some quick strike capability in the second quarter when a pass play from Mitch Griffis to Tyler Johnson covering 68 yards set up a 1-yard TD pass to Jeremiah Melvin from Griffis with 13:41 left in the half. That cut the lead to 17-7.
“That was a good explosive play for us,” said Griffis after Johnson split the corner and safety to get space on a post route. “Kind of caught them off guard with some tempo and that was our plan.”
Griffis completed 10 of 16 for 137 yards with one score and one interception. Yhonzie Pierce had a 27-yard pick six for the Tide that extended the lead to 31-7 with 9:15 left in the half.
Emory Williams came in at quarterback for ECU in the fourth quarter and completed one of three for 23 yards.
Melvin had four catches for 60 yards. Ray Ray Joseph had three catches for 23 yards before leaving the field in obvious pain after a third quarter reception.
Brock Spalding, a returning starter at receiver, did not play due to a game week injury. North Texas transfer Landon Sides did not play at wide receiver due to a hamstring ailment.
The Pirates were credited with a net of just two yards rushing.
“It takes all of us,” Griffis said. “It’s a full 11 out there on the field. I could have done better in getting us in more manageable situations by completing more passes.”
Alabama was ranked No. 11 in the first Coaches Poll and No. 13 by the Associated Press. The combination of well-coached talent and tradition asserted itself early as the hosts were up 17-0 just 12 seconds into the second quarter.
A six-yard tackle for loss by Jasiyah Robinson, followed by a delay of game penalty, were keys on Alabama’s game-opening possession, which resulted in a 41-yard field goal by Conor Talty.
The Pirates punted on 4th-and-1 from their 34 on their first series.
The Crimson Tide went up 10-0 on a 3-yard run by E.J. Crowell with 4:12 left in the first quarter after starting their second possession at their own 14.
ECU punted on 4th-and-26 from its 9 after losing 22 yards on a snap that sailed over the head of Griffis. The Pirates missed several tackles on punt coverage, enabling a 23-yard return after a 55-yard boot by Tomas O’Halloran. A facemask penalty on the return put the Tide at the ECU 26.
The visitors were penalized seven times for 51 yards compared to six infractions for 29 yards for Alabama.
After a fourth down offside by the Pirates at their 9 on the first play of the second quarter, Daniel Hill took a direct snap and scored from four yards out as the Tide went up, 17-0.
O’Hallloran averaged 47.1 yards on eight punts with a longest of 57 yards. The Tide punted twice for an average of 52.0 yards.
Hill’s 2-yard run with 10:02 left in the half finished an 86-yard series for a 24-7 lead.
Russell scored on a 3-yard run with 14 seconds to go in the half for a 38-7 lead.
Noah Perez kicked a 34-yard field goal for ECU with 10:54 left in the third quarter to reduce the margin to 38-10 after a fumble recovery by Kieran Davis at the Alabama 31.
The Tide scored 10 points in the fourth quarter on a 2-yard TD run by Trae’shawn Brown and a 21-yard field goal by Talty.
The Pirates had 30 players who made tackles as the defense was on the field a lot. Alabama had a 27-5 lead in first downs. ECU was 0-for-9 on third down conversions. Time of possession favored the Tide, 38:53 to 21:07.
“There were too many tackles that were left out there,” said linebacker Crews Law, a transfer from Memphis. “We’ve got to go clean that up. … We’ve got to fix it and on to the next game.”
Everyone understood that ECU would be overmatched against the Tide. What you don’t like to see are so many unforced errors by the Pirates. I’m not sure if we gained many positive answers about the Pirates, going forward. Rushing the football proved to be impossible against the Tide. Without a rushing game, the Pirate offense was one-dimensional, and easily handled by Alabama. Hopefully, the O-line will improve quickly, as our receiver corp is depleted. A decent rushing attack almost always improves the passing game. The offense didn’t help the defense at all, given the poor time-of-possession.
The Defense must learn how to take better angles to the point-of-attack, and do a much better job of tackling when they get there.
With all of the roster turnover, and the quality of the opponent, the outcome isn’t a huge surprise. The Pirates will need to do a major cleanup in all phases before App State comes to town. Fortunately, the old adage about the most improvement occurring between the first and second games, favors the Pirates.
Ouch. The only thing positive that I can think of today is that I’m glad that next up is Ap State, an opportunity for ECU vs. an historically decent FBS program. That to me is preferable to ECU facing next up an NC Central, for example; presumably it helps ECU to put yesterday in the rear view.
…not sure how much can be taken from yesterday; hopefully not much, the thrashing was that severe, though at least it can be said that penalties MUST be reduced hugely going forward. Also, I hate to say it, but the tackling reminded me of the bad old days with Scott Montgomery on the sideline.
The other unhappy thought is Spalding, their playmaker, being out before the first snap of the season, plus another would-be starting receiver or two; hopefully they’re healthy sooner rather than later!