Production from receiver Ray Ray Joseph Jr. and running back T.J. Engleman Jr. was instrumental for East Carolina as the Pirates opened American Conference play on Saturday with a 28-12 win over visiting Rice.
Joseph, a transfer from Miami of Florida, had six catches for 68 yards with two touchdowns. He caught a 6-yard TD pass from former Hurricanes teammate Emory Williams to put the Pirates ahead to stay at 14-9 with 4:37 left in the first quarter.
That was the start of 21 unanswered points for ECU.
Engleman is a third-year player who has been with the Pirates throughout his college career. The Cincinnati native had 14 carries for 136 yards with a 43-yard TD run with 14:06 remaining to push the lead to 21-9.
Engleman also had two catches for 10 yards.
The dynamic duo had touches on 22 of ECU’s 75 snaps, 29.3 percent of the plays. Combined they accounted for 214 of the Pirates’ 376 total yards, 64 percent of the total offensive output.
Harrell’s take
ECU coach Blake Harrell analyzed the performance of Engleman and Joseph. Engleman was coming off a rushing effort in a 42-9 win over N.C. Central on Sept. 26 that included 10 carries for 129 yards and two TDs.
“TJ Engleman had a big day again,” said the Pirates coach. “He continues to be a bright spot offensively running the football and just sees it really well.
“Ray Ray getting in the box (end zone) twice, just doing some big things. We’ve got to get the football in his hands more.”
Offensive line play
Generally overlooked in the accomplishments of the skill players are the enabling contributions of the offensive front.
ECU had a 234-164 lead in rushing yards against Rice, which entered the game No. 17 nationally in ground yards per game, an accomplishment on both sides of the ball for the Pirates.
“Brandon Best, Karson Jones and Hayes Creel are leading the way for that rushing attack, doing some good things,” Harrell said. “We preached toughness and physicality all week. Those guys set the tempo as well as the guys up front defensively.”
Cumulative effect
Harrell explained the value of attacking on the perimeter in terms of its long-term benefit during the course of a game. The Pirates had a 21-point flurry that spanned less than seven minutes starting at 4:37 in the third quarter.
“You’re getting the ball to Ray Ray and those guys on the perimeter,” Harrell said. “It’s an easy throw. It stretches the defense horizontally, makes them play side to side and you can get the (defensive) tackle running out there.
“Then all of a sudden he’s got to line up again and maybe he’s a little tired and can’t pass rush or maybe the defensive end is thinking about running sideways instead of running vertical in the pass rush.
“We’ve got to get that piece of it going, but it starts with our blocking. … That’s something we work on every week.”
UAB on Thursday night
After a span of two weeks before playing Rice, ECU began practicing on Sunday, which is normally a day off, for a league game at Alabama-Birmingham on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. (ESPN).
The Blazers are 3-3 overall and 1-1 in the American Conference. The Pirates are 3-2, 1-0.
UAB topped Navy, the American preseason favorite, 24-20, on Aug. 25 to start the season.
“They’re a good football team,” said Harrell of the Blazers on Monday. “They just had Memphis on Saturday night. Alex Mortensen is their head coach. He took over last year about halfway through the season. He’s a son of the late Chris Mortensen (ESPN reporter) that many may know. Alex does a great job. …
“He is the offensive coordinator. They’re averaging 335 (yards) a game, about 180 on the ground. He does a good job just giving you a bunch of different looks, shifts, motions, 12 personnel.
“He’ll bring the backup quarterback (Nate Rogers) in. He gets about a series every half where he’s kind of got a little run game, a little package in there for him.
“They’re very consistent. They want to run the football first, throw second. The quarterback (Ryder Burton), started out at BYU. … He took over about halfway through the season last year and (Coach Mortenson) feels very comfortable with him.
“Defensively, Todd Grantham is the coordinator. Todd’s kind of been around a bunch of places, does a phenomenal job. I think they’re holding opponents to 125 in the air and 190 on the ground.
“I think he gave up 230 (rushing yards) against Memphis on Saturday. They had a tough one. They actually led the game 13-10 at the half and then it kind of got away from them in the second half. They were unable to score and Memphis scored 28 unanswered (38-13 UAB loss).”
ESPN showcase
Harrell talked about the advantages of playing a Thursday night game on ESPN.
“I know a lot of people may say they don’t like the Thursday night football games, but I think for our university, for our conference, for our football program, our brand, just to be on national TV across the nation is pretty special,” Harrell said. “At the end of the day, we’ve got to go play the game the right way and make sure we’re taking care of that piece of it. But just for exposure for our university, I think it is really good.”
A week after the game at UAB, the Pirates play at Memphis on Thursday, Oct. 22 at 7:30 p.m. on ESPN2.
James Madison joining American
According to reports, James Madison will be leaving the Sun Belt Conference for membership in the American by July 1, 2028.
“Our commissioner (Tim Pernetti) does a great job of continuing to seek opponents that will help strengthen our conference and our football landscape,” Harrell said. “Anytime we can add a regional game, which that would be, it’s great for attendance in Dowdy Ficklin Stadium or at their place.
“I mean, probably some of our better-attended games are regional opponents as opposed to an opponent that’s coming from Texas that nobody has a connection to or their neighbor didn’t graduate from there.”
Short week
Harrell shared his thoughts on the adjustments for a short week.
“There’s a physical piece to it,” he said. “There’s a mental piece to it. We just talk about toughness. Going back to this past Saturday, we have three games in 12 days. That’s about toughness.
“That’s about who we really are and can we handle tough times? Tough people can, so we’re going to find out just how mentally and physically tough we are.”
Ray Ray and T.J. have done some good things, and the O-line has upped its’ game, as well as Williams continuing the process working toward the leader he needs to be. The offense must continue to improve on consistency throughout each of the four quarters. The Pirates won’t be successful if the offense is sputtering for half of each game. The improvement in overall team performance is tangible, and hopefully, continues this Thursday and beyond. If it does, Pirate Nation will be celebrating.