By Denny O'Brien
©2010 Bonesville.net
All Rights Reserved.

After making significant strides over the last three weeks, the East Carolina defense took a step back during a 49-35 loss at Central Florida. Make that a giant, humbling, bruising one.

Against a mediocre UCF offense, the ECU defense had no answer for a Knights' plan that emphasized inside running and clock consumption. The UCF offensive line thoroughly bullied the Pirates' defensive front, creating canyon-sized openings for Knights running back Ronnie Weaver.

Weaver finished the day with 180 yards on 30 carries. He was quick to find the holes, and he also gained plenty of yardage in the second and third levels of the ECU defense after futile attempts by Pirates defenders to wrestle him to the ground.

“He's tough,” ECU head coach Ruffin McNeill said. “I knew he was tough on film. He ran that well against everybody he's played, against N.C. State and Kansas State.

"For a walk-on, I don't know how people missed on him down down here.”

The bigger question for East Carolina is how Weaver, who hardly fits the description of a power back, slipped out of so many tackles Saturday?

“We just didn't execute,” ECU linebacker Dustin Lineback said. “It's plain and simple. The defense as a whole, all 11 of us out there didn't execute the plays that were called.

“I give a lot of credit to UCF. They are a great football team and are well-coached and athletic. They challenged us by running the ball down our throats.”

That's been a common trend for the Pirates on the road. Outside of the second half against Southern Miss, the East Carolina defense has provided little resistance away from home.

In road games this season, the Pirates have surrendered, 49, 42, 43, and 49 points respectively. On the contrary, ECU has held every opponent save for Tulsa under 30 in Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium.

A deeper look into each game reveals more eye-catching numbers.

Inside enemy venues, the East Carolina defense has generated only two takeaways, a fumble at Virginia Tech and the recovery of an onside kick at UCF. At home, the Pirates have forced 13 turnovers, many of which led directly to scores.

If you've attended each of ECU's games this season, you have to admit that the defense performs with more emotion and abandon at home. Against Memphis, N.C. State, and Marshall, the Pirates obviously fed off the home crowd and seemed to play at a different speed.

With several key C-USA road games remaining on the Pirates' schedule, defensive coordinator Brian Mitchell and the ECU defense must find a way to duplicate those efforts on the road.

Record pace

Don't look now, but Dominique Davis is quickly closing in on a couple of single season passing records at East Carolina.

Through eight games, the junior college transfer has thrown for 2,333 yards and 21 touchdowns. And given his current pace, he could conceivably catch and pass Jeff Blake when the Pirates visit UAB in a couple of weeks.

Blake threw for 3,073 yards and 28 touchdowns during that memorable 1991 season. Those records are now in serious jeopardy of getting rewritten by the first-year Pirates starter.

Not bad for a journeyman who is still learning ECU's new offensive system.

“You are talking about a guy who came in here and started learning the offense on August 6,” McNeill said. “He didn't go through spring. I am really pleased with Dominique. He is really listening and learning well from Lincoln (Riley).”

Davis, a film room junkie, is no doubt a quick study. You can't help but wonder what kind of numbers he will produce after having a full season under his belt.

Fudging the numbers

Apparently math isn't taught at Central Florida. At least you wouldn't think so given the official attendance that was recorded for its game against East Carolina.

Bright House Networks Stadium, which seats 45,301, was hardly half full on Saturday. Yet UCF officials reported attendance at 40,073 because of the number of tickets it distributed, many of which were given away.

For a program that often touts its large enrollment as one of its biggest selling points, you would think they wouldn't have trouble filling a modest-sized stadium. Especially for a game that players were ranking as the most significant of their careers.

“It's probably our biggest win,” UCF senior receiver Brian Watters said. “It's the biggest game of my career and probably of everyone's career on the team now.

“It's a great feeling. It was a big game.”

You just wouldn't know it from the abundance of empty seats.

No 'Super Bowl' for the Pirates

New N.C. State athletics director Debbie Yow was the target of criticism from East Carolina fans for comments she made on a statewide radio program last week.

Her message was that she is in no hurry to renew the series between the Pirates and Wolfpack when the current contract expires because, in her estimation, the game means far more to East Carolina than it does to State.

While it is almost impossible to measure the accuracy of such a statement — there are no metrics that compare the internal desire of two teams — you can certainly understand the enthusiasm ECU players and fans have when the Pirates play the Pack. Unlike N.C. State, which is a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference, ECU has only three or four opportunities each year to face BCS-AQ competition.

Thus, there are fewer opportunities to impress the football pundits and voters in the national polls.

By making her statements, Yow essentially was inferring that N.C. State is the equivalent of a Super Bowl for East Carolina. That couldn't be further from the truth.

Is playing State important to ECU? Sure it is. But it's no more important than games the Pirates play against North Carolina, Virginia Tech, West Virginia, or South Carolina — all regional schools from BCS-AQ conferences.

And you could easily make the argument that those victories over Virginia Tech and West Virginia brought the Pirates more mileage than any of their wins against N.C. State.

What's more, East Carolina fans should take pride in the fact that Yow has no foreseeable plans to extend the series. If the Pirates were a struggling, lower-tier program, I'm sure Yow would have no issues scheduling them.