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Pirate Notebook No. 24
Monday, November 12, 2001

By Denny O'Brien
Staff Writer and Columnist

As the East Carolina football team trotted toward its locker room following Saturday's fist-gnawing 28-26 victory over conference rival Cincinnati, a diverse range of emotions was expressed by Pirate players and coaches.

There was the joy that comes from winning a fifth-consecutive conference game, which was mixed with the relief of barely hanging on to a game that was seemingly well under control.

For Steve Logan, the battle scars are starting to show, as the Pirates' ten-year head coach implies he might have grown a few gray hairs over the past two weeks.

"I've been accused of dying my hair," Logan said. "I never have done that, but I may have to start, because it's been something.

"We've never, ever had games like this in my tenure at East Carolina. To have two in a row is really odd. What we've experienced the last two weeks is, we flow like crazy in the first half, and then a total ebb in the second and the other team starts flowing."

The Pirate offense was more like a flood than a flow to start the game, fueled by Leonard Henry's 12-carry, 186-yard first-half performance. But as the game wore on, the Pirates slowly down-shifted, gaining just 88 yards in the second half.

According to junior receiver Torey Morris, the Jekyll and Hyde-like performance was a simple matter of execution in the first half, coupled with a lack thereof in the second.

"In the first half, we were just executing the plays that were called," he said. "It was just that simple. We executed perfectly.

"We just came out and we didn't execute in the second half. That was it. The plays that were called, we just didn't run them. They (Cincinnati) came out a little bit more intense, and we just didn't match it in the second half."

ECU appeared poised to put the game away, leading 28-13 in the fourth quarter, when David Garrard found Derrick Collier on a 52-yard connection near the goal line. The play would have set up a potential door-slamming touchdown, but was nullified when both Collier and the defender were oddly penalized for pass interference.

Instead of pushing their lead to 22, the ECU drive would eventually stall, leaving a window of opportunity for the Bearcats.

"We had that long pass play down to the one-yard line," Logan said. "To me, that was the ball game.

"That would have been our fifth touchdown. It's hard for a team to come back and get five touchdowns on you. I thought they could get four, but I didn't think they could get five.

"When they (the officials) made the call on the long pass play, to me that was the biggest, biggest thing to happen in the second half."

Special teams blunders certainly played a part in the Pirates' second-half demise, too. Twice, Terrance Copper fielded punts inside the eight-yard line, giving the Pirates poor field position for much of the second half.

The Pirates narrowly escaped disaster in the third quarter when an apparent fumble by Copper at the five-yard line was ruled down by contact, which proved to be crucial in the end.

According to Logan, the special teams miscues haven't come from a lack of practice.

"Our return game is just poor, poor judgment inside the eight-yard line," Logan said. "We are repped and coached not to touch the ball inside the eight-yard line on a punt, and we did it twice tonight.

"I would be hitting myself over the head if it was for something we did not practice. At some point the player needs to take responsibility for the practice sessions and we haven't done that yet, so we'll practice more."

The Pirates won't have as much time as usual to practice, though, as nationally-ranked Louisville rolls into town Thursday riding a six-game winning streak. The nationally televised event (7:30 p.m., ESPN) will determine at least a share of the C-USA championship.

Saturday's victory over Cincinnati not only pulled the Pirates even atop the C-USA standings with Louisville, it also moved Garrard and Henry up in the ECU record book.

With his four-yard touchdown pass to Henry on the game's opening drive, Garrard surpassed Marcus Crandell as the school's career leader in touchdown passes with 59. By hooking up on 12 passes in the game, Garrard also moved into into the number one spot for career completions with 627.

Those achievements came as no surprise to Logan, who has often favorably compared the quarterbacking talents of the Durham senior to the likes of Crandell, Danny Gonzalez and another Pirate great, Jeff Blake.

"He's a guy that is probably going to play on Sunday, and should," Logan said. "Those are the kinds of people that set those kinds of records.

"He's got two more weeks with us, and I just cherish every moment that I have with him right now. I work with quarterbacks for a living, and he's extraordinary in every way."

Though it's his arm that often receives accolades, Garrard has developed into a complete package at the quarterback position. Garrard has displayed great poise in the pocket this year, and has shown an increasing knack for reading defenses and checking the Pirates into the correct play.

According to Morris, it's that diverse skill set that puts Garrard head and shoulders above the rest.

"David is a great quarterback — he does it all," Morris said. "This year, he's not making very many mental mistakes. He is making the right reads, throwing the ball where it needs to be. He's doing his job right now."

Not to be overshadowed was Henry, whose 18-carry, 234-yard performance was enough for him to leap-frog Carlester Crumpler as ECU's second leading rusher all-time, behind only Junior Smith.

The Clinton native did much of his damage on what Logan refers to as "explosion plays," including runs of 43 and 72 yards in the first half.

Henry's mad dashes have come to be expected by the Pirates, and Garrard figures on seeing much of the same as ECU closes out its run at the C-USA title at home against league heavyweights Louisville and Southern Miss.

"He's (Henry) been running the ball really well all year long," Garrard said. "I expect that from him in the rest of the games.

"I know he's going to show up Thursday, ready to go, ready to have big runs. I'm just going to keep watching from the best seat in the house — right behind him."

Perhaps the Pirates' most unheralded unit is the defensive line, which continues to improve with each outing.

One of the emerging stars in that group is Ronald Pou, a six-foot-one, 270-pound nose tackle from Williamston. Pou, who came to East Carolina via Georgia Military College, struggled in the early part of the season, but is starting to make his imprint on C-USA opponents.

"Ronnie (Pou) is slowly adjusting to the game," Logan said. "He came out of junior college and was a little slow to adjust. He's adjusting to the game of Division-I right now, and it looks like he's going to be a helper for us."

Pou had his best game as a Pirate Saturday against Cincinnati, recording three tackles for losses to go along with one sack. Pou's presence in the middle has made quite an impression on his defensive teammates, including senior linebacker Pernell Griffin, also from Williamston.

"Ronald's starting to come around, and starting to become a great player," Griffin said. "He's starting to get the feel of playing on the D-I level.

"I think he had to get used to the competition. Coming from a military college, the competition is just not as good there as it is on the D-I level, but he's used to the speed, now."

That certainly doesn't bode well for C-USA opponents, which will have another year to deal with the Pirates' new-found menace.

One area the Pirates might want to shore up between now and Thursday is their coverage of onsides kicks. In the past two weeks, the little-used "hands" team has had the opportunity to secure Pirate victories, but has faltered both times, forcing the defense to have to hold on for dear life.

In both cases, the Pirates have been in position to field the ball cleanly, but in both cases, the ball has bounced off a waiting Pirate into the hands of the opposing team.

"We don't have any problems, other than we don't know how to recover an onsides kick," Logan said. "We get our hands on the ball, but we don't handle it."

If Thursday's game with Louisville follows a similar path, the Pirates' ability to make the play could determine which team heads to Memphis, and which team heads elsewhere.