Inside
Game Day Saturday,
November 17, 2012
By Al Myatt |
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Carden's maturation continues
Al Myatt
©2012 Bonesville.net
All rights reserved.
NEW ORLEANS — It wasn't so
easy in the Big Easy on Saturday.
Shane Carden didn't have one of his better
games, but he still managed to direct East Carolina to a 28-23 win at
Tulane, assuring the Pirates of a winning record for the 2012 season and
keeping ECU's hopes alive to capture Conference USA's East Division.
Carden threw two interceptions but he made
key plays after each pick to help the Pirates subdue an inspired Tulane team
on their Senior Day at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome, site of the Green Wave's
two triumphs this season.
Carden, a sophomore making his ninth start, had
thrown for one score and run for another when he was intercepted late in
the first half by Shakiel Smith at the Tulane 33. Carden turned defender
and managed to get Smith out of bounds at the ECU 28-yard line with the
Pirates leading 14-7.
How many quarterbacks stop interception
returns these days?
The defense held the Wave to a field goal
on the sudden change of circumstances.
"You never want an interception to happen,"
Carden said. "The last thing you want is for them to return it for a
touchdown. If I throw a pick, I'm usually looking straight at the guy who
got it. I'm looking to either hit him pretty hard or at least get him out of
bounds. ... You can't let him score."
Carden's second interception came with ECU
looking to extend a 21-16 lead in the third quarter. The Pirates had moved
into Tulane territory on a 21-yard run by Vintavious Cooper when Jordan
Batiste picked off a pass at the Green Wave 9.
Maurice Falls had a sack on third down as
the Pirate defense went three and out. Undaunted by the misfortune of the
previous possession, Carden drove the Pirates 79 yards for a touchdown that
proved to be the difference in the outcome. He hit Andrew Bodenheimer, who
ran a slant route from the right, for the score.
"He ran a great route, which made the throw
easy for me," Carden said. "We make those throws every day."
That was the lone grab of the day for
Bodenheimer, but it pushed his string of games with a reception to 31. The
Pirates improved to 6-3 when Carden starts.
“He had a big time throw to Bodie," said
third-year ECU coach Ruffin McNeill. " ... He’s a young quarterback, still
developing, and I’m proud of Shane. He led us. He never got down. He wants
to do well for the team, and East Carolina, and he’s our quarterback. He’ll
bounce back and have a great game next week.”
Carden completed 19 of 33 passes for 215
yards with two touchdowns. Nine different receivers caught passes. Carden
also kept seven times to net 36 yards rushing, an average of 5.1 yards per
carry.
Tulane came in at 2-8 but gave a solid
effort on its Senior Day. There was a special message on the scoreboard
before kickoff from Devon Walker, who remains hospitalized from an early
season spinal injury.
"Roll Wave," the message concluded. The
Wave did its best to comply with Walker's wishes.
Tulane led 7-0 early and trailed just 14-13
at the half.
Bodenheimer fielded an onside kick to
secure the victory with 1:22 remaining after Tulane had pulled within 28-23
on a touchdown catch that came after a video review changed the call on the
field.
"We wanted to send the seniors out with a
bang and they played like it, but we didn’t make the plays we wanted to,"
said Green Wave coach Curtis Johnson, a member of the New Orleans Saints
coaching staff when they won the Super Bowl at the end of the 2009 NFL
season. "I’m happy to see we won the turnover battle. Their guys were big
and physical and they completely stopped our run.”
ECU (7-4, 6-1 C-USA) was coming off an open
date and there was not a lot of energy from an announced crowd of 14,041
that appeared to be much smaller.
Carden said he was impressed with Tulane.
"That's a good defense," he said. "I
honestly didn't know they were 2-8. That defense played great today. They
were moving around a lot. There were a lot of different coverages that I
saw. There were a lot of different blitzes. It was their Senior Day so we
knew it wasn't going to be any type of easy game at all. We knew it was
going to be a fist fight. This is a hard place to play. It's a big arena
with not many people. But we knew we had to come down here and take care of
business. That's what we did."
There is room for improvement as ECU
prepares for its own Senior Day on Friday against Marshall. If the Pirates
beat the Thundering Herd and UAB knocks off host Central Florida on
Saturday, ECU will win C-USA's East Division.
"We know we can play better on offense for
sure," Carden said. "I can play better but we got the 'W' and that's what
means the most."
On the team level, the Pirates got the job
done. On the individual level, Carden continues to get more comfortable and
more confident.
"The season's been pretty crazy," he said.
"Coming in at halftime of the second game and the third game, starting, I
think I've definitely developed over the season — getting reps, getting
playing time. ... I'm not sure if this is earlier in the season and I play
like I did in that first half and throw that pick, I'm not sure if I have
that confidence to come back.
"But just going through the season, I get
to the sideline, my teammates are there. They're like, 'We've got confidence
in you. Relax. We know you can play.' I knew I could play better, so the
second half I came out today and played better."
Carden understands the process of
developing belief from his teammates.
"It's that confidence that I think you
build over a season," he said. "Your first start, you're like, all right, I
want these guys to think I'm good because you always believe in yourself but
you want the rest of the team to believe in you. I think over the season
this team has started to believe in me and it's given me an easier time to
come back from minor slip-ups like that."
The emergence of Cooper and the resurgence
of Reggie Bullock, ECU's primary running backs against Tulane, has helped
take some pressure off of the passing game. The Pirates rushed for 172 yards
Saturday.
"Those running backs are playing great,"
Carden said. "When the running game gets going, it helps the passing game.
... It's all about feeding off of each other and making each other better."
E-mail Al Myatt.
PAGE UPDATED
11/18/12 11:31 AM.
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