ECU's running game displays flashes of potential

It was a tale of two-halves for the ECU stable of running backs last Saturday afternoon against Appalachian State.

The unit that had been the talk of town all preseason when it came to the Pirate offense, couldn't have scripted a better beginning.

In the opening half alone, ECU ran the ball 24 times for 159 yards and found the end zone twice.

Sophomore Kentucky transfer Brandon Jackson got off to a stellar start in his first game as a Pirate when he put ECU on the board early in the first half with a 39-yard touchdown run on his first career carry.

"Terence (Campbell) made a great block," Jackson said, who finished the day with 46 yards on five carries. "It was really nothing else to it, I just ran after that. The line just did a great job of blocking."

Senior Dominique Lindsay got the starting nod for the Pirates and didn't disappoint.

Almost two minutes into the second quarter, Lindsay rushed up the middle for a 21-yard strike on the first play following a Travis Simmons punt return that put ECU deep in ASU territory.

The touchdown was the first for Lindsay since the Pirates' 41-38 triumph over Boise State in the 2007 Sheraton Hawaii Bowl in which he rushed for two scores.

Afterwards, Lindsay reflected on how it felt to step back on the gridiron.

"It was a great feeling," Lindsay said, who was the Pirates' leading rusher with a career-high 105 yards on 15 carries. "I missed it so much. When I came out and saw Dowdy-Ficklen and the Pirate Nation ... there's nothing like it."

Due to Jackson and Lindsay sustaining minor injuries to their hand and shoulders respectively, junior Jonathan Williams and junior college transfer Giavanni Ruffin both saw playing time in the second quarter.

Williams, who is attempting to work himself back up the depth chart after being suspended following the seventh game last season, showed promise on his four carries in which he earned 15 yards.

Ruffin displayed a rare skill set of size and speed as he rushed for 16 yards on seven carries.

"The first half we just went out there and took it to them. We ran a lot of iso's, ran a lot of powers," Jackson said. "The (offensive) line did a great job of blocking and gave us running backs a great chance to break out in the open field and get some good runs in."

But just as it seemed that the Pirate offense would have it's way with the Mountaineers, things began to quickly fall apart.

While ECU had it's way with ASU in the first half, after the halftime break the Pirates mysteriously backed away from the power running game that had earned them a 27-7 lead at intermission.

In the second half, the Pirate offense only ran the ball 11 times for a meager 30 yards.

"It was definitely a wake-up call," Lindsay said. "We went into the locker room and I guess some guys got the attitude that we had it wrapped up. We have to learn to play 60 minutes of football. Every game is going to be 60 minutes, nothing less."

It seemed to be a reversal of roles as the ECU defense only had allowed ASU to run for 14 yards on 19 carries in the first half.

Starting in the second half, it seemed that if the Pirates were going to put points on the board, it was going to have to come through the air.

Sixth-year quarterback Patrick Pinkney had one of the worst passing games of his career, which enabled the Mountaineers to load the box and all but stamp out any existence of an ECU running attack in the second half.

If the Pirates are going to be successful on offense, Jackson knows that getting back to the practice field and working out the kinks of the second half is a priority as well as learning to play with a lead.

"Obviously we have to go back to the drawing board and make sure that we don't let them pull us that close again in the second half," Jackson said.

Last Saturday might have only provided a glimpse of what ECU might be able to accomplish on the ground, but if the first half is any indication, Pirate fans might be in for a treat as the season rolls along.