Penalties, turnovers foil ECU's chance of upsetting No. 20 Virginia Tech

Third time was not the charm for ECU (5-4, 3-1 Conference USA) as the Pirates dropped their third and final non-conference bout 16-3 to Virginia Tech on Thursday night.

The much anticipated, nationally televised matchup proved that football games must be won on the field and not in the crowd.

ECU donned new skull and cross bone helmets and fitted the 50-yard line of Bagwell field with the same logo as on the helmets, with the skull outlined by the state of North Carolina's silhouette.

The Pirates' defense gave a valiant effort as they held the explosive Hokies tandem of quarterback Tyrod Taylor and tailback Ryan Williams to one touchdown.

Unfortunately for the Pirates, the offense never found the end zone.

"It's really frustrating to lose because I thought we played well," ECU head coach Skip Holtz said. "I thought the defense accepted the challenge and did some really good things."

Taylor completed 17 of his 30 passes with no interceptions for 137 passing yard and scored Virginia Tech's only touchdown on a 13-yard scamper with two minutes left in the first half.

The junior signal caller tallied 61 yards on the ground and nearly had two rushing touchdowns but the first was fumbled away for a touchback as he crossed the goal line.

Williams led the Hokies in rushing and chewed up 179 yards on the ground, including a 46-yard rush.

"Ryan was relentless tonight," Virginia Tech head coach Frank Beamer said. "On some of those runs, it looked like he was going to go down, but he did some special things out there tonight.

Virginia Tech place kicker Matt Waldron boomed three field goals on the night including two in the first quarter from 41 and 22 yards, while he also wrapped up the game with a 31-yarder through the uprights.

For the Pirates' hapless offense, only one drive ended in a score as Ben Hartman booted a 24-yard field goal shortly before halftime.

Sixth year senior quarterback Patrick Pinkney connected on 16 of his 33 passing attempts with one interception.

Pinkney aired it out for 167 yards on the night, but flags, injuries and two red zone turnovers by Giavanni Ruffin and Rob Kass foiled ECU's scoring attempts.

The Pirates were penalized eight times for 79 yards but no flag was more costly than one that negated a Dominique Lindsay touchdown scamper in the second quarter.

"Our defense played well," Pinkney said. "As an offense, we let our defense down with a lot of penalties, mistakes and the two fumbles."

Defensively, the Hokies brought a lot of pressure on the ECU offensive line and forced four turnovers and eight punts.

The Pirates attempted to run a series with Dwayne Harris running the wildcat, but that worked to no avail.

ECU safety Van Eskridge made 11 tackles while linebacker Jeremy Chambliss recorded 10 tackles and a sack.

During the matchup, the Pirates' Dekota Marshall and Rob Kass left the field injured. Both players appear to be lost for the season.

Despite the inability to find the end zone against the Hokies (6-3, 3-2 Atlantic Coast Conference), ECU is still in good position to defend its C-USA title.

The Pirates first loss at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium this season proved to be obviously disappointing, but the ECU squad realizes the importance of focusing on the next game.

"We let one get away from us, but that doesn't take away from our focus as far as conference goes," ECU safety Van Eskridge said. "We have to turn our attention to winning the conference championship."

ECU will travel to Tulsa, Okla., this Sunday for a key C-USA battle with the Golden Hurricane.

Kickoff is set for 8:15 p.m. with the game being broadcast nationally on ESPN.

This writer can be contacted at sports@theeastcarolinian.com.