Southern Miss blows by stagnant Pirates

ECU fails to score a touchdown

By: Hart Holloman

Posted: 11/18/08

The Pirates lost to Southern Miss this past weekend, 21-3, in Hattiesburg, Miss., falling to 4-2 in Conference USA and 6-4 overall. The Pirates had won their last three contests, and they still sit atop the C-USA East division standings--one game ahead of Marshall and Memphis.

Southern Miss quarterback Austin Davis threw for two touchdowns, but the real story of the game was ECU's inability to convert chances.

ECU place kicker Ben Hartman missed three field goals and quarterback Patrick Pinkney threw two interceptions in Southern Miss territory, while the Golden Eagles out-gained the Pirates 384 to 255 in total yards from scrimmage. A big chunk of that came on a Southern Miss record 97-yard touchdown pass from Davis to true freshman wideout DeAndre Brown for its final score. That put the game out of reach for the Pirates, and Southern Miss went on to celebrate their 11th win over the Pirates in 13 contests between the two teams.

"I was disappointed in a lot of aspects of the game, especially from a productivity standpoint," said ECU coach Skip Holtz at his Monday press conference. "I was a little disappointed on both sides of the ball, but definitely more on the offensive side than the defensive side."

The game began with both teams unable to sustain drives long enough to be in a position to score. They played for field position until the Pirates found the first scoring opportunity for either team late in the first quarter, but Hartman's field goal attempt from 35 yards sailed wide right, and the chance to get on the scoreboard was squandered.

After forcing a Southern Miss punt, ECU had excellent field position for its first drive of the second quarter. But after starting from the Golden Eagle 36-yard line, the Pirates stalled in the red zone and were forced to settle for a Hartman field goal.

This would be a recurring theme for the Pirates throughout the afternoon, with the exception of Hartman making one of the field goal attempts.

Southern Miss got on the board late in the second quarter when, on fourth-and-two deep in Pirate territory, Davis ran a play-action and found the lone receiver behind the ECU secondary for an easy touchdown reception. ECU's defensive backs bit hard on Davis' play-fake and let tight end Leroy Banks slip past them for the score.

ECU tried to strike back on its next drive, but Hartman again failed to connect on a field goal, this time from 41 yards out. Thus, the Pirates went into the locker room at halftime trailing 7-3 instead of being up 9-7.

The second half would prove to be even more fruitless than the first for the anemic Pirate offense. While the defense did its best to keep the Golden Eagles at bay, the offense offered no help, as its inability to keep the ball for any amount of time wore down the ECU defense.

Southern Miss possessed the ball for almost twice as long as the Pirates in the second half and their 14-0 advantage during that time was well deserved.

Still, the Pirates had a chance late in the game. Down 14-3 with five minutes to go, ECU was threatening with the ball on the Southern Miss 21-yard line. But Pinkney's pass was intercepted by Golden Eagle defensive back Justin Wilson on the three-yard line.

The next play would be Davis' record setting touchdown pass that put the game out of reach for the Pirates.

"From an offensive standpoint, the discouraging thing is the point productivity," Holtz said. "I thought we moved the ball a little bit in the first half. A couple areas we struggled in were going 1-for-3 in third-and-one situations and our redzone productivity, which was probably the difference in the football game."

The Pirates will try to bounce back and wrap up the East Division when they travel to Birmingham, Ala. to play UAB this weekend. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. and will be televised by WITN.

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