Reflector: ECU ready for first bowl game since '01

[Brad]

Pirates ready for first bowl game since 2001

By Nathan Summers

Thursday, December 21, 2006

All of the grunting, grinding, fretting and sweating the East Carolina football program has done the last five seasons has earned the Pirates a chance to butt heads with the big boys of college football again.

While it might be tough to explain to grandchildren someday the importance of playing in the PapaJohns.com Bowl, Saturday's game solidifies a remarkable return to winning by second-year coach Skip Holtz.

After ringing up a 7-5 record to earn its first bowl bid since 2001, East Carolina was rewarded with a date against 8-4 South Florida, a team that humbled the Pirates in very different ways the last two times the teams played.

But under Holtz, who is 12-11 with the Pirates, ECU has already managed to shake the specter of two dreadful losing seasons in 2003 and 2004 that included a double-overtime loss to USF at home and a 41-17 drubbing in Tampa that officially marked the end of former coach John Thompson's tenure.

"A couple of years ago, we were all sitting around here looking for answers," said Pat Dosh, a senior who transferred to ECU from Florida as a quarterback but never took a snap under Thompson and now plays fullback for the Pirates. "I came here, and I loved coach Thompson, but at the same time I knew a lot of things weren't right around here. But it's amazing all of the improvements you see now, and you see them on the field, in the recruiting, the quality of the kids, the GPA of the kids."

The attitude adjustment has led to plenty of athletic adjustments for the Pirates, who hope to ride the coattails of a memorable season-ending win over N.C. State into Saturday's noon Central Time kickoff.

The Bulls also put their signature on a winning season on the final day of the regular schedule, shocking Big East titan West Virginia (a 27-10 victor over ECU Sept. 23) to create their own momentum wave.

"They're athletic, they're fast, they're tough," said Dosh of the Bulls, who own a perfect 3-0 record against the Pirates dating back to 2002. "They basically just line up and say, 'We're gonna bring it, try to stop us.' But this is December now, we've been doing this now for six months, going hard since June."

According to Holtz, trying to put a lasso on the lead Bull Saturday will be difficult. Freshman quarterback Matt Grothe has been a godsend for the Bulls and 10th-year coach Jim Leavitt.

After being overlooked by some of Florida's more traditional football powers, the Lakeland, Fla., product will take the field today as the Bulls' top passer (1,495 yards, 14 TD) and top rusher (607 yds., 9 TD).

"It makes it much harder to defend, especially because you can't just load the box and say you're going to stop the running game because that same guy is the guy that's throwing it, and you can't spread it out and stop him throwing it because his runs aren't all called runs," Holtz said of the 6-foot, 200-pound Grothe.

Holtz said some of Grothe's best ground work has been on scrambles when the passing options and the pocket break down.

The key to Grothe's game, according to Holtz, is his ability to "ad-lib to make plays," but also to key the USF run attack with bootlegs and waggles.

According to middle linebacker Fred Wilson, who has rolled up 56 tackles for the Pirates, preparation will be everything Saturday.

"We've already seen quarterbacks like that, like (West Virginia's) Pat White and Rice's quarterback (Joel Armstrong) — a lot of quarterbacks with the same ability he has," said Wilson. "But he accomplishes more with what he does. We just have stick together as a defense to take him on."

ECU, a four-point underdog early this week, will need to ride its own quarterback in order to keep up with the Bulls.

Senior James Pinkney has already cemented his name into numerous categories in the ECU record book, but a bowl win would be understandably different for him and 21 other seniors playing their final games for ECU.

Despite knowing they'll face a solid secondary led by junior corner Trae Williams (7 interceptions), ECU's receivers said they gained great experience and upped their confidence against N.C. State.

"N.C. State had all-ACC defensive backs," said junior wide receiver Steven Rogers of the Pirates' pass-catchers, who grabbed 220 yards worth of James Pinkney passes against the Wolfpack. "It doesn't get much better than that, and USF has a couple guys who are Big East all-conference. I think if we execute like we did at N.C. State, we'll be doing good."

Behind Pinkney's 2,658 pass yards to favorite targets Aundrae Allison (684 yds., 4 TD) and Phillip Henry (484 yds., 2 TD), senior Brandon Fractious has emerged as the Pirates' mainstay at running back.

With 675 yards on 149 carries, Fractious has picked up steam steadily, but Saturday he'll try to find a path through the middle that requires getting past USF middle linebacker Ben Moffitt, who administered more than 100 tackles to ball-carriers this season.

"He understands when to go under a block or around a block, when to cut underneath to where he can still make a play," Holtz said of Moffitt. "He's got great instincts. When you've got an anchor in the middle, you've got a chance. That's where you start building from."

Nathan Summers can be reached at (252)329-9595, or at nsummers@coxnc.com.

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