Bulls' defense pillages East Carolina

[ChiTownBull]

http://www.news-record.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061224/NEWSREC0105/612240323

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- Beaten and dejected, James Pinkney shuffled slowly off the football field with a white towel draped over his hanging head.

At that moment, with a minute still on the clock, the East Carolina quarterback looked like his team felt. South Florida knocked Pinkney and the Pirates around early and kept them out of the end zone late in a 24-7 victory Saturday in the inaugural PapaJohns.com Bowl, the first bowl victory in the Bulls' 10-year history.

East Carolina (7-6), playing in its first bowl since 2001, was held to six rushing yards in the first half and 54 in the game, forcing Pinkney to try to pass against a defensive line that manhandled the Pirates' offense at Legion Field.

"They ran around the ball and chased the ball down very fast," Pirates guard Eric Graham said of the Bulls (9-4), who ranked 24th in the nation in total defense this season. "They're one of the better defenses we had to face this year."

Pinkney, who turned in the second-most prolific season in school history with 2,783 passing yards, took several hits early in the game and was erratic for most of the first half. Pinkney's first seven passes, all poorly thrown, fell incomplete.

He finished 8-for-25 for 125 yards, a good chunk of which came on a perfectly thrown bomb to Pirates game MVP Bobby Good for a 48-yard touchdown in the first quarter. Pinkney left the game for good early in the fourth quarter after getting hit yet again. He walked to the locker room with 11:29 remaining but returned for the final minutes before leaving the field a final time with a trainer. Pinkney was being checked for a concussion after the game and could not speak to the media, a school spokesman said.

The injury was one of many disappointments for the Pirates, who went 3-20 in the two seasons before second-year coach Skip Holtz took over and resurrected the once-proud program.

But there were few sources of pride for East Carolina early Saturday before a vocal crowd of 32,023 that seemed small in a 70,000-seat stadium. After Pinkney fumbled on the Pirates' second play from scrimmage, the Bulls scored on their first play from scrimmage when running back Ben Williams zipped through a gaping hole on the left side for a 16-yard touchdown a little more than a minute into the game.

With 8:43 left in the first quarter, Williams, South Florida's game MVP, scored again on a 1-yard plunge to make it 14-0. The Pirates answered with Pinkney's touchdown pass three minutes later, but the Bulls tacked on 10 more points in the second quarter to make the lead comfortable.

"It was a huge start," said South Florida quarterback Matt Grothe, who left the game early in the second half with an ankle injury and never returned. "I knew our defense was going to come out and play. It was just a matter of whether the offense was going to as well."

Holtz searched for explanations to his young team's foibles after the game.

"Rust, inexperience, layoff, speed of the game, getting acclimated to the speed of their defense -- I don't know what it was," Holtz said. "But they definitely were faster, stronger and more athletic than us early."

The Pirates came up empty in three red zone opportunities, and the Bulls converted all three of their chances.

"It's just frustrating that we'd get down there and we couldn't put points up," said Good, a senior who finished with five catches for 116 yards and a touchdown.

Holtz said: "If we put the ball in the end zone three times, there's 21 points. You win."

The image of a hobbled Pinkney might epitomize how the season ended, but for Graham, it doesn't symbolize the Pirates' turnaround.

"It's hard to go out not winning this game, but we did accomplish a lot of things this year," Graham said, adding that he nearly teared up while leaving the field. "The guys next year, they know what they have to do to keep this thing going."

South Florida 14 10 0 0 -- 24

East Carolina 7 0 0 0 -- 7

South Florida--B. Williams 16 run (Alvarado kick)

South Florida--B. Williams 1 run (Alvarado kick)

East Carolina--Good 48 pass from J. Pinkney (Hartman kick)

South Florida--Jackson 37 pass from Grothe (Alvarado kick)

South Florida--FG Alvarado 38

A--32,023

South Florida East Carolina

First downs 12 22

Rushes-yards 43-156 32-54

Passing 130 263

Comp-Att-Int 12-18-0 18-44-0

Return Yards 47 43

Punts-Avg. 6-36.8 6-42.0

Fumbles-Lost 1-1 3-2

Penalties-Yards 6-60 3-25

Time of Possession 30:48 29:12

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING--South Florida, B.Williams 17-67, P.Julmiste 12-53, Grothe 7-15, Ponton 4-12, Jackson 2-11, Johnson 1-(minus 2). East Carolina, Lindsay 12-85, Good 1-11, Allison 1-(minus 5), J.Pinkney 9-(minus 9), Kass 3-(minus 13), Fractious 6-(minus 15).

PASSING--South Florida, Grothe 6-10-0-81, P.Julmiste 6-8-0-49. East Carolina, J.Pinkney 8-25-0-125, Kass 10-19-0-138.

RECEIVING--South Florida, Randolph 2-27, Ce. Hill 2-22, Johnson 2-5, Jackson 1-37, Green 1-15, Bleakley 1-13, A.Hill 1-6, B.Williams 1-3, Ponton 1-2. East Carolina, Good 5-116, Roach 3-45, J. Bryant 3-26, Allison 3-24, Fractious 1-26, Rogers 1-17, C. Johnson 1-8, Shankweiler 1-1.

SUNDAY MORNING QUARTERBACK

Why the Pirates lost: East Carolina dug itself an early hole and never recovered. A fumble by quarterback James Pinkney was converted into South Florida's first TD early in the game, and the Bulls followed with a nine-play, 56-yard drive on their next possession to take a 14-0 first-quarter lead.

The play: Sixty-seven seconds into the game, Ben Williams' 16-yard touchdown run gave South Florida early momentum.

Beyond the stats: The normally reliable Pinkney appeared dazed at times in the first half. A victim of several vicious hits from South Florida's linebackers, Pinkney was inaccurate most of the day.

Worth repeating: "It hurt to lose this game. I was walking off the field and I was really trying not to tear up because I didn't want none of the young guys to see me do that." -- ECU senior offensive lineman Eric Graham