PirateIllustrated.com - How they stack up: ECU

October 23, 2009

Kevin Jones & Mark Davis
PirateIllustrated.com Staff

Mark Davis and Kevin Jones bring you this week's edition of HOW THEY STACK UP as the Pirates travel to Memphis for Conference USA action Tuesday night in the Liberty Bowl.

Offense

Quarterback

ECU: Last week against Rice, Patrick Pinkney had a pretty efficient day. Pinkney threw for 231 yards, completed 69.2% of his passes, and had three touchdowns. However Pinkney still threw two interceptions, with one of them being in the redzone. Against a more formidable opponent those two interceptions might cost the Pirates the game.

On the season Pinkney has thrown for 1,299 yards, seven touchdowns, and eight interceptions. Pinkney's numbers have been pretty modest, but a lot of that can be attributed to the Pirates not having a consistent vertical passing game. Pinkney will continue to take what the defense gives him and try to move the chains. All in all, if Pinkney continues to manage the game and not make costly mistakes, the Pirates will be in good shape against opposing teams.

Memphis: The quarterback position has been sort of a merry-go-round for Memphis. The Tigers have played three quarterbacks during their frustrating 2-5 season. Arkelon Hall started the season for Memphis, but that experiment ended quickly.

Later Tyler Bass went down with a shoulder injury that will require season ending surgery. Coach Tommy West has now handed the reins to Will Hudgens. In two games Hudgens is 46-for-76, 471 yards, and four touchdowns with three interceptions. Last week in a 36-16 loss, Hudgens finished 27-for-43, 255 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions.

Advantage: ECU. Memphis is trying to get things going with their third quarterback. ECU is confident in Pinkney's ability to manage the offense.

Running back

ECU: Once again Dominique Lindsay is questionable for a game. Against Rice, Lindsay went down with an ankle injury. According to Skip Holtz, "His ankle has some pretty good swelling. We're just going to have to see how he recovers. At this point, he's questionable." This is a very unfortunate injury for the Pirates.

It will be difficult to replace Lindsay's 5.6 yards per carry. In Dominique Lindsay's absence ECU will turn to Brandon Jackson and Giavanni Ruffin. Although Jackson was able to find the end zone against Rice, he only had 35 yards on 16 carries. Ruffin came in for Jackson and ended up with 6 carries for 21 yards and a touchdown.

One thing Pirate fans can expect to see will be a lot of carries from wide receiver Dwayne Harris. Last time Lindsay was sidelined with an injury Harris started to emerge as a threat running the ball.

Memphis: Senior running back Curtis Steele has done everything that's been asked of him for Memphis. Despite missing two games this season, Steele has 95 carries, 517 yards, and five touchdowns. Steele is averaging a very respectable 5.4 yards a carry.

Steele is also very capable of carrying the load for his team. Against UTEP two weeks ago, Steele finished with 39 carries, 240 yards, and two touchdowns. Steele was also able to come down with two catches for 10 yards, and a touchdown. Steele has had a very successful career at Memphis. Last Season Steele ran the ball 218 times, had 1224 yards rushing, and seven touchdowns.

Advantage: Memphis. If Lindsay is not able to go, that is a big loss for ECU. When Lindsay is having success the Pirate offense is playing its best football. Curtis Steele is also a quality running back.

Wide Receiver

ECU: Dwayne Harris has been nothing but spectacular for ECU this season. He continues to be a threat anytime the ball is in his hands. Harris did a great job last week against Rice on the short bubble routes and the inside screens.

Last week against Rice, Harris finished with nine receptions, 128 yards and two touchdowns. The same cannot be said about other receivers on the team.

More production is needed from Jamar Bryant. Bryant who is supposed to be ECU's downfield threat hasn't done too much this season; only bringing in 20 catches for 187 yards and two scores.

Last week against Rice, Bryant had two catches for 29 yards. Alex Taylor, Joe Womack, and Reyn Willis should expect to see some passes thrown their way with a lot of attention being focused on Dwayne Harris.

Memphis: Duke Calhoun and Carlos Singleton are still at Memphis and still producing on the football field. These two talented senior receivers have played great despite the 2-5 record this season. On the season Calhoun has 40 receptions, 666 yards, and five touchdowns.

Calhoun has also been able to come up with a touchdown in the last five games. At 6'8 Carlos Singleton gives opposing defenses many problems. For 2009, Singleton has 20 catches, 326 yards, and two scores. The last two seasons Carlos Singleton has had at least 50 receptions.

Calhoun and Singleton are also averaging at least 16 yards per catch. Memphis will definitely take some chances deep with the ECU secondary being known to give up the deep ball as of late.

Advantage: Memphis. The duo of Calhoun and Singleton is third in the nation in career touchdowns as a tandem.

Offensive Line

ECU: The offensive line continues to improve for ECU on a weekly basis. Last week against Rice the Pirate offensive line put together a complete game.

Skip Holtz pointed out at his weekly presser that, "Sean Allen and Terence Campbell provided some great senior leadership up front, especially on the first few drives." Campbell specifically, "had pancakes on four of the first five running plays of the game." Overall the Pirate offensive line played the way an experienced unit should play. They were able to open holes for the tailbacks and give Pinkney adequate enough time to make the right throw.

Memphis: The Memphis offensive line has played well this season and stayed injury free. The Tigers have also been able to play as a unit as the same players upfront have started every game this year.

To start the game against Southern Miss last week, the offensive line helped lead three straight drives with at least 10 plays. Memphis has also been able to keep pressure off of their quarterbacks.

Through seven games, the offensive line for Memphis has only given up seven sacks, which ranks 16th in the nation. Skip Holtz noted that, "Three of the past four years, their line has been ranked in the top 10 in the country in fewest sacks allowed."

Advantage: Push. Both offensive lines are playing at a high level and playing their best football. Both teams are also fortunate to have experienced lines.

Defense

Defensive Line

ECU: East Carolina finally found the performance they had been searching for all year long. ""It's nice to win. Not only to win, but to be able to finish a game like we did," said Coach Skip Holtz. C.J. Wilson played great last Saturday against Rice. His 5.5 tackles, 3 quarterback hurries and 1 sack disrupted the Rice offensive flow all afternoon.

Linvall Joseph added 3 tackles and 1 sack and leads all Pirates with 3 sacks on the season. The number of sacks have been down this year, but the defensive line has played 3 straight solid games in a row.
Rice only amassed 78 yards on the ground, and much of the starters were out in the 4th quarter.

Freshman Michael Brooks has been in rotation a ton recently and has potential to make a big impact in upcoming years. Jay Ross was held without a tackle against Rice. He will need to have a nice rebound game against Memphis to boost his confidence going into the Virginia Tech game.

Memphis Running back Curtis Steele is no slouch. ECU can't focus on Memphis' 1-3 conference record. Weekday night games on ESPN normally have crazy finishes that favor the underdog.

Memphis: The Tigers suffered a big blow in the off-season when defensive coordinator Tim Walton bolted to the Detroit Lions. An even bigger blow has been the lack of a solid player on the D-Line.

Opponents are averaging 186 rush yards per game vs. the Tigers. Starting at defensive end is 6'2 265 pounder Jada Brown. Expected to have a big year after a disappointing junior campaign, Brown has been even more disappointing this year.

Starting in all 7 games thus far, Brown has a mere 9 tackles and 1 sack. He needs to wake up against an ECU O-line which has gelled well in recent weeks. Senior Greg Terrell lines up next to Brown and has been better (16 tackles and 1 sack) but not much.

Senior Defensive Tackles Steven Turner and Charlie Bryant have just 7 tackles each. Frank Trotter rotates at Defensive Tackle and has started a few games too. The lone bright spot is Oregon transfer Justin Thompson who has was a 5-star recruit. With only 1 start he leads all defensive linemen with 18 tackles. Former linebacker Josh Weaver will see action at Defensive End and has 2 sacks as well as Mike McDonald. Both are undersized at 220 pounds.

Advantage: ECU. The Pirate running game should set fire to the Tigers front 4. Memphis had the trouble of replacing All C-USA tackle Clinton McDonald, and they didn't do it. Memphis will need to put 8 in the box at times to slow down the Pirates and also have trouble getting to quicker quarterbacks like Pinkney.

Linebacker

ECU: Skip Holtz called linebacker Dustin Lineback the "story of the day." Lineback, normally a special teamer, filled in for the injured Jeremy Chambliss midway through the game. He ended up tying for the team lead in tackles with 8 and had an interception with a 36 yard return. He should see much more playing time the rest of the way.

Middle Linebacker Nick Johnson added 7 tackles including 1 for a loss. Nick Johnson has yet to have a "bad" game, as he continues to light up opposing players and the defensive box scores.
Jeremy Chambliss should return against Memphis Tuesday night, but speedy sophomore Matt Thompson won't. Coach Holtz indicated he hurt his elbow, and surgery might be required. This is a tough blow for Thompson who was really beginning to emerge. Look for fellow sophomore Steve Spence to see some action.

The linebackers continue to make plays but again can not overlook Memphis. Curtis Steele is a very patient runner and can grind down defenses. Outside Linebacker Chris Mattocks sometimes disappears in games and needs to stay focused against Memphis.

Memphis: If there is a bright spot on the Tigers defense, it's outside linebacker Greg Jackson. The senior Jackson (6'2 212) flies to the ball, is great in coverage and already has 50 tackles (5.5 for a loss) which is tops for the Tigers.

Watch how aggressive Jackson plays this week as he suffered a neck stinger last week against Southern Miss. Middle Linebacker Winston Bowens is ridiculously large for a C-USA linebacker. At 6'0 250, Bowens is hard to push back on blocks but is slow in pass coverage. The junior has 34 tackles.

At the other outside position the Tigers rotate players for much of the game. Senior Jeremy Rockette is a great athlete who helps out on special teams as well. Jeremy Longstreet had 80 tackles last season but has been injured this season and only has 11 thus far. Junior Jamon Hughes has 4 tackles for a loss.

Advantage: ECU. Though the Tiger 'backers are putting up impressive individual numbers, as a unit they are still responsible for the 405 average yards per game they are allowing. Too often Greg Jackson is relied upon to make big plays. One of the other outside linebackers needs to play solidly against ECU's intermediate passing game Tuesday.

Secondary

ECU: Darryl Reynolds had impressive outing with 6 tackles and a couple nice plays in coverage. Travis Simmons had one of his best games of the season at Corner and will need to play this well for the remainder of the season. Van Eskridge regained the Pirate lead in tackles on the team with 52.

After a tough stretch against WVU and UNC, the star senior has shined since. We would not be surprised to see an interception from him this week in the disguised defenses designed for Memphis. Highly touted Red-Shirt Freshman Leonard Paulk got some playing time as well.

If there is one knock on last Saturday's blowout victory, it was the Secondary and their weekly lapse. Midway through the second quarter Rice was able to connect on an 80 yard touchdown strike, burning Emmanuel Davis. That put the score at 21-10 and had fans wincing about the big play yet again. Luckily for Davis, Dwayne Harris responded immediately with a kickoff return for a touchdown.

For East Carolina to stand a chance against Virginia Tech, or heck even Memphis, these types of big plays must STOP. In every game accept Marshall, the secondary has been torched deep at least once. Memphis has some of the tallest receivers on planet earth who have the ability to find holes in zone coverage. Coach Holtz indicated some new tweaks will be added to the secondary to accommodate for the Tiger Receiver's height.

Memphis: Senior cornerback Deante' Lamar is the teams 2nd leading tackler with 44 and also has an interception. 5'9 180 Lamar will have his hands full with red-hot Dwayne Harris. At the other corner is junior D.A. Griffin. Griffin is great in short bump and run coverage but has known to be beat. He earned All-CUSA honorable mention last year, but this season he has no interceptions.

Hard hitting and athletic is Junior safety Darius Davis. 6'0 190, Davis has surprised opposing coaches with his superb tackling skills and has netted 38 on the year.

Senior Alton Starr missed a few games early on while recovering from surgery but might be the most solid Tiger defensive back. He has 29 tackles and can pressure the quarterback well on blitzing situations. Marcus Ball has 2 interceptions and will see time on 3rd downs.

Advantage: Push. Memphis only has 6 interceptions on the season compared to ECU's 10. The Tiger secondary is only allowing 219 yards per game while the Pirates are surrendering (no pun intended) 240 ypg. Mentally the Pirates need to avoid giving up a big pass play before their matchup with the playmakers of Virginia Tech's offense. They very well could have a tough time against the Memphis wide outs.

Special Teams

ECU: Special teams were solid last week against Rice. Dwayne Harris was able to get to the end zone for the second straight week off of a kickoff. Travis Simmons had some nice returns giving the Pirates good field position.

The kicking duties are still a question mark for ECU. Ben Ryan filled in nicely for Ben Hartman (stomach flu), but it is unclear who will get the start against Memphis. Matt Dodge continues to flip the field on other teams. Dodge is averaging 44.1 yards per punt which currently ranks 13th in the nation. The coverage units have done a good job staying in their lanes and making tackles.

Memphis: Last week against Southern Miss, Memphis gave up over 200 yards in the return game. This does not bode well for them as they go up against one of the better return teams in the conference. Special teams have been a problem all year long for Memphis, and is one of the main reasons they are 2-5.

Memphis also has a great punter in Matt Reagan who is ranked 9th in the nation with 44.7 yards per punt. Reagan also handles the place kicking, but hasn't been as efficient. On the season Reagan is 8-for-13. From 30-49 yards, Reagan is 2-for-7. Curtis Johnson will handle kickoffs and punt returns.

Advantage: ECU. With the recent success of Dwayne Harris on kick returns and the subpar play from the coverage units for Memphis, ECU has a great advantage in the game.

Overall

The Memphis Tiger's are not a very good football team. But that doesn't matter. ESPN games for C-USA teams are the rare times this smaller conference gets exposed nationally. Whether the coaches say it or not, this is a big game recruiting wise for both teams.

Memphis has a very hard upcoming schedule (Tennessee, UAB, at Houston and at Tulsa) and this could be their last winnable game. Expect coach Tommy West to pull out anything and everything to try and get the Pirates to win. The Tiger pass defense has actually been a strength this year, and expect Memphis to load the box with 8 repeatedly.

For East Carolina, this is the last "easy" game. Memphis is 2-5 and has surrendered 81 points in the 4th quarter alone. The real test for the Pirates will not be looking ahead to next Thursday's game against Virginia Tech, which might be the biggest in school history or Saturday's nationally known Halloween festivities.

The Pirates next 3 games are on a Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday. Skip Holtz has his work cut out for him to keep the group focused. East Carolina should beat Memphis by 2 plus touchdowns but remember anything can happen on ESPN week night games.

Key Players: Memphis- WR-Duke Calhoun, DT-Justin Thompson
East Carolina- CB-Emmanuel Davis, Any Wide Receiver not named Dwayne Harris

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