By By BRIAN HAINES, Sports Writer
GREENVILLE — Homecoming weekend had extra significance on Saturday as East Carolina not only welcomed back its alumni, but its offense as well.
The big plays that have been missing all season crept back into the arsenal as ECU racked up seven touchdowns to down Rice 49-13.
Dwayne Harris led the offensive as he scored three of the Pirates seven touchdowns, as he pulled down nine receptions for 128 yards. Two of his nine catches were good for scores, while his third touchdown of the day came on a 92-yard kickoff return in the second quarter.
Harris’ 128 receiving yards tied a career-high for the junior, while his nine grabs gave him a career total of 128 receptions to place him sixth on ECU’s all time list. Harris leap-frogged one spot above Chris Johnson and with his next catch will tie Troy Smith at the five spot.
Jason Nichols (1994-97) is the Pirates all-time leading receiver with 152 receptions.
“(Today) felt great, I try to score every time they give me the ball,” Harris said. “I know once the ball is in my hands I can help the team make plays and move the ball down field.”
ECU (4-3, 3-1) had no problem making plays in its Conference USA clash with lowly Rice (0-7, 0-3). The Pirates 49 points equaled their output in their previous two games combined.
Quarterback Patrick Pinkney eclipsed the 200-yard mark for the second time this season as he was 18 of 26 for 231 yards and three TD passes and two interceptions. Pinkney entered the game with only four touchdown passes in the previous six games.
The blowout win was a much-needed confidence booster for ECU, who needed a pick-me-up after getting stunned by SMU last weekend in Dallas
Pirates’ coach Skip Holtz said he worked his team extra-hard this week and was happy with the way they responded.
“It’s great to get a win, we really pushed this team hard here the last week with some of the mistakes that were made a week ago,” Holtz said. “We practiced in pads Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, which is a variation of what we normally do. … I thought they bounced back tonight and competed, we finally finished a football game.”
The blowout allowed fans to get a look at backup QB freshman Josh Jordan, who was impressive late in the fourth quarter as he directed the team on a nine-play, 66-yard drive in which he was 4-4 on pass attempts for 55 yards. The highlight of the drive was Jordan throwing a strike down the left sideline to fellow freshman Andrew Bodenheimer, which was caught by the 6-3 wideout to set up Darnel Ballard for a 1-yard TD run to close out the scoring at 49-13.
Harris got the Pirates on the board first as he caught a 16-yard TD pass from Pinkney to take a 7-0 lead.
That drive came on ECU’s first possession of the game, and was fueled by some tough running by Dominique Lindsay. The senior running back ran for 78 yards on 12 carries to lead ECU, but left the game with 13:38 left in the second quarter due to an ankle injury and never checked back in.
The team is unsure of the severity of the injury and should know more on Monday.
Brandon Jackson, who missed last Saturday’s game with the flu, was rusty against Owls as he gained only 35 yards on 16 carries, but did add a 2-yard TD run in the second quarter that gave ECU a 21-3 advantage.
Quarterback turned tight end Rob Kass gave the home fans a reason to smile when he caught his first touchdown of his career with a little over two minutes left in the first quarter.
“It was a pretty incredible experience,” Kass said. “Coach Holtz gave me the opportunity and Patrick made a great throw. I guess (Rice) thought it was a run play because I came off the line and was the only one standing in the back of the end zone.”
For the most part, the Pirates’ defense was just as sturdy as the offense, as ECU out-gained Rice 459-351 in total yards.
For the second game in a row junior running back Giavani Ruffin (6-21) found the end zone when he scored in the fourth quarter on a 7-yard run.
ECU held Rice’s sophomore QB Nick Fanuzzi to 231 yards as he hit on 25 of his 43 pass attempts. Linebacker Dustin Lineback, who started in place of Jeremy Chambliss (injury), picked off a Fanuzzi pass and tied for a team-high in tackles with Nick Johnson and Van Eskridge with eight.
Defensive end C.J. Wilson and DT Linval Joseph each had a sack for an ECU defense that was staunch all day except for one play.
The Pirates’ defense let up its customary big play in the second quarter when Fanuzzi hooked up with senior wideout Toren Dixon (8-115) for an 80-yard score that made it a 21-10 game.
From that point on the Pirates out-scored Rice 28-3.
Buried Treasure:
Ben Ryan took over place kicking duties for the Pirates and was 0-1, missing on a 38-yard FG attempt in the second quarter. Ryan was 7-7 on PATs … Sophomore linebacker Matt Thompson started at weak side linebacker for Chris Mattocks (shoulder), who played sparingly against Rice. … WR Jamar Bryant (2-29) extend his streak of consecutive games with a receptions to 25.