By By BRIAN HAINES, Sports Writer
GREENVILLE — After holding on to top Southern Miss 25-20 in its regular season finale, East Carolina will now brace itself for one of biggest games ever played in the history of Greenville.
By winning their matchup with the Golden Eagles over the weekend the Pirates (8-4, 7-1) have earned the right to host No. 18 Houston in the Conference USA championship game Saturday at noon.
It took a C.J. Wilson blocked extra-point to exorcise the demons of Southern Miss, but it’s going to take a lot more than that to get past Heisman candidate Case Keenum and the Cougars (10-2, 6-2).
Last season when Houston came to Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium Keenum hit on 37 of his 45 pass attempts for 401 yards and three touchdowns to beat the No. 23 ranked Pirates 41-24.
This season the Cougars come in boosting one of the nation’s most prolific offenses, which was put on display when they thrashed Rice 73-14 in their season finale. While the odds may seem insurmountable for the Pirates, ECU was in a similar position last year as it headed into its showdown with high-flying Tulsa and pulled out a 27-24 victory to win its first-ever Conference USA crown.
“It’s a very similar (feeling) in a lot of respects to last year,” ECU coach Skip Holtz said during his weekly press conference. “Their two styles are very different … Tulsa did it more by formations and by trying to create confusion. Houston’s only going to lineup in a few formations … But it’s very similar with the numbers and what we will have to do to play with them.”
The numbers are very intimidating as Houston is the highest scoring team in the nation with a 44.92 points per game average. Keenum, a junior who has won the C-USA Offensive Player of the Week six times this season, leads the nation in total offense per game (420.17), passing yards (4,992) and most points responsible for per game accounting for 21.33 per contest.
“They are explosive, they can score from anywhere. They put up huge numbers in points and huge numbers in yards with what they do,” Holtz said. “Offensively it starts with Case Keenum, who is a Heisman candidate. His numbers are better than anybody else’s in the country. He has thrown 38 touchdown passes and only six interceptions.
“When we played him a couple of years ago when he was a freshman, I said then that he is one of the best quarterbacks that we have lined up and played against. I was extremely impressed with him, with his poise, with his presence, with his arm, with his decision making ability and the way he protects that ball … Now as a junior he is more decisive, he puts the ball in the air before the receivers even make their break … Case Keenum is just an exceptional player.”
Aside from Keenum, Houston boasts a very dangerous running game behind Bryce Beal (4.9 yards per carry) and Charles Simms (5.7 yards per carry).
The Cougars have three receivers with over 70 catches this season in James Cleveland (82), Tyron Carrier (75) and Patrick Edwards (74).
Holtz said in order to slow down Keenum the defense must do a good job of mixing and disguising coverages.
“Where are going to have to mix things up,” Holtz said. “You’re not going to get to a guy like him an awful lot unless things break down and you try to confuse him a little bit with coverages.”
With Houston expected to light up the scoreboard, the pressure will be on the ECU offense to keep up.
Fortunately for the Pirates, their offense has picked it up a notch or two since mid-season and looks very balanced and dangerous.
Quarterback Patrick Pinkney was 25 of 41 versus USM for 269 yards, and while didn’t have any TD passes, he was not intercepted either. Pinkney has been interception free for the last three games.
A big factor for the offense’s improvement is the play of Darryl Freeney for the injured Jamar Bryant along with a stellar offensive line.
Freeney’s 38 catches are second on the team as is his 575 yards, while the O-line ranks third nationally in sacks allowed per game with a .75 average.
Line play will be crucial this Saturday as ECU will place a premium on rushing the football and trying to keep the ball out of Keenum’s hands.
Holtz and his crew would love to be able to control the clock, but the coach said that he will not overdue trying to control time of possession to the extent that it hinders the offense.
“We are kind of in the early stages of our game plan in terms of what we would like to do,” Holtz said. “But your going to have to have the ability to score, you’re not winning 14-13 and just eating the clock and trying to play field position because in two passes they can be in the end zone.”
Injury update
The Pirates escaped the Southern Miss game for the most part unscathed. East Carolina will be without Rob Kass (knee), Dustin Lineback (knee), Dekota Marshall (knee) and Matt Thompson (elbow). Wide receiver Jamar Bryant (knee) and LB Marke Powell (foot) are both listed as doubtful. Running back Jonathan Williams is getting closer to possibly getting game action as he is listed as probable along with DE Josh Smith (shoulder), LB Austin Haynes (knee) and LB Jeremy Chambliss.