ECU looking to recover from loss at UConn

It’s the toughest 1-2 punch East Carolina has taken in awhile, and if the Pirates don’t recover soon, they could be down and out come postseason.

The stakes are high for the Pirates (4-5, 2-3 AAC), who need to win two of their last three games to clinch bowl eligibility.

First, the Pirates must find a way past a South Florida (4-4, 2-2) team that’s one spot ahead in the American Conference’s East Division standings and entering Saturday night’s game at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium having won three of its last four contests.

“This is the most adversity I’ve seen on a team that I’ve coached or been around,” ECU coach Ruffin McNeill said Monday. “… We know we have three games left in this fourth quarter (of the season). We’re looking forward to South Florida. It’s a big game. All of them are big, but this is a big one for us.”

East Carolina’s 24-14 loss to No. 22 Temple on Oct. 22 was heartbreaking, but last week’s 31-13, turnover-filled defeat at the hands of sub-.500 Connecticut was soul crushing.

“We have a high standard here at East Carolina. We expect a lot out of our teams and program,” McNeill said. “We’re not happy with where we were last week. We felt like we had opportunities in the last two games especially, but there’s a point where you have to have all three sides contributing and we didn’t get that done.”

Against UConn, the Pirates again played two quarterbacks – James Summers and Blake Kemp – but neither seemed to be able to find a receiver. The duo combined to complete 19 of their 33 attempts for a season-low 137 passing yards, no touchdowns and four interceptions.

Summers was given the starting nod and some extended playing time, but he failed to make the most of his third start of the year. In two-plus quarters of play the junior went 12-for-21 for 87 yards and a pick, while rushing for only 18 yards.

“We wanted to give James a chance to get a feel for the offense and give us another scoring threat,” McNeill said after the game. “We felt like that from the Temple game, that we’ve got to get points.”

With a chance to prove himself worthy of reclaiming the starting job, Kemp checked into the game late in the third, but he failed to jump-start a lifeless ECU offense.

The junior lefty was intercepted three times on 11 pass attempts and finished the contest with 50 passing yards. Kemp’s lone bright spot was his 2-yard touchdown plunge in the fourth that put an end to ECU’s streak of five consecutive scoreless quarters.

“I just went out and made some bad decisions, and they made me pay for doing that,” Kemp said.

Neither quarterback entered this season expecting to get many snaps. Summers transferred to ECU as a wide receiver, while Kemp was figuring out how to fill the backup spot in the lineup.

But that was all before sophomore starting quarterback Kurt Benkert suffered a season-ending knee injury during practice in August.

McNeill recognized the lineup changes Monday but also said his quarterbacks need to step up.

“Those two guys came into the season not expecting to play. James (Summers) (was) going to be our Justin (Hardy) with the ball and we’ll see what he can do. Blake (Kemp) was going to be our backup or the third-team guy,” McNeill said. “That position, in this offense, is critical. We make no excuses, but that position does have to make plays for us.”

ECU has 19 turnovers on the season, which ranks 119th in the nation. The number of turnovers could have been higher had it not recovered three of its fumbles against UConn.

The loss dropped the Pirates to 4-5, their worst start since 2011, which is the last time they failed to make a bowl game.

That’s something Summers and the rest of the Pirates desperately want to avoid.

“It means everything,” Summers said. “Some of these guys here have been to a bowl every year and I want to keep that going for them. We all want to keep it going for them.”

This story was originally published November 6, 2015 at 5:12 PM with the headline "ECU looking to recover from loss at UConn."