ECU gets tough

Experience is the difference this season, East Carolina defensive coordinator Greg Hudson says

GREENVILLE -- The faces and names are familiar. The uniforms look the same.

What's different is the way East Carolina's players are performing on defense. Saturday, West Virginia quarterback Pat White must have asked: "Who are these guys -- Pirates of the Caribbean?"

They are many of the same guys who allowed West Virginia to score 48 points last year, who gave up 30.4 points per game for the season, who ranked 114th in passing yardage allowed out of 119 nationally.

In a stunning 2-0 start, the Pirates' "D" has lowered its average point yield to 12.5 per game. But how it happened has impressed.

The defense has:

* Checked a Virginia Tech team that had pocket-passing quarterback Sean Glennon. The performance was so thorough that it caused Tech coach Frank Beamer to take the redshirt off Tyrod Taylor and start him in Week 2.

* Limited mobile White and West Virginia to a single field goal. Time will tell, but White is now a distant contender for the Heisman Trophy after being near the top of many lists.

Held its two opponents to a combined 8-of-24 on third downs. ECU, in contrast, has converted 15 of 29 third downs. Indeed, the ECU offense has kept the defense fresh by controlling the ball -- about 11 minutes longer than West Virginia and 6 minutes longer than Virginia Tech.

What happened?

"Experience,'' said ECU defensive coordinator Greg Hudson, giving a one-word explanation of the difference from 2007.

The starting lineup includes 10 juniors or seniors who have played a lot of snaps, developed trust in each other and are executing like veterans.

The secondary -- where three regulars were new last year -- looks more vaunted than vulnerable now. The defensive front is more disruptive. The linebackers have ratcheted it up a notch.

On the back end, cornerbacks Jerek Hewett and sophomore Dekota Marshall and safeties J.J. Millbrook and Van Eskridge get to the right spots quicker "most of the time," Hudson said. As a result, they are making more plays against the run and pass.

Eskridge had 10 stops against West Virginia and Millbrook laid a hit on Mountaineer running back Noel Devine that sounded like thunder.

"Experience [in the secondary] has been the No. 1 thing," Hudson said. "Development and adjustments [in the line] has been the next step.''

The front four of all-conference ends Zach Slate and C.J. Wilson and tackles Khalif Mitchell and Jay Ross have all added another dimension.

They are exploding off the ball harder, getting stronger penetration, shedding blocks and making stops.

In the past they had the penetration, Hudson said, but didn't handle the blocks and tackle as effectively.

So far, that foursome has made it difficult for opponents to establish a rhythm.

Behind them are solid linebackers Pierre Bell (team leading 17 tackles), Quentin Cotton (13) and Jeremy Chambliss (9), who give ECU a sound front seven.

"When those two safeties [Millbrook and Eskridge] are playing well, plus the tackles, we are a good baseball team -- pretty tough up the middle,'' Hudson said.

Before facing West Virginia, the ECU defensive staff analyzed tapes of every Mountaineer game from the past three years. The coaches noted each ploy opponents tried that didn't work and made a point not to include any of those in their game plan.

On Saturday, they tweaked a few techniques and schemes and "herded the cats," a reference to West Virginia's speedy players. Among the plethora of Pirates standouts was Mitchell, a UNC transfer who had a career game.

Technique and schemes aside, teams still have to tackle. And the Pirates, despite the risk of injury, sharpen that fundamental by hitting full tilt every Tuesday and Wednesday.

"That's what it comes down to [tackling],'' said Hudson, the motorcycle-riding coach. "They better do it right or there will be a whole bunch of running."

The next challenges for the Pirates -- now ranked No. 14 in the nation -- is to stay focused, try to sustain success at Tulane Saturday, and pursue that elusive Conference USA title.

The C-USA is known for producing wild, wide-open, high scoring shows. But East Carolina's ramped-up defense could turn out to be the difference-maker.