Sept. 5, 2010

The Ruffin McNeill era at East Carolina began with a thrilling 51-49 victory over Tulsa. In a wild game that featured 11 lead changes, the Pirates won the game on the final play, a 33-yard hail mary pass from Dominique Davis to Justin Jones. SMU battled back from a 21-point deficit, but fell at Texas Tech, 35-27.

Highlights

Ruffin McNeill - Postgame Pressor

EAST CAROLINA 51, TULSA 49
GREENVILLE, N.C. - Dominique Davis threw a 33-yard touchdown pass to a leaping Justin Jones as time expired to give East Carolina a 51-49 win against Tulsa Sunday at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium in Head Coach Ruffin McNeill's debut.

"I am proud of the kids and the way they kept fighting," McNeill said. "We were able to win by two and get out of there. Any mistakes we made today, we will watch on film tomorrow. It is our task to fix those and get ready for Memphis in just six days."

Davis completed 27-of-46 passing attempts for a total of 383 yards with five touchdowns - two to Lance Lewis, two to Dwayne Harris - and accounted for one rushing score in his first start for ECU (1-0, 1-0 Conference USA). In the process, Harris passed Jarrett Dillard of Rice and Houston's Donnie Avery into 15th-place on the C-USA career all-purpose yards list.

He is the first Pirate player to account for four or more touchdowns since Brandon Simmons collected four against UTEP Nov. 28, 2008. Additionally, three of his four TD strikes were at least 30 yards.

On the other side, G.J. Kinne finished 28-of-43 for 399 yards. His fifth touchdown pass, a three-yard toss to Charles Clay with 1:22 left, appeared to be enough for the Golden Hurricane (0-1, 0-1). until Davis and Jones' heroics just minutes later.

The teams combined for 1,117 total yards and exchanged the lead 12 times during a back-and-forth affair. Harris caught seven passes for 121 yards, while Lewis finished with six grabs for 105 yards. Additionally, already owning the East Carolina career mark for receptions upon entering the contest, Harris became the school's all-time leader in receiving yards with 1,999 yards.

With Tulsa leading 49-45 and 1:22 showing on the clock, Davis guided the Pirates on a nine-play, 66-yard drive after which ECU was penalized for excessive celebration. However, Davis took a knee on the point-after try to account for the final margin.

"We knew the situation and the clock on the last drive of the game," McNeill stated. "The thought process was to score in any way possible. We felt like we had plenty of time with a timeout in our pocket."

East Carolina opened the scoring just 3:37 into the contest when Jonathan Williams broke off a 37-yard scamper to the end zone. He ended the day with a game-high 95 rushing yards.

After the Golden Hurricane tied the game with a one-yard run from Alex Singleton, Michael Barbour put the Pirates back on top with a 38-yard field goal. The teams traded touchdowns from there but a 22-yard field goal by Kevin Fitzpatrick cut a 17-13 ECU lead to one with 1:13 remaining before halftime.

The third quarter featured two Kinne touchdown passes as well as a Davis 43-yard toss to Lewis as the score stood at 29-24 in favor of the visitors after three quarters of play.

The Pirates began the scoring in the final frame when Davis called his own number and rushed two yards into the end zone, giving his team a two-point advantage.

With East Carolina trailing by four, 42-38, and under nine minutes to play, Davis found Joe Womack for a 26-yard reception which was followed by a 34-yard scoring toss to Harris - giving the Pirates the tentative lead. A Kinne three-yard pass to Clay put Tulsa in front one final time before ECU's successful last drive.

TEXAS TECH 35, SMU 27
LUBBOCK, Texas -- Tommy Tuberville made good on his promise to keep Texas Tech's passing offense in tact.

But he saw difficulties even though Taylor Potts threw for 359 yards and four touchdowns to lead the Red Raiders over SMU 35-27 and give Tuberville a victory Sunday in his first game as coach.

"We showed it's going to be some ups and downs this year," Tuberville said. "We're going to have a lot of growing pains. But when you win with growing pains, that means you're doing something right."

Tuberville took over after the popular and successful Mike Leach was fired in December amid allegations he mistreated an injured player.

Potts was 34 for 53 with no interceptions and connected with Lyle Leong for three scores and Detron Lewis for the other.

The pace of the offense is much quicker -- lots of no-huddles -- this season, and Potts likes it.

"There's no lollygagging around and playing backyard football out there," he said. "Everything's got a purpose, everything's detailed."

Texas Tech ran its winning streak against SMU to 14 games, dating to 1989.

Eric Stephens rushed for a 3-yard TD to put Texas Tech up 35-14 midway through the third quarter.

The Mustangs had a chance late and were driving when they failed to convert a fourth-and-21 from the 50 on their final drive.

Texas Tech intercepted SMU quarterback Kyle Padron three times. He threw for 218 yards.

SMU coach June Jones said he was "a little disappointed" in Padron, who he said got rattled.

"You can't turn the ball over," Jones said. "He's got to play through those things."

The Mustangs rallied behind their special teams. Darryl Fields returned a kickoff 92 yards to set up a 24-yard field to pull SMU to 35-17. Early in the fourth, Matt Szymanski booted a 61-yard field goal, his longest ever.

The Mustangs also blocked two field goals.

SMU pulled to 35-27 midway through the fourth quarter after taking over on downs on the Tech 32.

On fourth-and-six from the 13, Padron threw into the end zone and it looked like safety Cody Davis had broken it up. But the ball stayed up in the air and Cole Beasley caught it for a score.

Texas Tech's defense had the task of trying to stop Padron, who threw for a school-record 460 yards and two touchdowns running coach June Jones' run-n-shoot in a 45-10 win over Nevada in the Hawaii Bowl.

"The biggest question we had is our youth in the secondary, but I think they came out and responded," defensive coordinator James Willis said. "They didn't take this team lightly."

For Leong it was a career day in receptions and yardage, grabbing 11 passes for 142 yards.

"He's a great receiver," said Potts, who played with Leong since the two were in grade school. "He's great with his hands. He doesn't drop many."

Stephens' touchdown came late in the third quarter when he juked back and forth in the backfield before getting around defenders on the right side and skipping untouched into the end zone.

Tech's special teams and defense set up the first two Red Raiders scores. Cornelius Douglas forced a fumble as Kenneth Acker fielded a punt deep in SMU's own territory late in the first quarter and Franklin Mitchell recovered it at the 18.

Tech ran the ball four consecutive times -- something Leach rarely did -- before Potts found Leong in the corner of the end zone for a 2-yard touchdown to give Tech a 7-0 lead.

On the second play of SMU's next possession, redshirt freshman Jarvis Phillips stepped in front of a pass from Padron to set up Potts's second TD pass. The 6-yard score went over the middle to Leong, who was wide open near the back of the end zone.

SMU scored its first touchdown on its final drive of the first half as Padron led a 13-play drive, including his scrambling for 18 yards for a first down on fourth-and-3 from Tech's 34. Zach Line scored from 2 yards and the Mustangs were down by only one score.

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