Nov. 10, 2008

Following its 19-16 victory over Marshall that gave it sole possession of first place in the East Division, East Carolina has won two of the three Conference USA player of the week awards. Freshman DB Emanuel Davis won the defensive honors with two interceptions, while junior K Ben Hartman won special teams after booting his second straight overtime game-winning field goal. The offensive honor went to Rice senior QB Chase Clement who continued to add to his record-setting accomplishments in the Owls win over Army.

Clement set one conference career mark, tied a second, broke a pair of school season records, recorded the longest run of his career and matched the longest touchdown pass of his career in the Owls 38-31 win over Army on Saturday. Clement threw for 384 yards and three touchdowns to break the conference career record for touchdown passes. He now has 87, two more than the previous record of 85 set by Kevin Kolb of Houston. He also scored on a 61-yard run (the longest run of his career) to finish with four total touchdowns on the day and tie that conference mark of 109, set last year by Paul Smith of Tulsa. His first TD pass of the day was an 80-yard bomb to Jarett Dillard, which broke his school season record for both touchdown passes (finished the day with 32) and total touchdowns (finished with 41). He and Dillard also extended their NCAA record for touchdowns by a passing duo to 48.

Davis tied his career-high with six tackles in the win over Marshall on Saturday and also picked off two passes for the first time in his career (31 return yards). His first interception (31 yard return) came in the first quarter on a 2nd-and-2 from Marshall's 39 yard line. On the Herd's ensuing possession, Davis collected his second INT on a 3rd-and-7 from the Marshall 42 (no return). He now has three interceptions in the last two games and is tied for the league lead with four.

Hartman drilled the 27-yard game-winning field goal to give ECU a 19-16 overtime victory against Marshall. He has now kicked back-to-back game-winning overtime FGs in C-USA play (UCF and Marshall) and now owns four career game-winning field goals. Hartman connected on 4-of-5 attempts (made from 31, 51, 21 and 27 and missed from 42). His four FGAs made and five attempts both tied a school record. Hartman's 51-yarder in the second quarter was a season long, the second-longest of his career (52 at UTEP in 2007) and tied for the seventh longest in school history. He registered his first career four field goal game and has made at least one FG in six consecutive games dating back to N.C. State contest, which is a personal-best streak. Hartman also extended his school record to 72 consecutive PATs made by making his only attempt on Saturday.