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DURHAM— Hopefully it’s not too late for Duke to reprint all those posters, media guides and other promotional materials.
“Airborne,” as it applies to the Duke offense, just isn’t going to work. And besides, East Carolina appears to hold a firm grip on the slogan.
The Pirates marched into Wallace Wade Stadium on Saturday and did anything and everything they wanted in a 38-0 win.
Duke quarterback Spencer Romine got nothing going. ECU’s David Garrard picked apart the Blue Devils’ defense for 264 yards passing on 22-of-29 accuracy.
“They were kind of soft in the secondary and Ithought we could exploit that a little bit and we did,”Garrard said. “They were playing off so far. They came up and made a pretty good lick after the catch, but the initial pass was there.”
Garrard was all too happy to oblige the Duke secondary, making the BlueDevils look positively silly in the first half. Four different receivers caught eight passes, most of them with no BlueDevils in sight, which explained the Pirates’ 21-0 halftime lead.
When Duke’s defensive backs were in the picture, they were two steps behind and futilely grabbing the faster Pirates for two obvious — and embarrassing — pass interference calls.
Garrard, voted Conference USA’s preseason offensive player of the year, looked every bit the part, although the defense and backup QB Richard Alston got things going early.
The Pirates needed just 90 seconds to prove their air superiority. Romine dropped back for a third-down pass and fired down the right side for Ben Erdeljac. The receiver kept going, but the pass was thrown for about a 10-yard pattern, leaving ECU’s Kelly Hardy all alone for the reception. He raced 26 yards the other way for the score.
“I wish we didn’t give up that play to open the game, but we just had a misread and got things crossed up,”said Duke head coach Carl Franks, who watched ECU spoil his Duke coaching debut last season in a 27-9 wipeout in Greenville.
Garrard completed 3-of-4 passes in the first quarter for 44 yards, yet gave way to Alston to open the second. The fleet-footed sophomore, known for his play in the option game, sparked the East Carolina offense on an 80-yard drive highlighted by Alston’s deep pass to Arnie Powell, who was open at the goal line until Duke’s Derrick Lee pulled him down by the shirt.
Jamie Wilson’s 15-yard run three plays later made it 14-0. Alston didn’t play again until the game was out of hand, but Logan didn’t downplay his significance early.
“Most of the time they’ll tell you if you’ve got two quarterbacks playing, that means you don’t have one good one,”Logan said. “We broke the mould on that. We’ve got two good quarterbacks here at East Carolina and they’re going to play all year long.”
Garrard didn’t sit for much longer. After a three-and-out forced by the ECU defense, Garrard took the field and orchestrated an 11-play, 83-yard drive. He hit Marcellus Harris for 9 yards, then for 20. Keith Stokes grabbed the next one for 18 yards, made a one-handed catch for a 14-yard gain and Delayo Dodd set up first-and-goal after a 6-yard pickup.
The only drama followed a brief defensive stand by Duke that made it fourth-and-inches — Logan went for it and Wilson bowled his way in for a 21-0 advantage with 3:41 remaining.
Kevin Miller’s field goal to open the third quarter made it 24-0 and the ECU defense did the rest, forcing two three-and-outs and limiting Duke to 40 yards in the quarter.
“The defense was outstanding,”Logan said. “Getting the shutout was an extra-special deal. We got a jump-start there when Kelly Hardy made the play out in the flat.”
But this night was Garrard’s, the Southern Durham High product who returned home in a big way. He got a touchdown in the fourth quarter when Keith Stokes took a screen pass and rumbled 42 yards after a big block from Derrick Collier.
He left the field to rousing cheers from the huge ECU cheering section, which out-numbered the home fans 2-to-1 and stayed loud throughout the wet night.
“It was fun, I saw a lot of my friends and family tonight,”Garrard said. “To do what we did here back in my home town felt good.”
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NOTES: Romine finished 8-for-16 with two interceptions. He was sacked four times. … ECU’s Wilson finished with 60 yards on 16 carries. Stokes led all receivers with 124 yards on seven catches. … The Pirates turned right around to play host to Virginia Tech on Thursday night. Duke travels to Northwestern for a Saturday showdown.
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