ECU Falls to Kentucky at the Autozone Liberty Bowl in Memphis, Tennessee
Article Date:
Friday, January 02, 2009
Source:
Kim Reaves, WhatsUpGreenville.com
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| Final Stats | Final Stats It was a day that Pirates' fans have been waiting for all week, the meeting of the Conference USA champion ECU Pirates and the SEC’s Kentucky Wildcats in the Autozone Liberty Bowl in Memphis, Tennessee.
And it wouldn’t take long for ECU to kick it into gear. With 8:10 left to go in the first quarter, and facing a third and eight, Patrick Pinkney hits Devon Drew for a 40 yard gain which gave the Pirates a first down and goal to go. ECU couldn’t manage to get it into the end zone on this drive so they bring in kicker Ben Hartman to attempt a 22 yard field goal. The kick was good and that put the Pirates on the board first. It was three to nothing, ECU.
After a missed 50 yard field goal attempt from Kentucky’s kicker Lones Seiber, ECU had the ball once again driving down the field. This time, Pinkney handed the ball off to Brandon Simmons who went 28 yards for the Touchdown. Hartman’s PAT was good and with 14 minutes left to go in the first half it was ten to nothing, Pirates.
Then, with 9:04 remaining in the first half Kentucky finally got on the board when Seiber kicked a 21 yard field goal to make the count ten to three ECU.
Then on ECU’s next play from Scrimmage, Pinkney connected with Darryl Freeney for an 80 yard return for a touchdown. That was Pinkney’s 13th touchdown pass on the year. But, the point after attempt was be blocked by Kentucky making the Pirates settle for six, putting the count at sixteen to three, ECU, and the two teams would go to the locker room that way.
Someone must have lit a fire under the Wildcats at half time because David Jones got some great blocks from his teammates to help him return the opening kickoff 99 yards for a touchdown. But Kentucky had some P.A.T. problems of their own as their attempt was blocked forcing them to settle for six, putting the score at sixteen to nine, ECU.
Then, at the 8:24 mark in the third quarter, Kentucky struck again with a 20 yard pass from Mike Hartline to Kyrus Lanxter that tied the game at 16. All of a sudden the momentum of this game seemed to be moving in the Wildcats favor.
ECU did strike again at the end of the third quarter with a Ben Hartman field goal from 43 yards out that put the Pirates back up by three. But just as fast as ECU could put points on the board, Kentucky answered with its own thirty-four yard field goal bringing it back to a tie game at nineteen to nineteen.
Then, a little bit of drama comes to the game as later in the fourth quarter it appeared that Patrick Pinkney fumbled the ball on ECU’s own seventeen yard line and Kentucky recovered and returned it sixt-three yards for the touchdown. But after the Big Ten officiating crew reviewed the replay they determined that Pinkney’s knee was down before he lost control of the ball, and ECU seemed to dodge a bullet. But on the very next play, with 3:17 left to go in the game ECU fumbled the ball again and Kentucky again returns the fumble into the paint. This time, there was no question about the fumble, but there wass some question about the recovery of the fumble. Again, the play wass reviewed and this time the ruling on the field stuck putting Kentucky on top twenty-five to nineteen. And, as if all the turnovers and replays weren’t enough, Kentucky again had their point after attempt blocked, this time by Emanuel Davis, leaving ECU with three minutes to play and ninety-nine yards to cover to win the game.
Unfortunately for the Pirates, they couldn’t convert on their drive and they were forced to punt from deep in their own territory and Kentucky is able to use a short ground game to run out the clock.
The final score at the Autozone Liberty Bowl in Memphis Tennessee was Kentucky Wildcats 25, ECU Pirates 19.
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