Head coach Skip Holtz is facing SMU for the third time in his five years coaching at ECU (photo by ecupirates.com).

The SMU Mustangs return home Saturday — finally — after three road games and a bye week to face Conference USA rival East Carolina at 7 p.m. at Gerald J. Ford Stadium in a game that can be heard live on KTCK (1310 AM) and can be seen on Time-Warner Cable’s Metrosports Network. ECU has won both previous meetings against the Mustangs, in 2005 and 2006.

The Pirates (3-2 overall, 2-0 in C-USA games) will be looking for their fifth straight conference win and will be trying to improve their record to 4-2 for the first time in fifth-year head coach Skip Holtz’s tenure at ECU. The Pirates opened their 2009 season with a 29-24 win over Appalachian State before dropping a pair of road games at West Virginia and then-No. 24 North Carolina, before bouncing back with consecutive C-USA wins over Central Florida and at Marshall.

ECU has a winning record, but is on the short end of several key statistical comparisons with its opponents in 2009. The Pirates have been outscored, 121-106 (24.2-21.2 per game), and have given up 18 more first downs (102-84) than they have generated on offense. More specifically, their opponents have the edge in every type of first down: rushing (45-36), passing (50-42) and on penalties (7-6).

Even in one area in which the Pirates have a statistical advantage — ECU defenders have picked off eight passes in five games, compared to just five interceptions by their opponents — the end result still favors their opponents: ECU has averaged just 1.9 yards per interception return, while their opponents have averaged 7.8 yards.

OFFENSE

The ECU offense is piloted by senior quarterback Patrick Pinkney, who has completed 88-of-159 passes (55.3 percent) this season for 887 yards (177.4 yards per game), four passing touchdowns and five interceptions. Once known as one of the better running quarterbacks in the conference, if not the nation, Pinkney has morphed into more of a pocket passer, partly because of past injuries and partly because Holtz has asked him to change his role in the offense.

Defensive coordinator Tom Mason said that although QB Patrick Pinkney is running less this year, the Mustangs have to try to keep him from scrambling (photo by ecupirates.com).

“I think it’s a little of both (injuries and Holtz reining him in),” SMU defensive coordinator Tom Mason said. “I think they want him to play a little more within the scheme of what they’re trying to do, and I also think they want to keep him healthy, because you look at their stats, and he’s got (minus-four) yards rushing, and I think he has had some injuries.

“He’s a strong-armed kid that’s active in the pocket so he kind of defeats your rush with his feet. But I think he’s got as strong an arm as anyone (in Conference USA) except maybe the kid at Houston (Case Keenum). So he’s a good, solid quarterback, who’s a about 55 percent in completions. So we’ve got to get pressure on him, and we’ve got to keep him contained in that pocket so he doesn’t hurt us scrambling.”

Pinkney has drawn some comparisons to UAB’s Joe Webb. Mason said that Webb is a little more dangerous when on the run, but said that Pinkney’s surrounding cast makes him — and the ECU offense ¬— more dangerous.

“With Webb, we put the whole gameplan to stop Webb. He didn’t have the weapons around him that we think this kid has, with the running backs and that No. 17 (wide receiver Dwayne Harris), so we can’t go in with the idea that we’ve got to stop the quarterback and not really worry as much about the guys around him — they’re really a multi-threat offense.”

Mason echoed the concern several SMU players expressed about Harris, who leads the Pirates with 28 receptions and 295 yards (10.5 yards per catch).

“He’s the type of kid you want at receiver,” Mason said. “He’s extremely strong. He plays the inside slot, so he catches a lot of short balls and breaks tackles. He’s the quarterback when they go to the ‘Wildcat.’ He’s by far the best athlete on that team — he’s an impressive kid. He’s got talent, and he’s a strong runner — he runs like a running back. He can do the whole thing, so they’re going to get the ball to him as much as they can, and we’ve got to do a great job tackling him.”

Harris is not the only target in the ECU passing game who has drawn the attention of the SMU defensive staff. Mason said the Pirates boast another pair of big wideouts who can

“(Alex Taylor) is a good player, and so is (Jamar Bryant),” he said. “Taylor is 6-foot-4 and 217 pounds, and Bryant is 6-2 and over 200 (219). Their receivers are solid, they’re big kids. They have adequate speed, and they’re great possession guys. You always worry about them getting the ball up, and they can go up and out-physical your DBs — that’s one thing you’re always concerned about.”

SMU defensive coordinator called WR Dwayne Harris "by far the best athlete" on the ECU roster (photo by ecupirates.com).

Taylor and Bryant are second and third on the team in receptions, with 14 and 13, respectively, and Bryant is the first Pirate this season with two touchdown catches.

The running game is built around a pair of talented backs, sophomore Brandon Jackson and senior Dominique Lindsay, each of whom is listed at 5-10 and 202 pounds. Jackson leads the team with 57 carries for 229 yards (4.0 yards per carry) and a pair of scores, while Lindsay, who has played in just three games, has 41 carries for 209 yards (5.1) and three touchdowns.

“I like their running backs,” Mason said. “Lindsay — he’s more of a dual threat (than Jackson), but they’re both good, solid runners. They’re kind of like the two backs Washington State had. I think they’re both that caliber of back — they’re strong, and they’ll get their pads north and south.”

The ECU offense operates behind a powerful offensive line that includes four starters over 300 pounds. The line is anchored by left tackle Willie Smith (6-6, 290) and left guard Terence Campbell (6-5, 318).

“They’re big, heavy kids — heavy-legged kids,” Mason said. “I think one side of the line is a little better than the other, but they’re pretty good on both sides. They’re good, solid, Conference USA linemen. They remind me a lot of Washington State’s offensive line. That (physically overmatching SMU’s defense) is what they’re going to try to do to us, I’m convinced. Holtz has come out in the paper and said that they can’t let (our) offense go up and down the field on them, and that they’ve got to play ball-control, so they’re going to come out in their pistol offense and try to establish their running game.”

DEFENSE

The Pirates operate their defense almost exclusively from a base 4-3 alignment, but SMU assistant head coach/offense Dan Morrison said the strength of the ECU defense is in experience: seven starters are seniors, and two more are juniors.

“They’re pretty athletic everywhere, but I’d say the strength of their defense is their experience — seven of their 11 starters are seniors, and with the exception of one case who is a transfer, they’re all two-year lettermen and three-year lettermen,” Morrison said. “Their guys have been around, so I think their experience, and being so senior-laden, is probably the strength of their defense. They’re pretty heady, they do what they’re supposed to do, and they rally up and they make plays.”

After facing the fastest defensive line they’ll see all season last week at TCU, the Mustangs now face the biggest: defensive end C.J. Wilson (6-4, 278), defensive tackle Jay Ross (6-3, 314), nose guard Linval Joseph (6-6, 322) and defensive end Scotty Robinson (6-4, 271).

“They have the biggest tackles we’ve seen, and even their backups are big guys,” Morrison said. “They’re just really powerful, and pretty doggone athletic kids for being as big as they are. They’re not the bigger, slower kids who just stay right in there as strictly run-stoppers. They have some shake to them and they have some movement to them, so they’re pretty effective.”

Morrison said that while many teams use their big interior linemen merely to tie up blockers so the linebackers can run free to the ball, all four ECU linemen collapse the pocket and generate pressure on opposing quarterbacks. Joseph leads the team with a pair of sacks, while Wilson and Robinson have 1.5 each.

“A lot of the teams they’ve been playing are kind where the quarterback gets out on the perimeter,” Morrison said, “but the ones that are throwing in the pocket — they’re definitely trying to collapse in the middle and make it difficult for you to see, because they’re such big bodies. They’re making every effort they can to get up the field, and rather impressively, as well.”

Playing behind the line are a trio of senior linebackers, led by middle linebacker Nick Johnson, who is second on the ECU defense with 39 tackles. He also is tied for the team lead with a pair of interceptions.

“They run really well, and again, they’re veterans,” Morrison said. “You can tell they have certain designs for certain offenses they’re playing, and they tend to be where they’re supposed to be. (They have) good size, they run sideline-to-sideline pretty well, but if they have to get downhill, they get downhill in a hurry.”

The Pirates have speed all over the field, but their secondary resembles a track team. Senior free safety Van Eskridge leads the team with 40 tackles and is tied with Johnson with two interceptions, while starting cornerbacks Travis Simmons and Emanuel Davis also have picked off a pass this year.

FS Van Eskridge leads the Pirates with 40 tackles, and is tied for the team lead with two interceptions (photo by ecupirates.com).

“They’re fast,” Morrison said. “They run well — they run well to the ball, and again, I think it’s a combination of their experience, tied to their athleticism, that gets them where they need to get two, two-and-a-half steps faster than many, because in addition to their speed, they know where they’re going. There’s not too much hesitation. So you have to just do what you do. We (the SMU coaches) have played against teams with this kind of speed. We’ve played against the Alabamas, and we’ve against the Michigan States and the USCs. The kids, after they get over the awe of it, they start settling down and playing.”

Morrison said that the Pirates don’t mix up schemes very much, preferring instead to line up in their base 4-3 and challenge opposing offenses to beat them.

“They do (mix up formations) a little bit, but not a lot, and it’s an indication in the trust they have in how good they are,” Morrison said. “The better you are, the less you do on defense, because you want them to play with such aggressiveness, and you don’t want to take that aggressiveness away by making them think too much. If you’re trying to disguise things and fool people, because you’re really not very talented, you end up putting a lot in.

“So they play what they do, and they do it because they have guys who are where they should be and are good enough athletes to recover. Every really good football team that you watch — they’re not really too complicated, because they don’t want to be complicated on defense. They want to just get after you, and if they’re better athletes than you are, the best way to do that is make it simple. They want to say, ‘I don’t care if you know where we are and I don’t care if you know what we’re doing.’”