Tulsa Drops Heartbreaker to ECU
East Carolina receiver Justin Jones hauled in a Hail Mary as time expired, giving the Pirates a thrilling 51-49 victory.
Thursday, May 26th 2011, 11:56 am
By:
News On 6
Originally Published: Sep 5, 2010 5:6 PM CDT
Grant Belcher
Oklahoma Sports Staff Writer
GREENVILLE, North Carolina – Tulsa and East Carolina traded offensive possessions like heavyweight fighters trading blows.
But when the back-and-forth affair was finished, the Pirates delivered the knockout blow with a Hail Mary as time expired to defeat the Golden Hurricane, 51-49.
It was one of those games where the team who had the ball last would probably win, but East Carolina took the old adage to the extreme.
ECU quarterback Dominique Davis bought some time and launched a 33-yard pass toward a group of players in the end zone. Receiver Justin Jones out-jumped everyone to pull the ball in and secure the victory.
Tulsa coach Todd Graham said in 24 years of coaching, he has never had anything like it happen to him.
"We usually have a play we execute to put pressure on the quarterback so he can’t make that throw," Graham said. "We called the play and didn’t execute. That’s our fault. They made the play and we didn’t.”
Before the heroic last play, the two teams traded scores at a record pace, scoring touchdown after touchdown.
The flip-flopping began with eight minutes left in the third quarter, with Tulsa taking the lead on a G.J. Kinne touchdown pass to tight end Clay Sears to make it 23-17.
It was the first of nine lead changes in the second half and the first of 10 straight drives resulting in touchdowns.
The ninth of those touchdowns - a connection from Kinne to receiver Charles Clay with 1:22 remaining - gave Tulsa a 49-45 margin, which it thought might be the final score.
East Carolina drove into Tulsa territory, but was halted at the 33-yard line until five seconds remained.
Davis launched a prayer and Jones came down with it in a crowd to send Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium into a frenzy.
ECU coach Ruffin McNeill said his team knew what it had to do when it got the ball back with 1:22 left.
"We felt like we had enough time with one timeout left," McNeill said. "I was happy with the offense because that’s the way we practice those situations.”
Kinne was impressive for Tulsa, completing 28-of-43 passes for 399 yards and five touchdowns.
Davis had similar numbers for ECU, going 27-of-46 for 385 and five scores.
But in the end, Davis’ final touchdown was easily the most important.
Tulsa gave up touchdowns on the Pirates’ final five drives.
The last stop for the Golden Hurricane defense came with more than 10 minutes left in the third quarter.
Tulsa also had three failed two-point conversions in the two-point loss.
“I’m really proud of our guys and how hard they played on the road," Graham said. "We absolutely gave the game away. I’m really proud of the effort, but we had some critical errors.”