GREENVILLE, N.C. - On the game's first four plays, East Carolina quarterback David Garrard directed an offense that resembled a swarm of beheaded chickens.
By the end of the game, however, Garrard was slicing and dicing his way through a fatigued Duke defense.
And for the Durham native, engineering the victory against his hometown school could not have been any sweeter.
"It means a lot [to beat Duke]," said Garrard, who threw for 268 yards and ran for 42 more. "So when I go back home, they can't say anything to me, and I can talk a little bit to them. Everybody back home won't be saying, 'How could you let Duke beat you?'"
Early on, however, it looked like Duke would have a field day with Garrard and the Pirates offense. On ECU's first four offensive plays, Garrard completed a pass that was fumbled, ran for a yard before fumbling, was nearly thrown for a safety and shanked a quick kick on third-and-19.
But a keen halftime adjustment by ECU coach Steve Logan to
"When we have a tight end on both sides, it enables us to get around the outside," the sophomore signal caller said. "The outside rush is getting picked up by the tight end, so I'm able to get up on the linebackers. If the linebacker is trying to play me and the pitch guy, then I just give them a nice pitch fake and cut it up behind him. It worked for us and I was happy."
Mixing up some quick strikes to his wideouts and options to both sides of the field, Garrard engineered drives of 57 and 42 yards to start the second half but came up empty due to a pair of turnovers.
Although no points were put on the board, the drives were crucial in wearing down a Duke defense that stayed out on the field for much of the second half due to a wholly ineffective offense.
"We really believe we can beat people in the fourth quarter," Logan said. "We got a chance to pound on [the Duke defense] a little bit-emotionally and physically. Those drives [early in the second half] did pound on them a little bit."
The bend-but-not-break Duke defense finally snapped late in the third quarter. Garrard began a drive at his own 41-yard line, but came out after two plays with a leg cramp. Back-up Richard Alston came in and marched the Pirates home on the next two plays to give ECU a 17-9 lead.
When Garrard found Rashon Burns with a 36-yard strike against an obviously fatigued Duke defense eight minutes later, his day had come full circle. And as the Blue Devils wore down on defense, they too felt the change.
"In the first half I was [saying], 'I want to go back in and play some more,'" Duke linebacker Kevin Lewis said. "In the second half, we were tired and [saying], 'We've got to get some points on the board.'"
Those points never came for Duke, but one sweet homecoming gift did come for David Garrard.
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