East Carolina Cruises Past Memphis

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Before the Memphis Tigers lined up to play East Carolina on Saturday, the Pirates coaching staff was trying to decide which quarterback to start.

Coach Skip Holtz had to choose between Rob Kass and Patrick Pinkney, and Holtz’ decision turned out to be the right choice, as Kass completed 9-of-17 passes for 167 yards and two touchdowns to lead ECU over Memphis 30-10 Saturday in Greenville, NC.

“I thought he did a good job of managing the team, said Holtz. We were going to switch quarterbacks on the third series regardless of what happened. Now it will be like last year, where we went with the hot hand.”

Memphis suffered devastating injuries to their starting and backup quarterbacks within the first 12 plays of the game.

Starter Arkelon Hall lasted just six plays before suffering a broken right thumb. Backup quarterback Will Hudgens was carried off the field after being hit on his right knee by cornerback Darryl Reynolds just six plays after subbing for Hall.

“We will take some X-rays on (Hall) Monday and see if it requires surgery,” West said. “Hudgens has an MCL injury at best. We have to get back to it this coming week.

Memphis Tigers QB Brett Toney Passes Against ECU

When you are down to your fourth guy at quarterback, it makes it tough to win. I can sit here and yell and scream but that won’t help anything. We have to line up this week and find an offense as well as a defense.”

With the Tigers’ down to their third-string quarterback, junior Brett Toney took his first snap of the season just 11 minutes into the game.

Toney guided a 16-play, 58-yard scoring drive that ended with a 20-yard field goal by Vinny Zaccario to give Memphis a 10-7 lead at halftime.

With their top two quarterbacks injured, Memphis’ strong passing game was severely limited. The Tigers entered the game averaging 465 yards per contest but only managed 184 yards against the Pirates.

The Tigers receiving corps, among the best in the nation, wasn’t a factor due to the quarterback issues. Seven different receivers caught 14 passes for 82 yards, but one glaring omission was Carlos Singleton.

Singleton, the Tigers 5th all-time leading receiver with 1,672 yards, didn’t catch a pass during the game. His streak of catching at least one pass in 28 straight games came to a halt.

Toney performed admirably but was ineffective, completing 11-of-15 passes for only 65 yards. He yielded to freshman Tyler Bass in the fourth quarter with Memphis struggling on offense and trailing 23-10.

Bass’ first play from scrimmage as a Tiger wasn’t exactly one to remember, with his pass attempt picked off by Van Eskridge. Bass completed only one pass for minus six yards but was effective running the ball, gaining 28 yards on four carries.

The Tiger coaches had planned on red-shirting the athletically talented Bass, who transferred from the University of Maryland earlier this year.

“I didn’t want to play Tyler because we really wanted to redshirt him this season,” said West.

“I put him in once we knew we were facing a situation where we had lost Will for the year and could have lost Arkelon for the year. If he is going to compete at quarterback, we needed to get him in the game.”

Memphis (3-5, 1-3) will host Southern Miss (2-5, 0-3) next Saturday for the Homecoming contest. Game time is set for 7 p.m. at the Liberty Bowl, and will be broadcast by CBS College Sports Network.