GREENVILLE, N.C. -- Virginia's defense surrendered a season-high 432 total offensive yards Saturday evening, as the Cavaliers fell 31-21 to East Carolina (2-3, 1-1 Conference USA) at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium.
"We were expecting East Carolina's best game of the season, knowing that it would take our best game of the season to counter that, and it certainly looked as if we got East Carolina's best game but obviously we didn't get our best game," Virginia coach Al Groh said. "They out-kicked us, out-coached us, out-caught us, out-defended us and out-ran us, so we got the result that we got."
The loss marked the third of the season for Virginia (2-4, 1-1 ACC) against a non-conference opponent. The six remaining games on the schedule are all against ACC foes.
The defense, which came into the game ranked No. 20 nationally, was sliced and diced all evening by East Carolina quarterback James Pinkney and running backs Brandon Fractious and Brandon Simmons. Pinkney completed 10 of 17 passes for 244 yards and the senior also rushed for 42 yards and a touchdown. Fractious and Simmons combined for 159 rushing yards and two scores.
"They were very physical and ran the ball with authority," Groh said. "It took us too long to get started on defense."
Junior defensive end Chris Long, who, in his best personal performance of the season, totaled nine tackles, two quarterback hurries and a sack, was quick to praise East Carolina's offensive playmakers.
"I give a lot of credit to their offensive line and their running backs," Long said. "They really exploited our mistakes, and their quarterback made some plays too."
On their second drive of the game, the Pirates marched 87 yards and took a 7-0 lead when Simmons ran five yards for a touchdown. East Carolina had been aided earlier in the drive when Virginia sophomore linebacker Antonio Appleby was called for a 15-yard late hit penalty as Pinkney ran out-of-bounds after a 25-yard scramble.
A quick three-and-out by Virginia's offense gave the ball right back to East Carolina and the Pirates moved the ball 39 yards, setting up place kicker Robert Lee for a 32-yard field goal attempt that gave East Carolina a 10-0 lead with 1:41 remaining in the first quarter.
By that point, Virginia had already given up more yards than it had during the entire 37-0 defeat of Duke Sept. 30.
Just before the quarter ended, however, the Cavaliers pulled a bit of lightning out of the bottle for a second-straight week as junior wide receiver Emmanuel Byers completed a 22-yard touchdown pass to senior wide receiver Deyon Williams on a trick play.
Just a week earlier at Duke, Byers completed a 21-yard touchdown pass to senior wide receiver Fontel Mines on a similar play. Byers, who also threw a touchdown pass last year at Miami, is tied with redshirt freshman quarterback Jameel Sewell for most career touchdown passes among players currently on the roster.
In the second quarter, Virginia's offense went three-and-out on its first two possessions and East Carolina took control of the game with rushing touchdowns by Fractious and Pinkney. Pinkney scored on a play out of the shotgun formation, in which he bobbled the snap before scampering for a 5-yard touchdown run.
"He played like a veteran quarterback, and that was the difference in the game," Groh said of Pinkney.
Early in the second half, a punt block made by Virginia's Ben Parziale set Virginia's offense up with a first-and-ten situation at East Carolina's 17-yard line. Sewell completed a 16-yard pass to junior tight end Tom Santi, which was followed by a one-yard touchdown run by senior running back Jason Snelling that brought Virginia to within ten points of the Pirates.
Snelling finished the game with a season-best 103 rushing yards on 16 carries.
Virginia could close the gap no further, however, and East Carolina widened its lead to 31-14 with 2:17 remaining in the fourth quarter on 2-yard fake field goal run by Ryan Dougherty.
With 18 seconds left on the clock, Sewell connected with Mines for a meaningless nine-yard touchdown pass.
In his third career start, Sewell completed 15 of 31 passes for 123 yards. He was sacked three times.
The Cavaliers start a three-game home-stand Saturday with a 3:30 p.m. matchup against the Maryland Terrapins (3-2, 0-1 ACC).
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