down about a yard short of the first down by charles brown. >> ray: a little zone blitz by the tar heels here. e.j. wilson dropped out from the defensive end position. and that was him out in space there. trying to make a play. and big boys, they're not -- they're not familiar with being out there in space. >> pam: third and one. and giavanni ruffin got first down. >> ray: nice stop by ruffin who is showing his quickness and we saw a shot prior to that play of coach butch davis on the sidelines clapping and that's one thing that he's a clapper over there. he keeps things positive. you know last week when they were down 10-0 in the fourth quarter, he's kept that team together with his positive attitude. >> pam: first down, pinkney can't get away from the pressure

of robert quinn. his defensive coordinator, everett withers, says he'll be scary there. he already looks pretty good as a sophomore. >> ray: he's too fast coming over here. you will see the backside guard, quinn's here. and flipped around. and then tried to bring the backside guard over to pick him up. doug palmer and no way that you could ask doug palmer to get a quick robert quinn off of the edge in that kind of protection. you're not able to do that. >> pam: only a sophomore. sixth tackle from north carolina today. pinkney with time to throw. completes it to dwayne harris who is tackled a couple of yards shy of the first down. a 16-yard pick-up for the pirates. >> ray: this is a desperation time drive right now. for skip holtz and his team.

i know there's 11:30 or so left in this thing. but if they really want to make a rally in getting themselves in it at the end, they need at least a field goal out of this drive. >> pam: facing a third and one. from their own 40. they're throwing for it on third and one. pinkney with a nice grab and boy joe womack got the high throw, gathered it in in front of deunta williams for the big first down. >> ray: this is something that they saw upstairs where they knew that they had just one high safety up top. and so you try to get the throw out in between that safety in the corner and that's what they were exactly able to do as pinkney put some mustard on that one and the throw got there before deunta williams could. >> pam: womack caught it for a 21-yard gain. on a third and one. pinkney throws back to jamar

bryant. tackled inside the 30 yard line. let's go back to wendi nix for an an update. >> pam, as you indicated, some folks surprised that cal and minnesota were close. well, they're closer. eric deckers option pass to marquise gray and this game now knotted up 21-21 in the fourth quarter over on espn. >> pam: well, how about that, cal's been making mince meat of defense so far this year, averaging over 50 points a game. and the gophers have them tied up. ruffin picks up the first down for the pirates on that play. >> ray: i had that in my scouting report on eric decker. he's a lefty. so you got to always beware when he takes a pitch. >> pam: he's a terrific baseball player too for the gophers. he's already been drafted a couple of times by major league teams. hanging in there as a football player for minnesota trying to pull off that upset at home. meanwhile, at least east carolina's trying to score in

offensive point for the first time all season. and that's not going to get it done. roughing, bottled up by the two big guys in the middle, cam thomas and marvin austin. another two-yard loss for the pirates. really been struggling. on their first 11 possessions just 11 first downs. they have three first downs in this drive alone. second and 12. pinkney takes off but gets a good block. and goes down to the 16. ruffin, the running back, who came in got a nice block to open up some real estate for his quarterback. >> ray: and they caught aleric mullins on a stunt.

he ran out of that. and a perfect play call. called on the stunt of the defense and cam thomas also stunting out of that area and left a huge hole. on third and one. do you think they'll throw it down the field again? >> pam: they did last time and picked up 21 yards on the first du down and now they're on the 16. this time they go more conservatively and it works. ruffin, who has just come into this game in this series, has made an impact. >> ray: this east carolina football team will not go easily into the night, pam. they've been in this big stage and they've played top 25 programs. in fact, they've won three in a row against top 25 programs. and so they're going to hang in there and they're going to give you everything they have until the end. >> pam: yep, last year they beat virginia tech in successive weeks. time before, that the season before, they beat boise state in the hawaii bowl when the broncos were -- a late pitch. pinkney got rid of it, over to

harris. drew them out of bounds inside of the 10 yard line. picked up five. >> ray: a pretty good job by pinkney just running the old-fashion option there, a triple option. going to ride it, pull it and then work it outside and makes quick pitch to the outside. to dwayne harris. and pick up five yards. not a bad little wrinkle. >> pam: a great drive. 13th play of this drive. coming up, they need 5:30. that's the negative for east carolina but at low. they're moving the football. on second down. jonathan williams taken down for no gain. e.j. wilson with the stop. >> ray: it's tough to run laterally against this carolina defense. i think they've had more success when they come straight at them. now you've gate third and five. i would love to see pinkney on

the perimeter with the run/pass option. >> pam: perfect on third downs so far in this drive. they need to get just inside the 5 yard line. pinkney throws it short of the first down. alex taylor got it for a very short gain. so here it is a fourth and one coming up. what do you do if you're skip? >> ray: it's a long one. i will kick a field goal and make this a one-possession game if i am holtz and exactly what he's going to do. you have to, you cannot come up empty on this drive. >> pam: ben hartman comes back out. his only field goal attempt today was a 47-yarder that didn't get much looked on and it was blocked. this one much closer from the 22.

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>> pam: east carolina fans have smog celebrate. their first offensive points in the second half in this young season. all they had to show for it in the first two weeks was a

safety. the first week against appalachian state. that was a nice drive. culminating with a field goal by ben hartman to pull them within a touchdown. hartman kicks it off to johnny white. stopped just short of the 20 yard line and now for our saturday menu brought to you by applebee's, what you have to look forward to on the bottom of the hour on abc. regional action. nebraska/virginia tech. usc/washington or tennessee/florida. i think that urban meyer may want to have his team score some points tonight. and now t.j. yates goes out. his team only up by a touchdown. would love to burn some of that 6:15 remaining in the game. erik highsmith, the true freshman, breaks away. the true freshman with a ton of

talent with a huge gain. all the way up to the 42 yard line. >> ray: they've been running this kind of play all day. just a one-man screen on the outside. and dekota marshall is going to get kind of rolled over in this tacklep you will see they released mike ingersoll the right tackle and that forced the corner over there, darryl reynolds, he missed it. kind of ducked down. marshall missed it from the other side and highsmith was off and running. >> pam: that was a 43-yard play for highsmith, who has five catches, over 100 yards and a touchdown today. >> ray: boy, he came on the scene last week, as we mentioned, pam. and all of a sudden, those big shoes of those receivers who left the tar heel program last year, they're filled. they're filled by that guy right there. >> pam: first career 100-yard gain for the true freshman. he didn't have any catches the first week against appalachian state.

but last week against -- or excuse me, against the citadel. last week against connecticut did he have the breakout game. >> ray: right and all four of has grabs come in the second half. this is his first career start and he throws a hundred. >> pam: yates, nicely done. back to highsmith, why not? keep going to number 88. ten more yards. he's he was used to going to 88 when it was hakim nix. >> ray: a nice job by highsmith. he's really impressing me. just curling behind. he knows where his zone defenders are. he gets into that little soft spot there and then he's got the soft hands. the thing that jumped off of him throughout camp. he caught everything that came his way. >> pam: draughn doesn't get much on that first down carry. highsmith a true freshman from vanceboro north carolina. as a high school senior, his team won a state championship and he led the entire state in

receiving yards but still as we mentioned when he came here they didn't expect a left great things, but he won the job with a great camp. >> ray: the cream kind of rises to the top. they had guys that they thought were better and were better on paper and more highly touted but highsmith is the one who did it on the field. >> pam: it's all about the productivity and he's done that. north carolina with a second and ten. snapping it from the 24. draughn makes something out of nothing. all the way down to the 12 yard line. another tar heel first down. >> ray: boy, draughn, i'm telling you, he has an accelerator. when he sees that little crack or whatever and then you'll get excited too. i like that. watch him hit the gas pedal, right there. he just saw the opening and burst through it. and then he got himself all pumped up. i like that. >> pam: 118 yards week one against the citadel. only 21 against connecticut.

the yards are hard to come by with randy's defense. right back to draughn. nick johnson, the middle linebacker, dropped him for a two-yard loss. >> ray: johnson did a really nice way of fighting his way through the blockers. he fought off two blockers to get up there and get into that one and he's got seven tackles thus far on the day. >> pam: he's a throwback. his defensive coordinator, greg hudson, says he reminds him of a neckroll guy. there's greg who likes to be on the guy. you like neckroll guys. >> ray: neckroll guys, that's a beautiful thing. i used to wear one back in the day. >> pam: not too many of those guys left in football. second and 12 for the tar heels. they've had the ball over three minutes in this crucial drive trying to protect a seven-point lead. yates on the roll. he's got nowhere to go.

but out. and there's a silly penalty for east carolina. yates outside the tackle box and the throw was okay as he threw it out of bounds but a roughing. >> ray: yeah and that's c.j. wilson didn't put the brakes on there and yates was standing there, knew he had nothing, just tossed it out of bounds and wilson -- >> referee: personal foul. >> ray: -- just came and whacked him. >> referee: roughing the passer. defense. half the distance automatic first down. >> ray: here's the thing. look, there's no cross fire. you know what, he got blocked into it. anthony elzy blocked him into it. so that's not the fault of c.j. wilson. you would hope the officials could get together and maybe somebody saw that because that really should not be a penalty. >> pam: you would take back any interference that it was wilson's faumt. you're absolutely right that was not a true roughing. elzy with the late block. skip holtz upset. instead of a third and 12 with

the penalty, it's now first and goal. huge, it's a huge, huge call. houston takes it down to the 5. >> ray: yeah. i didn't understand why wilson would do something like that and now i know. >> pam: he didn't. >> ray: skip's got a legitimate beef on that. >> pam: huge play. keep the drive alive. all the precious seconds ticking away for skip holtz's ball club. second and goal as we approach two minutes to go. houston is the tailback. gets it heads to the end zone and takes it in. north carolina with an insurance touchdown.

>> ray: ryan houston is that fourth quarterback for this tar heel football team and it is draughn throughout most of the game and then they bring in the beef, 262. >> pam: his second touchdown run of the game. barth adds the extra point. north carolina helped by this nonpenalty penalty that kept the drive going. gave them first and goal. announcer: "it looks like nothing else on the road right now," proclaims "gq" magazine. did you see that? the interior "positively oozes class," raves "car magazine." "slick and sensuous," boasts "the washington times." "the most striking vw in recent memory," declares--

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>> pam: jimmie johnson racing for an historic fourth straight championship. all try to make history. the chase for the nascar sprint

cup at new hampshire. starts tomorrow on sunday at 1:00 eastern on abc tv. north carolina with a 14-point lead now over skip holtz and east carolina. and skip had a legitimate beef about a penalty that gave carolina a first and goal on that last drive. we will let you see it in a moment. skip has been known to rip people on the sidelines. >> ray: yeah, skipper "the ripper" on the sidelines. i've seen him go after some folks and he actually maintained his calm pretty good on that exchange. >> pam: and he had ever right to be ripped. a little short kickoff, jonathan williams runs up. goes out of bounds around the 40 yard line. that was a 20-yard return. here's the east carolina head coach during the break. >> ray: skip's got a legitimate beef here. his player, c.j. wilson got blocked into the quarterback. hit from behind actually by

elzy. it really could had been a clip on elzy and a late hit on him. you see right there. the late push. and t.j. yates took the brunt of it and they called roughing the passer, and that's why skip was a little upset. >> pam: when he was talking to the referee, ron cherry, who was right there and due through the flag. as east carolina doesn't have a lot of time to get back into this. >> ray: the officiating crew in my opinion has to work better as i team. the other official has to say hey, he got pushed into it but unfortunately nobody saw it. >> pam: it would had been a third and 12 for north carolina and instead a firtr first and goal. ryan houston punched it in for for his second touchdown of the game and it's given them this 14-point cushion. taylor with another catch. picks up three. >> ray: and you're going to see this tar heel defense lay back. they can't allow anything to score on them quickly. so they're going to give up all of those short little things to pinkney right now.

they don't want anything going over their head. >> pam: east carolina with a couple of time-outs remaining. >> ray: they're playing that cover two shell. two safeties back there. >> pam: that one's almost intercepted. da'norris searcy got his hands on the ball in front of willis. east carolina in these last couple of the drives really moved the ball. coming into this drive almost 120 yards. only three points to show for it. >> ray: and the field goal blocked and both times bogged down as they got in that red zone. >> pam: the three points, their only three offensive points of this season. in the second half. that one's thrown behind the intend receiver jamar bryant. charles brown, has been all over the place today in the coverage. >> ray: the tar heels taking a chance on that last one as you see the total yards in this half.

but they went man to man across the board with a free safety and brought five on the pass rush. >> pam: and on fourth season seven, east carolina has to go for it and they will. blitz6w!

or not and so the officials are conferring on what the situation is. i do not believe east carolina took the time-out. >> referee: time-out on the

field. >> ray: and now probably going to go and get on the horn with the officials upstairs and try to set the clock right. and replay official today is mr. dan post, who has 25 years in the acc and five years in the booth and communicator's tom giles, sr., he got 51 years of experience. those two guys between the two them should figure out what's going on with the clock. >> pam: and they've been upstairs and about had do any -- >> ray: no heavy lifting today. >> pam: good for them. because those guys do a great job, week in, week without this replay system. but nothing has been challenged. of course if you could challenge a penalty that would had been challenged in the last. you can't do that. nope. >> ray: that's a good thing, i think. >> pam: yes because that may bogdown the game. >> ray: these games could last ten hours. >> pam: skip holtz. >> referee: operator, please

reset the 1:10. 1:10. >> pam: get the clock straightened out. >> referee: put the game clock my whistle. >> pam: holtz has taken his pirates to three straight bowl games. really doing a terrific job taking over a program that had won just 3 of its last 25 games this he came in, and as you mentioned earlier in the show, year after year, more wins after more wins and now three bowls in a row. >> ray: yeah, and they hadn't won a championship since way back in 1976 when they were the southern conference champions, and then last year they were the champions of conference usa. >> pam: going on to the liberty bowl. houston again. behind this patchwork offensive line for north carolina. joseph made the stop. picked up five.

north carolina next week has a challenge as they get their acc season going. they go to georgia tech. tech got jacory harris the other day. >> ray: yeah, they'll be on the rebound coming off of that loss and star t conference play and tech, a favorite to win that conference, as you see the north carolina schedule. got some dandies on there. they're going to get miami up here on november 14th and that might be for all of the marbles in the acc. >> pam: that's going to be a heck of a ball game at kenan stadium. east carolina, playing central florida at home next week. they came into this game, 1-1. beat appalachian estimate week one and then fell at west virginia, a team that they beat last ye last year.

you will get your best shot from teams thabeet you and remember they beat west virginia. got off to that great start. sort of everybody's darling and then things -- >> ray: a little going. >> pam: yeah but not much. you still win a conference championship. first down run for ryan houston, who has two rushing touchdowns today. >> ray: yeah, and i can't imagine coach holtz will spend another time-out after this situation. >> pam: boy, t.j. yates, how good was he today? they said that he had the grittiest coaches, the grittiest performance that they had seen in that comeback win against connecticut last week. you hope for a carryover and he certainly showed it today. >> ray: he really, did pam. he was outstanding throughout the entire ball game and hit that one big pass on the play action that they had set the pirates up for perfectly and he dropped into the bucket. the home run ball to boyd and that really got this carolina team going. >> pam: east carolina off to a 7-0 lead but north carolina comes back to win it 31-17.