Published: September 04, 2008 11:59 pm         

Ivy: ECU’s win no fluke

MORGANTOWN — West Virginia football notebook:

Take linebacker Mortty Ivy’s word for it, East Carolina’s football team is for real.

“That 27-22 upset of No. 17 Virginia Tech wasn’t any fluke,” the 6-foot-3, 235-pound senior said. “The Pirates have a really good team. They play hard and they play as a unit.”

He thinks Saturday’s game at Greenville, N.C., is going to be “tough and hard” for the No. 8-ranked Mountaineers.

“We’ve just got to go out there and execute well and play hard,” he said.

Ivy, who was named Big East Defensive Player of the Week for his performance in the win over Villanova, thinks ECU quarterback Patrick Pinkney is a very fine player. He proved against Tech that he can beat a team with both his arm and his feet.

“Basically, we’ve got to go down there, be on our Q’s, play hard and make sure that we do the little things right,” Ivy said.

A capacity crowd of 43,000 is expected for Saturday’s 4:30 p.m. kickoff at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium. Tropical Storm Hanna remains a threat.

ESPN will televise the contest nationally. Clarksburg native Mike Patrick will handle the play-by-play, with Todd Blackledge the analyst and Holly Rowe the sideline reporter.

The Mountaineer Sports Network will broadcast the action as usual, with Tony Caridi the play-by-play announcer and Dwight Wallace the analyst.

WVU defensive coordinator Jeff Casteel hopes his youthful unit will be more effective this Saturday than it was against Villanova.

The Wildcats gained 399 yards and had the ball 15 minutes more than the Mountaineer offense, and he did not like the numbers in the 48-21 season opener.

“I think that went above and beyond the typical,” Casteel said. “I think the kids learned from it. We just have to get better. They will be OK.”

Tale of the Tape:

West Virginia scored 48 points and netted 354 yards in total offense, while East Carolina tallied 27 points and 369 yards in opening games.

Rushing, the respective totals were 149 and 158 yards and those passing 205 and 211.

Defensively, the Mountaineers allowed 21 points and 399 yards and the Pirates 22 points and 243 yards. WVU gave up 133 yards rushing and ECU only 104 yards rushing.

The pass-catching display against Villanova was impressive, with no fewer than eight different players coming up with receptions.

Jock Sanders, who had eight catches for 62 yards and two touchdowns, thinks that proved to the receiving corps that coach Bill Stewart wasn’t just bumping his gums when he promised that WVU is going to throw the ball more this fall.

He recalled there was a lot of running in the first two camp scrimmages, and it made some wonder whether the Mountaineers actually would be putting the ball into the air a lot.

With Villanova loading up the box, WVU had no choice but to capitalize on the aerial attack.

Anthony Leonard, a 6-2, 240-pound sophomore linebacker, hopes to continue to see considerable action after making five tackles in last week’s game.

“This is the best group of linebackers I’ve ever been with,” he said. “I learned a lot from guys like Marc Magro, Jay Henry and Boo McLee. We have the best of both worlds.”

Leonard spent last season mostly playing with the special teams. He did surprise himself a bit the way he played at linebacker, and wants to continue to get better.

West Virginia is 34-5 over the last 39 games, including 17-4 in Big East play.

The Mountaineers have won the last seven meetings with East Carolina and lead the series by a 17-2 margin. The Pirates eked out a 23-20 victory in 1995 at Greenville and posted a 30-23 win in the 1999 season opener at Charlotte, N.C.

This series is about to lapse until 2013, according to coach Stewart.