Frogs face tough foe in Brown
By Danny Gillham
Sports Editor

The Frog defense will have another tough task on hand against Art Brown and the high-powered East Carolina offense.

Every team has its share of talented skill players, but the Frog defense has faced numerous running backs with exceptional ability.

So far, it hasn’t been that much of a problem.

The Frogs (8-1, 5-1 Conference USA) have the No. 1 rush defense in the nation, giving up just 56.2 yards a game on the ground. Only Keylon Kincade of Southern Methodist has gained 100 yards in a game against the Frogs’ defense this year.

Now the Frogs get their newest challenge in East Carolina (3-6, 3-2 C-USA) and junior Art Brown. Brown has 969 yards rushing on the season. He is also second in the nation in scoring with 17 touchdowns, reaching the end zone in every game this season.

“He’s amazing,” defensive coordinator David Bailiff said. “Every time you look at a cut-up (of film), he’s breaking one for over 15 yards. We’re going to have to be great tacklers Saturday.”

Head coach Gary Patterson added to the compliments of Brown.

“I think he’s the best in the league at what he does,” Patterson said. “(He’s) very slippery and catches the ball well. He’s probably not a great blocker but they don’t ever asked him to do it.”

Brown’s dependability has also opened up the passing game for sophomore quarterback Paul Troth. The Pirates are averaging 228.4 yards to compliment Brown’s yards on the ground.

Also contributing to the cause is the Pirate offensive line. The group returned four starters from last year, including All-Conference tackle Brian Rimpf.

“There is no doubt, this is probably the best offense in the conference right now,” Bailiff said. “You look at all their games, and they’re absolute shootouts. They’re scoring over 30 points a game offensively.”

Once again the Frogs will depend on the defense to shut down the Pirate attack, and give its offense a chance to dictate the pace of the game.

Junior defensive end Bo Schobel said the unit will step up to the task.

“We’ve been playing good together at a group,” Schobel said. “We trust each other, and I think that’s our main attribute. We’ve gotten healthy and ironed out all of our flaws.”

Bailiff said the best way to explain the success of the defense is the fact they are a veteran unit.

“To keep somebody to (negative yardage), you don’t ever really think that’s going to happen,” Bailiff said. “That is just one of those things where we’re hot with the (defensive) calls and you hope you can stay hot, and they keep the same tendencies to let you do that.”

d.r.gillham@tcu.edu