Dec. 23, 2007

HONOLULU, Hawai'i (AP) - All Chris Johnson could think about after his record-setting night was how let his team down.

Johnson set an NCAA bowl record with 408 all-purpose yards, and Ben Hartman kicked a 34-yard field goal as time expired to give East Carolina a 41-38 victory over No. 24 Boise State in the Sheraton Hawaii Bowl on Sunday night.

Johnson ran for 223 yards, caught three passes for 32 yards and returned six kickoffs for 153 yards. But he committed a costly fumble late that almost sent it to overtime. It was his first fumble of the season.

"I let my team down," he said. "But when I got back to the sideline, they told me they had my back and they loved me."

Johnson made up for it with his big night.

"It feels good to end my career like this. I wanted to come out here and show the country that I am the best back in the country," he said.

Hartman's kick gave the Pirates (8-5) their first postseason victory since the 2000 Galleryfurniture.com Bowl.

"I felt good going out there. I felt real confident," Hartman said. "I just knew if I did my thing, it was going to go in."

With East Carolina trying to run out the clock near midfield, Marty Tadman scooped up Johnson's fumble and returned it 47 yards for a touchdown to tie it at 38 with 1:25 left.

The Pirates took possession at their 39 with 1:16 left and drove to the 17 to set up Hartman's kick.

The Pirates stormed the field in celebration and chased after Hartman, who dashed toward the locker room.

Hartman said he took off because he was scared about get squashed underneath a pile of teammates.

The Broncos (10-3), making their sixth straight bowl appearance, almost repeated their last-minute magic from a year ago when they stunned Oklahoma in overtime in the Fiesta Bowl to finish 13-0.

But this time, it was the Broncos who fell a little short without any trick plays and an ailing Ian Johnson.

Johnson, who was nursing a sprained left ankle, carried the ball just once for 1 yard in the first quarter and finished with 11 yards on four carries.

It was Chris Johnson who stole the show.

He was selected the Most Valuable Player for the Pirates. Jeremy Avery, who rushed for 68 yards and caught four passes for 43 yards was Boise State's MVP.

Taylor Tharp was 30-of-44 for 266 yards and two touchdowns with two interceptions for Boise State.

"It was weird for us to start slow," Tharp said. "I think it was a combination of not being ready to go and missed assignments."

Patrick Pinkney threw for 117 yards and also rushed for 53 more for East Carolina.

The Pirates appeared to have the game in hand when they took a 38-14 lead early in the third quarter on Brandon Simmons' 3-yard TD run. The Broncos, however, hung in and reeled off 24 straight points.

D.J. Harper's 1-yard TD plunge cut East Carolina's lead to 38-31 with 7:09 left.

Most of the crowd was headed out of the stadium after Titus Young fumbled the ball, setting up the Pirates at their 39 with 1:45 left.

But East Carolina's star couldn't hang on to the ball as he struggled to add a few more yards to his record, which was previously held by Alabama's Sherman Williams 359 yards set against Ohio State in the 1995 Citrus Bowl.

"I was trying to run hard and get the first down," he said. "I cut up field and I just didn't put two hands on the ball. I had the first down and it just popped out."

Johnson had 181 rushing yards in the first half alone, including a 68-yard TD run that put East Carolina ahead 10-7. He also caught a screen pass from Pinkney and went 18 yards for a score to make it 24-7.

Third-year Pirates coach Skip Holtz said he was proud of his players, especially Johnson.

"What rest of country saw is what we've been watching for three years," he said. "I'm the president of the Chris Johnson fan club. I am his biggest fan. He is one of the hardest workers on this team. He's humble. He works his tail off."

Dominique Lindsay had a pair of 3-yard TD runs in the first half for East Carolina. His second touchdown gave the Pirates a 31-14 halftime lead.

The usually explosive Broncos looked rusty and unprepared in the first half. They went three-and-out on their first four possessions, followed by an interception, touchdown and fumble.

"That first half was very frustrating," second-year Broncos coach Chris Petersen said. "You have to come through when the money is on the line. It is some hard lessons for us, but we will learn and get better."

Boise State, a 10 1/2-point favorite, managed just 3 yards of offense in the first quarter while East Carolina racked up 181 behind Johnson's 106 rushing yards.

The Broncos' lone highlight in the first quarter was Austin Smith's 89-yard kickoff return for a TD. In the second quarter, Ryan Putnam caught a 3-yard pass from Tharp to cut East Carolina's lead to 10.

Boise State was without its top receiver, Jeremy Childs, who didn't make the trip for violating team rules.

GAME NOTES
• Team Captains: Josh Coffman (offense), Michael Hickman (special teams) and Fred Wilson (defense).

• Starting streaks: Matt Butler (37), Zack Slate (17), Chris Johnson (14), Steven Rogers (13), Jamar Bryant (13), Doug Palmer (13), Travis Williams (12) and Jay Ross (10).

• Patrick Pinkney started his fifth game at quarterback passing for 118 yards, completing 12-of-19 passes with one TD.

• Rob Kass saw action in the fourth quarter completing one pass for 36 yards.

• Ben Hartman was 2-for-2 on FGA (made: 36 and 34). His 34-yarder with four seconds left game the Pirates a 41- 38 victory. He extended his school record for consecutive PATs made to 59 after connecting on five attempts today.

• C.J. Wilson picked up his team leading seventh sack of the season (-6 yards) in the first quarter.

• Chris Johnson had 408 total yards of offense (223-rush, 32-receving and 153-KOR) tying his own school singlegame record which was set earlier against Memphis (11/3/07). He was named Hawai'I Bowl MVP for his performance. His 408 total yards set a NCAA Bowl game record (Previous: Sherman Williams of Alabama had 359 vs. Ohio State in the 1995 Citrus Bowl). Johnson scored two TDs (68-yard run, 18-yard receiving) and now has 24 TDs on the season. His 68-yarder was the second-longest run of the season (70 vs. Memphis). His 68-yard run is the second-longest in Hawai'I Bowl history (Kevin Smith, UCF - 2005). For his career, Johnson has 44 TDs (264 points). He picked up his fifth 100-yard rushing performance of the season and ninth of his career with 223 yards on 28 carries and finished his career with 2,982 rushing yards (third most in school history). He has scored at least one TD in 12-of-13 games this season and two or more in eight contests. Johnson set two Hawai'i Bowl records on the day rushing (223) and all-purpose yards (408). His 223 yards rushing is the eighth best single-game performance in school history.

• Dominique Lindsay scored on runs of 3 and 4 marking his first multi-TD game of his career. He finished the game with eight yards on four carries.

• Matt Dodge recorded his first career kickoff in the second quarter. His 61-yard punt in the second quarter is the second longest punt in Hawai'i Bowl history (Mat McBriar, Hawai'i - 2002). He rushed once for four yards coming on a fake punt in the fourth quarter resulting in a first down. Dodge punted seven times for 302 yards.

• Travis Williams picked off his second pass (UTEP and Boise State) of the season and fourth of his career in the second quarter. He finished with eight total tackles.

• Jay Sonnhalter caught one pass for 16 yards tying his season-long (UAB on 10/27/07).

• Dwayne Harris hauled down a career-long pass of 22 yards in the third quarter on the Pirates first possession. He also rushed three times for 24 yards with a long of 11.

• Brandon Simmons scored his fifth career TD and second of the season on a three yard run in the third quarter.

• JJ Milbrook picked off his third pass (UAB, Memphis, Boise State) on of the season (team-high) in the fourth quarter.

• Jamar Bryant caught a team-best six passes for 78 yards with a long of 36 coming on the Pirates final drive of the game setting up the winning field goal. He has caught at least one pass in 14 straight games dating back to the 2006 Papajohns.com Bowl.

• Jeremy Chambliss caused his first career fumble and recovered his first career fumble in the fourth quarter.

• Pierre Bell lead the Pirates with nine total tackles (all solo) and one TFL.

• Attendance: 30,467

• ECU improves to 8-6 all-time in bowl games with a 41-38 win. The last Pirate bowl victory came on Dec. 27, 2000 against Texas Tech in the 2000 galleryfurniture.com Bowl.

• ECU improved to 8-5 on the season. The eight wins is the most since the 2000 season (8-4).

• Hartman's 36-yard FG in the first quarter marked the second time this season ECU scored the games first points (10/27 vs. UAB - Jonathan Williams 35-yard TD run).

• ECU extended its streak to 126 games without being shutout when Hartman connected on a 36-yard FG in the first quarter. The last time ECU was blanked came on Oct. 4, 1997 against Syracuse (56-0).

• ECU had four receivers with a reception of 10-or more yards (Johnson-18, 11; Sonnhalter-16; Harris-22; Bryant-16, 36).

• ECU game up its third (UCF, Houston and Boise State) KOR TD in the first quarter when Austin Smith ran one back 89 yards in the first quarter.

• ECU forced four TOs on the day tying a season-high (UTEP) and has now forced at least two TOs in eight of the last nine games and 11 of the last 13.

• ECU's 31 first half points was the most this season and the most in a half since 2004 vs. Rice (31-second half).