GREENVILLE, N.C. -- A tropical swarm of purple did in eighth-ranked West Virginia tonight. A bunch of Pirates from East Carolina, played keep away, toyed with the visitors' vaunted offense and avenged a 41-point thrashing a year ago with a 24-3 throttling of their own before a sold-out, violet-clad, enthralled crowd of 43,610 at Dowdy-Ficklen Staidum. It was the third-largest crowd ever in this Conference USA team's history and their school- and league-record third consecutive triumph over a Top 25 foe, the latter certain to catapult these Pirates into this week's polls.

West Virginia (1-1) will drop as a result, as well.

This was the first time they have lost to East Carolina (2-0) since 1999 -- and just the third in 20 meetings of a series that West Virginia has dominated by an average score of 33-15.

Sophomore runningback Jonathan Williams scored twice for East Carolina, and quarterback Patrick Pinkney directed a spread offense that eviscerated the Mountaineers defense, averaging nearly 6 yards per play through the opening three quarters.

Pinkney compiled 317 yards of offense -- 236 passing on a 22-of-28 performance, and 81 yards rushing.

The last time West Virginia failed to score a touchdown in a game was Oct. 25, 2001, in a 45-3 rout at the hands of Miami.

Patrick White was 11 of 18 for 72 yards and rushed 20 times for 97 yards, mostly running for his life. Noel Devine added 94 yards on 12 carries for West Virginia.

More in tomorrow's Post-Gazette.

From here, West Virginia has 12 days to think over this loss and prepare for an ESPN Thursday night game on Sept. 18 at Colorado (2-0), a 31-24 victor over Division I-AA Eastern Washington last night.