By Joe Kay
The Associated Press

Quarterback Gino Guidugli spent most of his time handing off and taking off as Cincinnati rolled up 40 points.

A trend? He hopes not.

Guidugli tied the school record for career touchdown passes, but was little more than a middleman today as the Bearcats ground out a 40-3 victory over East Carolina.

Guidugli, a junior who holds many of Cincinnati's passing records, had as many runs as completions in the first half, when the Bearcats (1-0) pulled ahead 21-0.

"I'd rather throw the ball, but if that's what it calls for and what the game plan is, I'm willing to do it," said Guidugli, who was 13-of-25 for 121 yards. "We didn't even open up. We didn't show anything in the passing game."

They didn't have to. The running game was so good, compiling 361 yards, that there was no need to throw.

Richard Hall ran for 117 yards and the Bearcats' first touchdown, setting the tone. Derick Eddington added 138 yards and a touchdown after Cincinnati took control.

"One time I came to the sideline and said, 'I haven't seen holes this big since high school,"' said Hall, the former Wyoming High star who initially enrolled at Ohio State but transferred to Cincinnati. "It was a big shock to me that they were blocking that well. I didn't have to make any of their defensive linemen miss."

East Carolina (0-1) had a dreadful debut under John Thompson, who became the Pirates' 18th head coach on Dec. 20. Junior quarterback Desmond Robinson was erratic in his first career start, and an offensive line that was supposed to be the Pirates' strength - five senior starters - got manhandled.

"They dominated the line of scrimmage the whole game," Robinson said. "It was a rough day totally on offense."

Thompson, a defensive coordinator at seven schools including LSU, Arkansas and Florida, couldn't get his defense in sync against the Bearcats' no-huddle approach.

The Pirates also were penalized twice for roughing the passer on third-down incompletions by Guidugli, sustaining drives.

"There's a lot of things we've got to get so much better on," Thompson said. "We got it stuck to us pretty good today. We didn't do anything all day to create any momentum."

East Carolina, which went 4-8 last season, lost its opener for the 10th time in the last 13 years. The Pirates' next two games are against West Virginia and Miami.

Cincinnati returns 10 starters from a team that went 7-7 last season, including a 42-26 victory over the Pirates that clinched a share of the Conference USA title and a trip to the New Orleans Bowl.

The Bearcats went 59 yards - all on the ground - to set the tone on their second possession, with Hall scoring standing up on fourth-and-goal from the 1. An interception then set up Tedric Harwell's 1-yard touchdown run.

Cincinnati went 90 yards in 12 plays late in the half, with Guidugli throwing a 29-yard touchdown pass to tight end Dennis Hart. Guidugli faked a handoff to Hall, and Hart got free behind the coverage for an easy score with 23 seconds left.

Guidugli, who set most of Cincinnati's single-season passing records last year, tied the school record with his 39th career touchdown pass. He also ran eight times for 45 yards overall, often surprising the Pirates on draw plays.

The Pirates managed only two first downs in the first half, one of them on a flea-flicker. Robinson was 7-of-11 for 70 yards and an interception before being replaced by Paul Troth late in the third quarter.

East Carolina lost top runner Art Brown to a knee injury last month, and didn't have an effective replacement. Marvin Townes carried 15 times for 36 yards, but had few holes to exploit.

The Pirates didn't get any closer than the Cincinnati 43-yard line in the first half. Hall's fumble set up Cameron Broadwell's 36-yard field goal early in the third quarter, but Eddington's 23-yard touchdown run ended any chance of an East Carolina comeback. Harwell ran 10 yards for another score in the closing minutes.

ECarolina	0	0	3	0-3
Cincinati	14	7	10	9-40

First Quarter

Cin-Hall 1 run (Manfredini kick), 5:23.

Cin-Harwell 1 run (Manfredini kick), 1:44.

Second Quarter

Cin-Hart 29 pass from Guidugli (Manfredini kick), 0:23.

Third Quarter

ECar-FG Broadwell 36, 11:16.

Cin-Eddington 23 run (Manfredini kick), 7:13.

Cin-FG Ervin 42, 1:19.

Fourth Quarter

Cin-Safety, Troth sacked in end zone by Enzor, 5:32.

Cin-Harwell 10 run (Manfredini kick), 1:25.

A-28,011.

	ECar	Cina
First downs	8	24
Rushes-yards	32-57	56-361
Passing	146	128
Comp-Att-Int	16-26-1	14-27-0
Return Yards	97	75
Punts-Avg.	8-45	5-36
Fumbles-Lost	0-0	4-2
Penalties-Yards	8-60	4-25
Time of Possession	26:08	33:52

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING-East Carolina, Townes 15-36, Leach 5-12, Fain 2-11, Robinson 5-5, Tillman 2-5, Troth 3-(minus 12). Cincinnati, Eddington 11-138, Hall 24-117, Harwell 6-52, Guidugli 8-45, Koester 5-10, Vann 1-0.

PASSING-East Carolina, Robinson 7-11-1-146, Troth 9-15-0-76. Cincinnati, Guidugli 13-25-0-121, Carey 1-2-0-7.

RECEIVING-East Carolina, Copper 11-106, Coffman 1-23, Wright 1-8, Hourigan 1-4, Bowling 1-4, Townes 1-1. Cincinnati, Murray 3-21, Hart 2-40, Dawley 2-23, Eddington 2-1, Hall 1-17, Hazel 1-9, Daniels 1-7, Celek 1-7, Ross 1-3.