ECU Falls To No. 16 Virginia Tech, 64-17

Saturday, September 16

Greenville, N.C.

3:30 P.M.

East Carolina University

0-3

Virginia Tech

3-0

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Virginia Tech

ECU

September 16, 2017 | Football

Box Score

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By Joe Corley
ECUPirates.com

GREENVILLE, N.C. – A fast start for the ECU football team ground to a halt in the second quarter, and the troubles unfortunately continued from there.

The result was a 64-17 loss to No. 16 Virginia Tech on Saturday at Bagwell Field inside Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium. After trailing by 10 heading into the second quarter, the Hokies reeled off 57 unanswered points, scoring on nine possessions in a row and 10 of 11.

"The biggest thing with 57 unanswered points is they were unanswered," said ECU head coach Scottie Montgomery, whose team dropped to 0-3.

By the time the Pirates sacked backup quarterback A.J. Bush on a third-and-5 from the Virginia Tech 26 with about eight minutes left in the game to end a Hokies possession without allowing a score, they trailed 57-17.

But that accomplishment was short-lived. Two plays later facing second-and-9 from the ECU 35, Darius Pinnix was hit by Khalil Ladler, who forced a fumble recovered by Virginia Tech's Jarrod Hewitt. Two plays after that, Coleman Fox closed the scoring with a 5-yard touchdown run.

The Pirates were outgained 675-282, with the Hokies running 95 plays to ECU's 61.

"If you look at the stats and see how many snaps some of our guys played, you start to realize they were out there way too long defensively," Montgomery said.

Still, Montgomery saw some encouraging signs.

"I felt like tonight we were in some one-on-one situations all over the field, and in the first half we won all of those one-on-one situations," he said. "In the second half, they won all those one-on-one situations, whether it was a pass, run or tackle. ... Tonight we were closer to them, but at the end of the day it's still the same outcome."

Quarterback Josh Jackson of Virginia Tech, which improved to 3-0, finished 24-for-31 for 372 yards and five touchdowns. The bulk of the receiving damage was done by Cam Phillips, who had 14 receptions for 189 yards and three scores. It seemed like every time the Hokies needed a play, Phillips was there, even when the defense was where it needed to be.

"We were in position a lot, and we panicked," Montgomery said. "(Phillips), give a lot of credit to him, a great football player. The biggest thing is, when we were in position to catch balls, we never turned and looked for the ball."

The Hokies began asserting their control in the second quarter, and put an exclamation point on it in the third quarter. Their first possession of the second half resulted in a 31-yard touchdown pass from Jackson to Phillips, and their second lasted just one play, a 70-yard touchdown pass to Travon McMillian. A 45-yard touchdown pass to Phillips followed on their next possession. Then less than two minutes later, after a fumble by ECU's Hussein Howe forced by Virginia Tech's Terrell Edmunds and recovered by the Hokies' Andrew Motuapuaka at the ECU 32, Virginia Tech scored its fourth touchdown of the third quarter on a 9-yard pass from Jackson to Sean Savoy.

ECU again was unable to move the ball, and the Hokies closed their scoring in the third quarter with a 1-yard run by Jalen Holston. Suddenly, a 23-17 halftime deficit was 57-17 for the Pirates, and the third quarter wasn't over yet.

ECU fans had plenty to cheer about early. The Pirates scored touchdowns the first two times they had the ball — taking leads for the first time all season — and got a 35-yard field goal from Jake Verity on their third possession. That gave them a 17-7 advantage with 2:34 left in the first quarter. It also boosted their total offense output to 213 yards.

For the rest of the half, however, ECU's offense was stymied as short or no gains forced it into second-and-long situations. After the field goal by Verity, ECU didn't gain another first down in the half. It ran 16 plays for a net of three yards.

Montgomery credited Virginia Tech defensive coordinator Bud Foster for making an adjustment and being more aggressive in pursuing the quarterback.

"Coach Foster did a good job of adjusting to us not having a running quarterback," he said. "Our run game, we didn't have one, and that's really frustrating."

Meanwhile, the Virginia Tech found a rhythm as the Hokies scored the last four times they had the ball in the half. Jackson capped a 13-play, 79-yard drive with a 10-yard touchdown pass to Phillips with 13:11 left in the second quarter to pull the Hokies within 17-14.

Their next three possessions all ended with field goals by Joey Slye, from 25, 34 and 37 yards.

At halftime, Virginia Tech held a 293-208 lead in total offense. Jackson passed efficiently, completing 17-of-24 for 191 yards and the score to Phillips.

ECU did all of its damage in the first half. The Hokies won the toss and deferred, so the Pirates took the ball. Highlighted by a career-long 41-yard reception for tight end Stephen Baggett on second-and-7 from the ECU 41, the Pirates needed seven plays to cover 75 yards as they scored on a 9-yard pass from Gardner Minshew to Davon Grayson cutting across the middle of the end zone from left to right. It was Grayson's first touchdown since a 19-16 loss to Cincinnati on Nov. 28, 2015.

Virginia Tech tied it on its first possession on a 1-yard run by Steven Peoples on third-and-goal, but ECU was quick to retaliate. Taking possession on their own 25 after one of 10 Slye touchbacks, Trevon Brown scored on a 76-yard pass from Minshew, streaking down the left sideline.

"I probably shouldn't have gone there, honestly, but I knew he had the fade and I trust him," said Minshew, who completed 11 of 30 passes for 241 yards with a pair of touchdowns and one interception. "He's a playmaker. When he ball's in the air, he's going to go get it."

The defense then held the Hokies, forcing a punt. Taking over on their own 20, the Pirates went 63 yards on 10 plays and took a 10-point lead on Verity's field goal.

ECU rushed 31 times, but gained just 40 yards. Tyshon Dye got the most carries with 11 for 32 yards. He also had a career-long 30-yard reception during the third quarter.

"It's disappointing, but at the end of the day that's a great team," Dye said. "But everything that we want is still in front of us. We just have to stay positive going into conference play."

Minshew got the start as Thomas Sirk was held out as a precaution. He could've played, but Montgomery said that with Sirk being seven days into the concussion protocol, he didn't want to risk further injury, which would force him to miss more time.

Going into the game, ECU had won six of its last seven against opponents from the Atlantic Coast Conference. Included in that were a pair of victories over the Hokies in 2014 (28-21 on the road) and 2015 (35-28 at home). But Virginia Tech ended the Pirates' six-game winning streak against the ACC with a 54-17 decision in Blacksburg, Va., last year.

Next up for ECU is its American Athletic Conference opener, a game at 12 noon next Sunday at UConn. Next weekend originally was scheduled as an off week, but schedules were re-arranged because of Hurricane Irma.

UConn won its opener 27-20 over Holy Cross on Aug. 31. It was scheduled to play USF on Sept. 9, but that was postponed to Nov. 4 because of Irma. The Huskies, who finished 3-9 overall and 1-7 in the AAC a year ago, dropped to 1-1 with a 38-18 loss to Virginia on Saturday. They trailed 31-0 before getting on the board late in the third quarter on a trick play.

Quarterback Bryant Shirreffs provided the bulk of the offense for UConn against Virginia. He completed 18 of 26 passes for 207 yards with a pair of touchdowns and one interception, and he rushed 14 times for 90 yards. The Huskies surrendered 626 yards of offense.

ECU, which owns a 2-1 edge in the series, downed UConn 41-3 last October at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium.

"Conference play's about to start," Minshew said. "It's a new season for us. We just have to really focus in practice and get better."