Saturday, September 30
Greenville, N.C.
12:00 P.M.
East Carolina University
1-4 , 1-1
31
vs
61
USF
5-0 , 2-0
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
F
USF
21
10
17
13
61
ECU
10
14
7
0
31
Pirates Fall To Bulls In AAC Action
September 30, 2017 | Football
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By Joe Corley
ECUPirates.com
GREENVILLE, N.C. — The ECU football team hung tough deep into the third quarter, but No. 18 USF proved to be too much and pulled away for a 61-31 victory on Saturday at Bagwell Field inside Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium.
The Pirates dropped to 1-4 overall and 1-1 in the American Athletic Conference. The Bulls ran their winning streak to 10 games as they improved to 5-0 and 2-0. USF now has won all four meetings against ECU in Greenville and holds a 7-1 edge in the series.
When quarterback Thomas Sirk converted a fourth-and-goal from the 1 for a touchdown with 6:31 left in the third quarter, the Pirates trailed only 38-31. But it was all USF after that.
Bulls quarterback Quinton Flowers capped the next possession with a 4-yard touchdown pass to Marquez Valdes-Scantling. Then ECU was unable to answer. Three plays netted the Pirates zero yards, and on fourth down a punt by Austin Barnes was blocked out of bounds at the ECU 18-yard line when the defense pushed one of Barnes' own teammates into the punt.
The Pirates held tough, though, and forced the Bulls to attempt a 28-yard field goal attempt, which Emilio Nadelman made on the final play of the third quarter to make it 48-31.
ECU went four-and-out on its next possession, falling short when it went for it on fourth-and-2 from the ECU 33. From there, Darius Tice capped a 7-play drive with a 6-yard touchdown run, making it a 24-point game.
The Pirates' next drive ended with an interception in the end zone by Mazzi Wilkins, and USF closed the scoring with 5:55 left on a 10-yard run by D'Ernest Johnson.
"We didn't have enough in the end to play with them at the end of the third quarter and into the fourth quarter," ECU head coach Scottie Montgomery said. "What we have to realize is, this is the standard we have to catch. We've got to catch South Florida and their talent. We're looking at a team with seniors and a lot of juniors.
"I'm happy that a lot of them will be graduating, especially the quarterback. I thought he was just as good as we thought he was. He picked his spots on the field. He threw the ball effectively. They dropped some balls that should've been catches. He played at an extremely high level."
Flowers completed 10 of 18 passes for 160 yards and two touchdowns, and he rushed 10 times for 93 yards and another score. Johnson had 16 carries for 111 yards and two scores, Valdes-Scantling ran twice for 80 yards and a touchdown, and Tice had 12 rushes for 65 yards and one touchdown. USF had a 575-414 advantage in total offense.
Sirk completed 20 of 43 passes for 303 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions, and he ran 18 times for 87 yards and two more scores.
"Thomas is going to give us a real chance this year," Montgomery said. "He's going to get better. I knew this was going to happen. What we've got to do now is make sure people around him play at a high enough level that if we do have to get into some shootouts, we can win some of those shootouts.
"I'm impressed with the way he played. I'm sure there are some things I'm going to want him to do differently, but now we're starting to get the whole playbook out there on the field."
Outside of Sirk, ECU struggled rushing the ball, totaling 108 yards on the ground. Tyshon Dye was the Pirates' second-leading rusher, gaining 12 yards on three carries.
"We knew that against these guys, quarterback runs would be something that could be effective for us," said Sirk, whose two touchdown runs were the first two of his ECU career. "It worked for us. Obviously I had more carries, and that's something I'm willing to do for this team."
Ten Pirates had receptions, led by Davon Grayson with five for 101 yards and a touchdown. Mydreon Vines had the first of his career, for 34 yards.
"Regardless of what the stat sheet says or what guys made plays, at the end of the day it's all about coming out of here on top," Grayson said. "We've got to have more success than what we've had prior. We'll continue to strive to work hard and get better."
The Pirates withstood every punch USF threw at them in the first half, then delivered a huge one of their own on the last play to take some momentum to the locker room. Having taken over at their own 40 with 5:01 left in the half, ECU rode the legs of Sirk to the red zone. Sirk had four keepers on the drive good for 36 yards.
On first-and-goal from the 6, Sirk ran for three yards. Darius Pinnix gained one yard on the next play, but the clock kept running and the Pirates had only one timeout, which they called with four seconds to go. Facing third-and-goal and with time for only one play, they elected to go for it instead of trying a field goal. Sirk faked like he was going to run again, but stopped short, pulled up and hit Stephen Baggett with a jump pass over the middle in traffic for Baggett's first career touchdown. It enabled ECU to pull within 31-24.
There was a little too much drama for Montgomery's liking leading up to the play as ECU nearly ran out of time.
"It was going to be called no matter what, whether it was on second down or third down, but you've got to call timeout before you get it called because people can get aligned right and (Sirk) has to be able to see what the defense is doing," Montgomery said. "It was called and Thomas executed it, and what a catch by Baggett."
A recurring issue troubled the Pirates again in the first half. When Valdes-Scantling scored on a 75-yard run on an end-around with 9:36 left in the half, the Bulls had a 31-17 lead. It was the seventh play of 70 or more yards given up by ECU this season, with at least one in each game.
That also enabled USF to extend its streak of scoring 30 or more points in a game to 22 games. Oregon had the longest such streak in the Associated Press Poll era, 23 games in a row in 2011-12.
For the half, ECU outgained USF 279-248 and held the ball for 19:49. Sirk was 15-for-27 for 204 yards, but his one interception was pivotal. With the Pirates trailing 14-10 and in possession near midfield, Sirk's pass to Quay Johnson near the line of scrimmage bounced out of his hands, and USF's Auggie Sanchez grabbed it out of midair and took it 43 yards for a touchdown.
"One of the biggest points in the game was the dropped ball that turned into a pick-6," Montgomery said.
Flowers in the first half completed just 2 of 7 passes, but did plenty of damage with his legs, rushing six times for 79 yards. On USF's second possession, with the Bulls in front 7-3, he ran for 44 yards on the first play, then scored on a 16-yard run on the next play.
Sirk had two touchdown passes in the first half, with the other going to Grayson on the ensuing possession. It was a 31-yard score on a drive kept alive by a roughing-the-punter penalty.
Sirk's first rushing touchdown as a Pirate came on a 13-yard run with 9:49 left in the second quarter to pull ECU within 24-17.
The Pirates will play host to AAC rival Temple at Bagwell Field inside Dowdy-Ficklen at 12 noon next Saturday, Oct. 7.
The Owls dropped to 2-3 overall and 0-2 in The American after losing to Houston 20-13 on Saturday. Their two victories were over Villanova (16-13 on Sept. 9) and Massachusetts (29-21 on Sept. 15).
"Our guys are still energized, they're still playing hard," Montgomery said. "They know we're coming though. They also know we're hitting this conference and in this conference, we've got a long way to go. Right now we're 1-1 in this conference with a loss to the team most people picked to win it. With some help from some other people and with us playing well, we can be right back in the driver's seat. "
Temple, which lost to USF 43-7 in its league opener on Sept. 21, through four games was surrendering averages of 174.3 yards on the ground and 314.3 yards through the air. Ryquell Armstead was its leading rusher with 208 yards, and quarterback Logan Marchi was 61-for-106 for 767 yards and five touchdowns with no interceptions. Its top tackler was defensive back Delvon Randall with 28.
Against USF, Temple was held to -4 yards rushing and 85 yards of total offense, and committed six turnovers.
The Owls, who won last year's meeting with ECU 37-10 in the regular-season finale two days after Thanksgiving, are the defending AAC champions. They tied USF for first in the American-East at 7-1 a year ago, but beat the Bulls 46-30 in the regular season to take the title.
Temple then visited Navy, which was ranked No. 20 at the time, in The American championship game and won 34-10. It faced Wake Forest in the Military Bowl and lost 34-26 to finish 10-4 overall.
By Joe Corley
ECUPirates.com
GREENVILLE, N.C. — The ECU football team hung tough deep into the third quarter, but No. 18 USF proved to be too much and pulled away for a 61-31 victory on Saturday at Bagwell Field inside Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium.
The Pirates dropped to 1-4 overall and 1-1 in the American Athletic Conference. The Bulls ran their winning streak to 10 games as they improved to 5-0 and 2-0. USF now has won all four meetings against ECU in Greenville and holds a 7-1 edge in the series.
When quarterback Thomas Sirk converted a fourth-and-goal from the 1 for a touchdown with 6:31 left in the third quarter, the Pirates trailed only 38-31. But it was all USF after that.
Bulls quarterback Quinton Flowers capped the next possession with a 4-yard touchdown pass to Marquez Valdes-Scantling. Then ECU was unable to answer. Three plays netted the Pirates zero yards, and on fourth down a punt by Austin Barnes was blocked out of bounds at the ECU 18-yard line when the defense pushed one of Barnes' own teammates into the punt.
The Pirates held tough, though, and forced the Bulls to attempt a 28-yard field goal attempt, which Emilio Nadelman made on the final play of the third quarter to make it 48-31.
ECU went four-and-out on its next possession, falling short when it went for it on fourth-and-2 from the ECU 33. From there, Darius Tice capped a 7-play drive with a 6-yard touchdown run, making it a 24-point game.
The Pirates' next drive ended with an interception in the end zone by Mazzi Wilkins, and USF closed the scoring with 5:55 left on a 10-yard run by D'Ernest Johnson.
"We didn't have enough in the end to play with them at the end of the third quarter and into the fourth quarter," ECU head coach Scottie Montgomery said. "What we have to realize is, this is the standard we have to catch. We've got to catch South Florida and their talent. We're looking at a team with seniors and a lot of juniors.
"I'm happy that a lot of them will be graduating, especially the quarterback. I thought he was just as good as we thought he was. He picked his spots on the field. He threw the ball effectively. They dropped some balls that should've been catches. He played at an extremely high level."
Flowers completed 10 of 18 passes for 160 yards and two touchdowns, and he rushed 10 times for 93 yards and another score. Johnson had 16 carries for 111 yards and two scores, Valdes-Scantling ran twice for 80 yards and a touchdown, and Tice had 12 rushes for 65 yards and one touchdown. USF had a 575-414 advantage in total offense.
Sirk completed 20 of 43 passes for 303 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions, and he ran 18 times for 87 yards and two more scores.
"Thomas is going to give us a real chance this year," Montgomery said. "He's going to get better. I knew this was going to happen. What we've got to do now is make sure people around him play at a high enough level that if we do have to get into some shootouts, we can win some of those shootouts.
"I'm impressed with the way he played. I'm sure there are some things I'm going to want him to do differently, but now we're starting to get the whole playbook out there on the field."
Outside of Sirk, ECU struggled rushing the ball, totaling 108 yards on the ground. Tyshon Dye was the Pirates' second-leading rusher, gaining 12 yards on three carries.
"We knew that against these guys, quarterback runs would be something that could be effective for us," said Sirk, whose two touchdown runs were the first two of his ECU career. "It worked for us. Obviously I had more carries, and that's something I'm willing to do for this team."
Ten Pirates had receptions, led by Davon Grayson with five for 101 yards and a touchdown. Mydreon Vines had the first of his career, for 34 yards.
"Regardless of what the stat sheet says or what guys made plays, at the end of the day it's all about coming out of here on top," Grayson said. "We've got to have more success than what we've had prior. We'll continue to strive to work hard and get better."
The Pirates withstood every punch USF threw at them in the first half, then delivered a huge one of their own on the last play to take some momentum to the locker room. Having taken over at their own 40 with 5:01 left in the half, ECU rode the legs of Sirk to the red zone. Sirk had four keepers on the drive good for 36 yards.
On first-and-goal from the 6, Sirk ran for three yards. Darius Pinnix gained one yard on the next play, but the clock kept running and the Pirates had only one timeout, which they called with four seconds to go. Facing third-and-goal and with time for only one play, they elected to go for it instead of trying a field goal. Sirk faked like he was going to run again, but stopped short, pulled up and hit Stephen Baggett with a jump pass over the middle in traffic for Baggett's first career touchdown. It enabled ECU to pull within 31-24.
There was a little too much drama for Montgomery's liking leading up to the play as ECU nearly ran out of time.
"It was going to be called no matter what, whether it was on second down or third down, but you've got to call timeout before you get it called because people can get aligned right and (Sirk) has to be able to see what the defense is doing," Montgomery said. "It was called and Thomas executed it, and what a catch by Baggett."
A recurring issue troubled the Pirates again in the first half. When Valdes-Scantling scored on a 75-yard run on an end-around with 9:36 left in the half, the Bulls had a 31-17 lead. It was the seventh play of 70 or more yards given up by ECU this season, with at least one in each game.
That also enabled USF to extend its streak of scoring 30 or more points in a game to 22 games. Oregon had the longest such streak in the Associated Press Poll era, 23 games in a row in 2011-12.
For the half, ECU outgained USF 279-248 and held the ball for 19:49. Sirk was 15-for-27 for 204 yards, but his one interception was pivotal. With the Pirates trailing 14-10 and in possession near midfield, Sirk's pass to Quay Johnson near the line of scrimmage bounced out of his hands, and USF's Auggie Sanchez grabbed it out of midair and took it 43 yards for a touchdown.
"One of the biggest points in the game was the dropped ball that turned into a pick-6," Montgomery said.
Flowers in the first half completed just 2 of 7 passes, but did plenty of damage with his legs, rushing six times for 79 yards. On USF's second possession, with the Bulls in front 7-3, he ran for 44 yards on the first play, then scored on a 16-yard run on the next play.
Sirk had two touchdown passes in the first half, with the other going to Grayson on the ensuing possession. It was a 31-yard score on a drive kept alive by a roughing-the-punter penalty.
Sirk's first rushing touchdown as a Pirate came on a 13-yard run with 9:49 left in the second quarter to pull ECU within 24-17.
The Pirates will play host to AAC rival Temple at Bagwell Field inside Dowdy-Ficklen at 12 noon next Saturday, Oct. 7.
The Owls dropped to 2-3 overall and 0-2 in The American after losing to Houston 20-13 on Saturday. Their two victories were over Villanova (16-13 on Sept. 9) and Massachusetts (29-21 on Sept. 15).
"Our guys are still energized, they're still playing hard," Montgomery said. "They know we're coming though. They also know we're hitting this conference and in this conference, we've got a long way to go. Right now we're 1-1 in this conference with a loss to the team most people picked to win it. With some help from some other people and with us playing well, we can be right back in the driver's seat. "
Temple, which lost to USF 43-7 in its league opener on Sept. 21, through four games was surrendering averages of 174.3 yards on the ground and 314.3 yards through the air. Ryquell Armstead was its leading rusher with 208 yards, and quarterback Logan Marchi was 61-for-106 for 767 yards and five touchdowns with no interceptions. Its top tackler was defensive back Delvon Randall with 28.
Against USF, Temple was held to -4 yards rushing and 85 yards of total offense, and committed six turnovers.
The Owls, who won last year's meeting with ECU 37-10 in the regular-season finale two days after Thanksgiving, are the defending AAC champions. They tied USF for first in the American-East at 7-1 a year ago, but beat the Bulls 46-30 in the regular season to take the title.
Temple then visited Navy, which was ranked No. 20 at the time, in The American championship game and won 34-10. It faced Wake Forest in the Military Bowl and lost 34-26 to finish 10-4 overall.
Team Stats
USF
ECU
Total Yards
575
414
Pass Yards
185
306
Rushing Yards
390
108
Penalty Yards
102
58
1st Downs
25
23
3rd Downs
10
8
4th Downs
0
2
TOP
27:29
32:31
1st Quarter
USF 7, ECU 0
USF - JOHNSON, D'Erne 1 yd run (NADELMAN, Emili kick), 9 plays, 39 yards, TOP 2:23
USF 7, ECU 3
ECU - VERITY, Jake 28 yd field goal 7 plays, 47 yards, TOP 2:20
USF 14, ECU 3
USF - FLOWERS, Q 16 yd run (NADELMAN, Emili kick), 2 plays, 60 yards, TOP 0:38
USF 14, ECU 10
ECU - GRAYSON, Davon 31 yd pass from SIRK, Thomas (VERITY, Jake kick) 8 plays, 75 yards, TOP 3:57
USF 21, ECU 10
USF - SANCHEZ, Auggie 43 yd interception (NADELMAN, Emili kick)
2nd Quarter
USF 24, ECU 10
USF - NADELMAN, Emili 37 yd field goal 8 plays, 51 yards, TOP 3:06
USF 24, ECU 17
ECU - SIRK, Thomas 13 yd run (VERITY, Jake kick), 9 plays, 75 yards, TOP 2:24
USF 31, ECU 17
USF - SCANTLING, Marq 75 yd run (NADELMAN, Emili kick), 1 plays, 75 yards, TOP 0:12
USF 31, ECU 24
ECU - BAGGETT, Steve 2 yd pass from SIRK, Thomas (VERITY, Jake kick) 12 plays, 60 yards, TOP 5:01
3rd Quarter
USF 38, ECU 24
USF - MCCANTS, Tyre 14 yd pass from FLOWERS, Q (NADELMAN, Emili kick) 8 plays, 75 yards, TOP 3:12
USF 38, ECU 31
ECU - SIRK, Thomas 1 yd run (VERITY, Jake kick), 12 plays, 73 yards, TOP 5:17
USF 45, ECU 31
USF - SCANTLING, Marq 4 yd pass from FLOWERS, Q (NADELMAN, Emili kick) 11 plays, 75 yards, TOP 4:40
USF 48, ECU 31
USF - NADELMAN, Emili 28 yd field goal 4 plays, 7 yards, TOP 1:23
4th Quarter
USF 55, ECU 31
USF - TICE, Darius 1 yd run (NADELMAN, Emili kick), 7 plays, 33 yards, TOP 1:26
USF 61, ECU 31
USF - JOHNSON, D'Erne 10 yd run (NADELMAN, Emili kickfailed), 6 plays, 80 yards, TOP 2:50
Game Leaders
Passing Leaders
CMP
20
TD
2
YDS
302
INT
2
CMP
1
TD
0
YDS
4
INT
0
Players Mentioned
Tight End
/ Football
Punter
/ Football
Running Back
/ Football
Wide Receiver
/ Football
Wide Receiver
/ Football
Running Back
/ FootballQuarterback
/ Football
Wide Receiver
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