Turnovers Doom Pirates In Setback To No. 10 UCF

Saturday, October 20

Greenville, N.C.

7:00 P.M.

East Carolina University

2-5 , 0-4

UCF

7-0 , 4-0

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

UCF

ECU

Photo by: Rob Goldberg

October 21, 2018 | Football

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Final Stats (PDF) l ECU Notes (PDF) l Quotes (PDF)

GREENVILLE, N.C. – ECU's streak of 12 straight homecoming victories came to an end as No. 10 UCF extended its overall string of consecutive wins to 20 with a 37-10 decision Saturday on Bagwell Field inside Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium.

The Pirates, who lost a homecoming game for the first time since 2005, dropped to 2-5 overall and 0-4 in the American Athletic Conference going into a bye week. UCF improved to 7-0 and 4-0.

ECU had the ball and was within striking distance early in the fourth quarter, down 23-10. On a possession that started on their own 1, the Pirates drove all the way to the UCF 1 and had third-and-goal. True freshman Holton Ahlers, making his first career start at quarterback, ran forward and tried to attempt a jump pass, but he lost grip on the ball. Nate Evans of the Knights picked it up and took it 94 yards the other way for a touchdown.

Just like that, what could've been just a 23-17 UCF lead turned into a 30-10 advantage with 10:07 to play. It was the most pivotal of five ECU turnovers for the game, as it essentially ended the upset bid.

"I thought we played really well at times on defense," ECU Head Coach Scottie Montgomery said. "We gave ourselves a chance to be successful. We got some major stops on third down. We outgained them on offense.

"But the offensive story was turnovers. Holton Ahlers played an incredible game. He did have a couple of mistakes, but I think he is going to be a fantastic quarterback here. He's doing everything we ask him to do."

Statistically, Ahlers had a monster game. Along with being ECU's leading rusher as he netted 69 yards on 27 carries, he completed 29 of 53 passes for 406 yards with one touchdown and one interception.

The Pirates outgained the Knights 496-427 as Ahlers accounted for 475 yards himself. But along with the interception, he lost two fumbles, Trevon Brown lost one and Deondre Farrier lost one.

"We got some yards, but that's not good enough," Ahlers said. "We didn't win, and I had three turnovers. It's on the offense. I told the defense it's on the offense. We put them in bad situations. That's on us. We're going to come back and work this week, and we'll be all right."

On the game-changing fumble, Ahlers had the option of throwing to an open receiver or tossing it out of the back of the end zone. He told Montgomery that the ball was wet and he was unable to get a good grip on it.

"We've run it a lot during practice ever since the Carolina game," Ahlers said. "I jumped up to throw it and (the receiver) was mashed. The ball was wet and I was trying to throw it away and it slipped.

"I'm going to learn from that and it won't happen again. Even though I'm a freshman, I can't make freshman mistakes. I'm the starting quarterback and my job is to lead us to a win. Tonight without my turnovers, we're in this game."

ECU's ensuing possession also ended with a fumble. Ahlers connected with Farrier at the UCF 17, but the ball was stripped and Kalia Davis of the Knights recovered. Four plays later, UCF closed the scoring with a 74-yard touchdown run by Greg McCrae untouched through the right side of the defense.

McCrae rushed five times for 99 yards, second for the Knights behind quarterback Darriel Mack Jr., who had 22 carries for 120 yards. Mack, a 6-3, 230-pound redshirt freshman, was making his first career start as well, as he stepped in for an injured McKenzie Milton.

Mack completed 12 of 20 passes for 69 yards, but it was with his legs that he did the most damage.

"We had to adjust because we didn't know that (Milton) wasn't going to play," Montgomery said. "The biggest adjustment was their interior quarterback runs and their exterior quarterback runs. It kind of changed the game. It was much less RPOs and (Mack) creating a big-time quarterback run game for them and also going downfield with the ball in run-action pass a lot more than we were expecting.

"Milton looked good in warm-ups, so it was a shock not to see him."

The Pirates cut their deficit to 20-10 on their second possession of the second half. A 10-play, 86-yard drive was capped by a well-thrown 29-yard touchdown pass from Ahlers to Brown, who finished with 10 catches for 145 yards and the score. Brown had gotten behind the defense, and Ahlers delivered the ball to him in perfect stride as he entered the end zone.

UCF answered with a 46-yard field goal from Matthew Wright, his third of the game, to set up the closing sequence.

"It's very disappointing because we beat ourselves," Brown said. "We were right there with the 10^th-ranked team in the nation. We put up 500 yards of offense and we played with them. For us to beat ourselves, it just saddens me."

An aggressive and attacking ECU defense held the fast-tempo Knights at bay their first three possessions, including a pair of three-and-outs. But UCF found its groove and scored on its next four possessions, first a pair of field goals and then a pair of touchdowns.

The Pirates had taken a 3-0 lead on a 34-yard field goal by Jake Verity with 6:22 left in the first quarter. The big play on the drive was a 41-yard pass from Ahlers to Farrier down the left sideline to the UCF 17. Farrier finished with five catches for 109 yards.

After an exchange of punts, the Knights took over at their own 15 with 3:28 left in the first. They took 17 plays to move to the ECU 22, where Wright kicked a 39-yard field goal to tie it with 12:10 left in the second quarter.

UCF's Nevelle Clarke intercepted a pass by Ahlers on the next play from scrimmage, and the Knights converted that into a 41-yard field goal by Wright to take a 6-3 lead.

The Pirates went three-and-out and had to punt from their own 14. Mack ran for 11 yards to the ECU 42 on the first play, and then Quadry Jones found Adrian Killins Jr. all alone behind the defense for a touchdown pass on the next play. The Knights led 13-3 with 8:33 left in the second quarter.

ECU turned it over again on its next possession. Ahlers, who had gained 26 yards on three runs to start the drive, fumbled at the UCF 49, and the Antwan Collier of the Knights recovered.

From there, UCF needed 10 plays to score, getting the touchdown on a 7-yard run around right end by Mack after he had faked an inside handoff to Otis Anderson. The Knights held a 20-3 lead going into halftime.

After being held to 62 yards of offense in the first quarter, UCF held a 230-172 edge at halftime.

Devon Sutton led the ECU defense with a career-high 12 tackles (1 sack, 2 tackles for loss), Bruce Bivens had 10 (1 sack, 2 TFL) and Aaron Ramseur also had 10 (1 TFL). Cannon Gibbs had two tackles for loss among his eight stops, and Alex Turner had seven tackles (1 sack, 1 TFL)

"We came out and wanted to shock the world," Gibbs said. "There were several instances where we could've, so it's disappointing. And it's completely on us as players. It's our fault. We have to look ourselves in the mirror and really do some soul-searching."

"We have to continue to work," Montgomery said. "We have to eliminate the mistakes from our skill guys, that's the No. 1 thing. We've got to get back to taking care of the football. We'll build the offense around Holton a little bit more and find ways to score. I think the No. 1 way to score is to have it and not turn it over. If we can not turn it over, this kid will give us a chance."

- Joe Corley