Big Plays Lead USF Past ECU, 20-13

Saturday, September 22

Tampa, Fla.

8:00 P.M.

East Carolina University

1-2 , 0-1

USF

4-0 , 1-0

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

ECU

USF

September 23, 2018 | Football

Box Score Photo Gallery

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

TAMPA, Fla. — ECU held statistical edges in virtually every category, but USF got a pair of big plays on offense and a late interception as it held on for a 20-13 victory Saturday in Raymond James Stadium in the American Athletic Conference opener for both teams.

The Pirates, who dropped to 1-2 overall, had 24 first downs to USF's 9. They nearly doubled the Bulls in time of possession, holding the ball for 38:10. They held a 412-296 advantage in total offense, including 256-181 in passing and 156-115 in rushing as they ran 96 plays to USF's 52. They came up with a takeaway and converted it into three points.

But USF, which now is 4-0 overall, got the victory on the strength of a 66-yard touchdown pass from Blake Barnett to Darnell Salomon in the first half and an 80-yard scoring run by Jordan Cronkrite in the second half. The Bulls, who outside of their two big plays managed just 150 yards of offense, survived.

"I'm proud of our kids for working hard, but there are no moral victories," said Head Coach Scottie Montgomery, whose team was making its return to competition after last weeks' game against Virginia Tech was canceled because of the threat posed by Hurricane Florence. "We have a much better football team. We've got a big one next week, and we'll be ready to go."

ECU will play face Old Dominion at 3:30 p.m. next Saturday on Bagwell Field inside Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium. The Monarchs pulled a huge upset as they beat Virginia Tech 49-35 on Saturday.

The Pirates certainly had a great shot to pull out the victory. They had one last shot late to tie it up as the defense forced a ninth punt by the Bulls. But after taking over at their own 23 with 2:05 remaining, the comeback quickly fizzled as Reid Herring's pass on first down was intercepted at the ECU 45 by Nick Roberts.

"This was the type of game we wanted," Montgomery said. "We wanted a long, low-scoring game and to run the football effectively and to do some things. It came down to two plays. They made their two. We overthrew one in the first half, and in the second half we dropped one. This is a much better football team that we have."

Trailing 13-10 at halftime, ECU came up with a big play defensively early in the third quarter. After Corey Seargent knocked away a pass by Barnett on first down, Davondre Robinson forced a fumble by USF's Deangelo Antoine on second down and Michael Witherspoon recovered at the USF 40.

The Pirates drove to the 6-yard line, but had to settle for a 24-yard field goal by Jake Verity to tie it. Verity now has converted all seven of his field-goal attempts this season.

From there, the teams traded punts six times before USF took over at its own 5-yard line with 11:14 remaining in the game. Two plays netted 15 yards for the Bulls, and on the third play Cronkrite went virtually untouched up the middle 80 yards for the score.

Cronkrite did rush for 129 yards on 15 carries, but take away his long run and he had 49 yards on 14 rushes.

"(USF has) a great football team," Montgomery said. "They played well, especially in tight situations. I thought we had them in a lot of situations in the run game that we liked, we just got off schedule a couple of times."

After Verity's field goal early in the third quarter, ECU's offense bogged down. The rest of its possessions resulted in four punts, a failed fourth-down conversion, and the interception. Herring finished 21-for-48 for 253 yards.

"We've got to be much better on offense in the second half," Montgomery said.

Trevon Brown was the leading receiver for ECU with six grabs for 99 yards. Blake Proehl had five for 50. Holton Ahlers was the leader on the ground with 12 carries for 48 yards. Hussein Howe had seven for 40, Anthony Scott had 11 for 39 and Darius Pinnix had 12 for 30.

Alex Turner led the strong defensive attack with one sack, one sack among his three tackles, to go with a deflected extra point. The Pirates had six sacks for 31 yards in losses. Nate Harvey, Bruce Bivens, Devon Sutton and Cannon Gibbs had one each, and Jalen Price assisted on one.

Robinson had five tackles and Sutton had four.

"I thought our defense dominated for most of the game," Montgomery said. "Like I said, it came down to those two plays. Defensively, we played out butts off. If you add in those two plays on offense that we didn't t make that we could've made, you're looking at a 600-yard day. And if we don't allow those two plays, it's a 150-yard day on defense."

For the first time since the 2015 season, ECU has surrendered 20 or fewer points in two consecutive games.

Barnett was 12-for-20 for 181 yards and one touchdown. Salomon was the Bulls' leading receiver with two catches for 79 yards. USF now has won 25 of its last 29 games.

The Pirates got off to a great start. They went 2-for-2 on third-down conversions on their opening drive, one that covered 82 yards in nine plays and was capped by a 2-yard touchdown run by Ahlers. Herring was 4-for-6 passing on the drive, highlighted by a 48-yard connection to Brown down to the USF 2.

ECU then held the Bulls to a three-and-out, including a sack of Barnett by Turner. The Pirates gained a first down before being forced to punt, and USF finally got on board on the ensuing possession on a 2-yard keeper by Barnett. Turner, however, made his presence known again as he deflected the point-after attempt by Coby Weiss.

After an ECU drive stalled at the USF 39, Jonn Young's high 20-yard punt gave the Bulls possession at their own 19 as Tyre McCants ran up to make the fair catch. They needed just three plays to score, with Barnett hitting a wide-open Salomon down the right sideline for 66 yards to the end zone. USF held a 13-7 lead with 13:46 left in the first half.

The teams then traded punts on six consecutive possessions, with the last five being three-and-outs, before ECU closed the first half with a 28-yard field goal by Verity as time expired to make it a 13-10 deficit.

The Pirates had taken over at their own 20 with 4:32 remaining and got as close as a first-and-goal at the 5-yard line after Herring converted a third-and-5 on a keeper. He had to be helped off the field after the play. Ahlers came in, but was sacked back at the 11, setting up the field goal.

Key plays on the drive were a 10-yard throw to Anthony Watley, a 14-yard run by Scott, a 20-yard completion to Proehl and a 10-yard pass to Brown.

In the first half, ECU had 14 first downs, including 7-for-13 on third downs and 1-for-2 on fourth. It also had a 218-157 edge in total offense, thanks to a 78-28 cushion in rushing. On their two scoring drives, the Pirates ran 25 plays and gained 151 yards, but on their other five possessions they gained 67 yards on 27 plays.

By Joe Corley