ECU Rolls In American Opener, 52-29

Saturday, October 2

Greenville, N.C.

3:30 P.M.

East Carolina University

3-2 , 1-0

Tulane

1-4 , 0-1

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Tulane

East Carolina

October 02, 2021 | Football

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GREENVILLE, N.C. – East Carolina can count on Keaton Mitchell for at least one electric play per game. The speedy freshman running back delivered three jolts Saturday afternoon in a career performance to lead the Pirates to a 52-29 homecoming victory over Tulane in the American Athletic Conference opener for both teams.

Mitchell sprinted 62 yards on the game's second play to set up a field goal, topped that with a 68-yard dash later in the first quarter and then punctuated his performance with a 30-yard scoring run as ECU (3-2, 1-0 AAC) won its third-straight game for the first time since 2014.

Mitchell finished with a career-best 222 yards on 15 carries, easily surpassing his previous high of 135 yards at Marshall and eclipsing 100 yards for the third consecutive game and the fifth time in his career. His total marked the most rushing yards by an ECU back since Chris Johnson rolled up 223 against Boise State in the Hawai'i Bowl in 2007.

And the explosion plays are becoming a habit. He has ripped of five plays of 60-plus yards this season, four of which have reached the end zone. He scored on a 63-yard reception in the opener against Appalachian State and had scoring runs of 88 against Marshall and 74 against Charleston Southern

"When he makes a big play, I'm excited," said senior safety Warren Saba, who came up with one the Pirates' three interceptions. "I'm running down there on the sideline almost getting a penalty. It's big. He's a great player for the team. I can't ask for more. He's giving us all he's got."

Perhaps no one benefits more from the production of Mitchell and fellow backfield mate Rahjai Harris than quarterback Holton Ahlers. The Pirates rushed for 310 yards – their highest total since a 491 day against Memphis in 2007 – and added 302 through the air.

Ahlers completed 21 of 32 passes for 288 yards and a pair of touchdowns, but most importantly was rarely pressured and only sacked twice.

"Any time you can hand the ball off and go score, that makes it pretty easy for me," Ahlers said. "I don't have any thing else to do but watch Kego (Keaton) run. Once he gets past five yards, it's hard to catch him. He's a special talent."

Mitchell and head coach Mike Houston both lauded the play of the offensive line, which received a challenge during practice this week.

"I've said the better we can run the football, the better we'll throw the football," Houston said. "I don't think it's a coincidence that we had 310 yards rushing and we had 302 yards passing. We want to be balanced. It really takes the pressure off of Holton and the offensive line.

"You can demoralize your opponent if you can run the football that way on offense, if you can control the game that way on offense," Houston said. " … Just the physical play of our offensive line, that's the thing about tonight. That was a really performance by those kids."

A physical and swarming defense also responded to Houston's challenge, forcing at least one turnover for the 13th-straight game and extended its interception streak to seven consecutive games.

Tulane quarterback Michael Pratt, who carved up the Pirates in a 38-21 win last year, faced constant pressure and struggled to find open receivers much of the day. The Green Wave managed just 11 total yards on 14 first-quarter plays and had just 137 at the half before finding some rhythm in the third quarter. Pratt finished 22 of 36 for 268 yards with one touchdowns but three picks.

"We want our identity to be run and hit, be on the same page, communicate, play with passion, play with intensity, play with energy, tackle with aggression, gang tackle, but run to the ball, run and hit," Houston said. "There's a lot of smart coaches out there, smarter than me that draw all this stuff up on the board. It's not as much what you do but how you do it. If we keep playing like that, we've got a shot."

ECU's aggressiveness carried over to its play-calling, converting on four of five fourth-down tries and drawing Tulane offsides on two more for first downs.

"We went for it a couple of times there where it was iffy whether or not you should go for it, but we said we wanted to be aggressive coming into the ballgame," Houston said. "I thought (offensive coordinator) Donnie (Kirkpatrick) did a great job with our play calls on fourth down and we were able convert four out five on the day, which I thought was huge."

One of those conversions came on a fourth-and-2 from the Tulane 47. Ahlers drifted back and felt pressure from his backside but lofted a pass to Tyler Snead behind the Green Wave secondary. Snead, who has a catch in 25 consecutive games, hauled it in to give the Pirates a 24-0 lead.

Snead was one of four receivers with at least four catches. C.J. Johnson also had four grabs to extend his streak to 16-straight games with a catch, but Oklahoma transfer Ryan Jones emerged as the star of the group with career highs of six catches and receptions yards with 58. He was especially effective on the jet sweep and capped his day with a 14-yard touchdown reception on a pass from backup Mason Garcia – his first career scoring throw.

"He's been coming on the last several weeks," Houston said of Jones. "He had his best week of practice this week. We had a lot of things in the package for him this week. He kept on making plays in practice. I talked to Ryan on Wednesday and Thursday and told him 'just be ready to go, you're going to get the chances,' and he came through."

Jones touchdown helped ECU finally put the Green Wave away after they trimmed a 24-0 deficit to 31-23 in the third quarter. Harris made it 38-23 with a 1-yard run, then Jones padded the cushion with his second touchdown as a Pirate.

"I think it tells you a lot about the program," Houston said. "Especially homecoming, Tulane, the conference opener, and then for that to be the third win in a row. … And what an incredible day with our fan base. That stadium was rocking all game long. I'm telling you that makes a difference. It makes a difference to our players, it makes a difference to recruits. Our fans were an impact today for us."