ECU Rolls Past Temple, 45-3

Saturday, November 6

Greenville, N.C.

3:00 P.M.

East Carolina University

5-4 , 3-2

Temple

3-6 , 1-4

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Temple

East Carolina

November 06, 2021 | Football

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GREENVILLE, N.C. – Ryan Jones experienced the pageantry of bowl games during his time at Oklahoma. He wants his East Carolina teammates to have the same opportunity.

Jones did his part Saturday in getting the Pirates one step closer to ending a five-year bowl drought by snagging a pair of first-half touchdown passes and setting a career-high for reception yards to spark a 45-3 win over Temple.

ECU dominated the punch less Owls on both sides of the ball on a brisk, windy and overcast day at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium to improve to 5-4 overall and 3-2 in the American Athletic Conference, moving within a win of ending a bowl drought.

Only a handful of current Pirates – all transfers -- have been a part of a team to reach postseason play, including Jones. The linebacker-turned-tight end, who originally committed to
North Carolina before signing with the Sooners, suited up for the Cotton Bowl (2020 vs. Florida), Peach Bowl (2019 vs. LSU) and Orange Bowl (2018 vs. Alabama).

"I've been to bowl games, but I've never won one," said Jones, who tied a career-high with six receptions for a career-best 102 yards. "We're definitely going to one this year, and winning one is a big checkmark off my list."

The same goes for junior quarterback Holton Ahlers, who decided to stay in his hometown in an effort to turn the ECU program around. With Saturday's win, the Pirates reached five wins for the first time since 2015 and moved to the cusp of a bowl trip.

"We knew going into the year that getting six was our goal, and that still is our goal," said Ahlers, who threw a season-high three touchdown passes and also rushed for one before taking most of the fourth quarter off. "The sixth one is probably going to be the toughest one. We've got three games left; we've just got to get one. We think we can win all those games. We've just got to take it one week at a time."

A convincing win over Temple seemed especially satisfying, considering it marked the first time the Pirates have defeated the Owls (3-6, 1-4 AAC) at home since 1995 and the first time they have knocked off Temple in a home conference game. ECU also extended its home AAC winning streak to four.

"This is the first win at home against Temple since ('95)," third-year ECU head coach Mike Houston said. "That's a long time. Some of the older kids talked about it, just how badly Temple beat them in their freshman and sophomore years, I think just embarrassing performances. To see our group of older kids to go out there and play that way against that program at home, that's just a really impressive performance by those kids."

Temple's six-game winning streak in the series ended last year. The Owls won 49-6 in 2018 in Philadelphia and 27-17 in 2019 in Greeenville.

"My freshman year we went to Philly and we were the team that …. I mean the first quarter it was done," Ahlers said. "To be in Dowdy tonight and to have that score, to not play the whole fourth quarter … it's a super blessing to be a part of this program changing."

Ahlers continued to move up the school's career list with his performance on Saturday, completing 16 of 24 passes for 191 yards and rushing for 33 more on five carries. His 224 total yards gives him 10,459 for his career, moving him ahead of Dvid Garrard. He also boosted his career completion total to 737 to move into second place ahead of Dominique Davis.

Ahlers bounced back from an early interception to hook up with Jones on a 33-yard scoring pass with 3:19 left in the first quarter and a 28-yard score with 8:17 to go in the second quarter. He added a third to another tight end, Shane Calhoun, from 9 yards for a 21-0 lead just 1:33 before halftime.

Jones nearly had a third touchdown grab in the fourth quarter but replay overturned the touchdown, ruling he stepped out at the 1. Ahlers scored on the next play.

"I was mad on the replay watching it because I really thought I got in," Jones said. "That one was tough."

Lightning-fast freshman Keaton Mitchell added his own spark to the offense with a pair of touchdowns, finishing with 146 yards on 18 carries for his fourth 100-yard game of the season and sixth of his career. Mitchell dealt the already weary Owls a staggering blow on the first snap of the third quarter when he ripped off another of his signature long runs, sprinting 57 yards – with the aid of an Ahlers block downfield – for a 28-0 lead. Mitchell now has 13 plays of 20-plus yards this season, including five eclipsing 50 yards

"You get him in space, he's going to make you pay," Houston said. "The cut on that 57-yarder to start the second half was pretty special."

The only question looming in the second half was if ECU could post its first shutout since Sept. 2, 2000, at Duke. The Pirates withstood missed field goal attempts of 41 and 43 yards by Temple kicker Rory Bell and extended its string of scoreless quarters to five with a shutout through three quarters. Bell connected from 46 yards with 6:55 to go following an interception of backup quarterback Mason Garcia.

"We wanted that goose egg; we wanted that one," defensive lineman Elijah Morris said.

ECU limited Temple to 168 total yards and 11 first downs. Starting quarterback D'Wan Mathis completed 7 of 13 passes for just 37 yards before leaving with an injury in the first half. Justin Lynch completed just 6 of 20 passes for 20 yards.

"I thought our defensive linemen and linebackers, they owned the line of scrimmage," Houston said. "That's the whole key to it. … We whipped them up front."