ECU Outlasts Charleston Southern, 31-28

Saturday, September 25

Greenville, N.C.

6 p.m.

East Carolina University

2-2 , 0-0

Charleston Southern

1-2 , 0-1

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Charleston So.

East Carolina

September 25, 2021 | Football

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GREENVILLE, N.C. – A week after a thrilling, improbable comeback win on the road, East Carolina found itself clinging for dear life to pull out a victory Saturday night in Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium.

The Pirates rebounded from an early 14-0 deficit with 31 consecutive points and seemed headed for a comfortable win on a fabulous fall evening before a crowd of 39,218, but needed one final stop to walk away with a 31-28 victory over Charleston Southern. ECU, which improved to 2-2 heading into next week's American Athletic Conference opener against Tulane, rallied from a 17-point deficit in the final 7:31 last week to upend Marshall 42-38.

"That ended up being an exciting one," ECU head coach Mike Houston said. "You certainly don't want to start the game the way we did in the first quarter. I'm proud of the guys the way they battled back in the second quarter and got the lead at halftime. I was a little frustrated with some things there in the second half, but a veteran coach once told me don't ever forget to celebrate a win."

The Pirates prevailed despite being outgained (536-388), running 41 fewer plays (100-59) and having 21 fewer first downs (35-14). Nine penalties for a total of 108 yards also proved costly and caught the ire of Houston.

"I'm very frustrated with the penalties," he said. "My teams have never been ones that have post-snap penalties. That's just something you can't have. It's self-inflicted. It's usually a lack of discipline, and that is something that is very serious to us. We talk about it all the time. We certainly had some composure issues right there tonight and it comes from some selfishness. You've got to fix it. You've got to decide what's more important, you or the team."

Big plays in all facets kept all those statistics from being decisive. The defense chasing dual-threat quarterback James Chambers all night, came up with 12 tackles for loss and five sacks. Ja'Quan McMillan spearheaded that effort with 10 tackles and his 10th career interception that he returned for a score.

Malik Fleming came up with ECU's first field goal blocked in 54 games, one of three field goals missed by the Bucs (1-2).

Offensively, Keaton Mitchell added to his big-play resume with a 74-yard touchdown run, finishing with 125 yards rushing on 13 carries.

Chambers finished with more total yards than the Pirates, throwing for 402 and rushing for 54. He showed his versatility early as the Bucs staggered the Pirates by scoring on their first two possessions for a 14-0 lead. The opening drive covered 75 yards in 15 plays and was aided by a penalty on Sam Babbush's 31-yard field goal. J.D. Moore scored two plays later from the three.

Charleston Southern struck again after a three-and-out by ECU, marching 98 yards in eight plays, capped by a 38-yard pass from Chambers to sophomore receiver Kale Anderson.

The Pirates teetered on the verge of falling 17 points behind for the second straight week, but Babbush hooked a 29-yard attempt.

In déjà vu fashion, the missed kick seemed to ignite the Pirates.

In a flash, Mitchell put ECU on the board when he zipped through a hole on the left side an sprinted 74 yards for a score and energizing the home crowd.

"You give him a crease, he's going to make something happen," Houston said. "That was a big play right there to get us on the board. We needed to get the momentum back and he was really the one that gave us the spark."

It marked the third time this season Keaton has struck for a big scoring play – he had an 88-yard run last week against Marshall and a 63-yard catch against Appalachian State.

"Once I see daylight, it's over with," he said.

ECU's comeback continued when Owen Dapper's 33-yard field goal made it 14-10 after the Pirates reached the 5 but then stalled. Backup quarterback Mason Garcia then put ECU 17-14, scoring his second career touchdown with a 3-yard run.

Quarterback Holton Ahlers capped a 24-point second-quarter onslaught, hooking up with former high school teammate C.J. Johnson on a 60-yard pass for a 24-14 lead.

McMillan's 23-yard interception early in the third quarter extended the lead to 31-14 – a monumental play considering ECU's offense went silent for the rest of the half. McMillan's pick gave ECU six-straight games with an interception, the longest streak since 2014, and also extended the string of games forcing at least one turnover to 12 in a row.

"It's definitely a great feeling, but I owe it all to my team," McMillan said of his third interception this season. "Without my team, none of this really happens. You see me making a play, but those guys up front, getting to the quarterback, forcing bad throws, so I owe it to my team."

Charleston Southern created some late drama with a pair of fourth-quarter scores, drawing within 31-28 on a 2-yard pass from Chambers to Geoffrey Wall, who finished with 14 catches for 92 yards. The Bucs got one final chance with less than a minute to go after John Young's punt pinned them at the 3 – one five punts inside the 20 on the night.

CSU picked up one first down at the 24 before a last-gasp play with three laterals ended at the 47.

With the victory sealed, Houston hopes it comes with a few lessons.

"They need to listen to me and not everybody else," he said. "I said it all week. I started with it on Tuesday with our meeting. Sometimes you have to get hit in the mouth before you listen, so hopefully it was a great learning lesson for us. It's always easier to learn when you get a win because you don't win that one, that's tough."