ECU Falls To Houston In Home Finale

Saturday, November 19

Greenville, N.C.

2:00 PM

East Carolina University

6-5 , 3-4

Houston

7-4 , 5-2

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Houston

East Carolina

November 19, 2022 | Football

Box Score Game Book (PDF)Postgame Notes (PDF)Postgame Quotes (PDF)Mike Houston Postgame Presser ECU Players Postgame Presser

GREENVILLE, N.C. - Senior Day hardly turned out the way Holton Ahlers and his East Carolina teammates envisioned. Instead, they will take solace in the legacy they will leave in bringing the program back to respectability and securing a second straight bowl bid.

But simply was not the Pirates' day.

Houston, behind an unstoppable offense and a shocking effort on defense, crashed the party on a breezy, sun-splashed Saturday afternoon in Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium by rolling to a 42-3 victory. A second consecutive loss leaves ECU 6-5 overall and 3-4 in the American Athletic Conference heading into the regular-season finale at Temple and then a long-awaited bowl trip.

The Cougars (7-4, 5-2 AAC), headed to the Big 12 next season, denied ECU its fifth home win of the year as they extended their streak to four in the series and overall edge to 9-7.

"We just didn't have a good day," Ahlers said moments after walking off the home turf for the last time. "Pretty much everything that could have went wrong went wrong. It was a tough one. I would have done anything to win that game. That's one thing about sports. It doesn't really care about anything. You've got to go out there and show up, and we did not show up."

That particularly irked fourth-year head coach Mike Houston, who leaned heavily on the now-departing seniors to resurrect the program

"Unfortunately, this is not what they deserve," Houston said. "I hate that performance. That's just not … I hate that performance. This senior class had established a standard, and that's not the way we played. I hate that that was what their Senior Day was."

Senior linebacker Miles Berry certainly did not want to go out this way.

"It was mostly embarrassing for me and the team," he said. "That's just how I feel right now, just to end off like that. But it's not the end of our season."

An expected shootout between two quick-strike offenses and a duel of the league's two most prolific quarterbacks never materialized.

ECU sputtered from the start, punting after consecutive three-and-out possessions then turning the ball over on downs twice in Houston territory as it dug a 21-0 hole that it could not escape.

Ahlers, a Greenville native who stayed home to play for ECU, never found his rhythm and completed just 15 of 35 passes – well below his 68.4 percent average – for a season-low 182 yards. He was sacked twice but faced constant pressure from Houston's aggressive front.

"They were doing some things different than what they had shown on film, but still we've got to be able to handle that," Houston said. "We just had too many one-on-one breakdowns that ended up with too much pressure on the quarterback."

Ahlers did surpass the 3,000-yard mark for the third consecutive year and now has 3,094 for the season. Running back Keaton Mitchell provided the lone offensive threat and rushed for 129 yards on 14 carries for his fifth straight 100-yard game and the 13th of his career. Mitchell also became the first ECU back with consecutive 1,000-yard seasons since Tay Cooper (2012-13), raising his season total to 1,104.

"That shows that maturity, character, focus is in the right place," Houston said of Mitchell. "Guys like that, consistently you know what you're going to get. It was good for him to have another great day today, but I'll promise you he ain't celebrating anything right now. That's not what he wants to be a part of either. None of us do."

A Houston defense that surrendered 36.2 points per game, including giving up 77 in a loss at SMU, and had allowed at least 20 points in every game this season, limited ECU to season-lows of 315 total yards and 13 first downs. ECU converted just 3-of-14 third downs and failed to convert on four fourth-down attempts. A fifth straight game without a turnover and no penalties meant little.

"That was obviously an uncharacteristic performance by our team, and it obviously starts with me," Houston said. "Our mental preparation and our mind-set were not where it has been traditionally, so very disappointed in the performance."

The Cougars, meanwhile, put on a dazzling display of offense behind quarterback Clayton Tune and the receiving duo of junior Nathaniel "Tank" Dell and freshman Matthew Golden. Tune matched a career high with four touchdown passes, completing 32 of 44 passes for 435 yards – his third career 400-yard game.

Dell and Golden combined for 17 receptions for 303 yards. Dell had nine catches for a career-high 176 yards with one touchdown. Golden set career bests with eight catches for 127 yards and a pair of scores.

"Clayton Tune did a really good job, and Houston did a really good job of executing their offense," Berry said. "They found a lot of gaps in our defense, especially passing the ball. Hats off to them."

Tune tossed a pair of first-half touchdowns, and Brandon Campbell scored on a 5-yard run for a 21-0 halftime lead. The Pirates were shut out in the first half for the first time since Dec. 1, 2018, at N.C. State.

A 26-yard pass from Tune to Golden on the opening drive of the second half all but sealed ECU's fate. The Pirates got on the board on Andrew Conrad's 21-yard field goal, extending a string of 310 consecutive games without a shutout but doing little to stop the Cougars' surge.

After two more Houston touchdowns, Ahlers spent the final minutes on the sideline as Mason Garcia took over, then took his final walk out of Dowdy-Ficklen.

"I would do anything to go out there right now and play for a win," Ahlers said. "Obviously it's been a long career here. That 2018 class that came in here to change this thing, we've been through tons of ups and downs. We've been through stuff like this before.

"I'm definitely disappointed in the way we played and disappointed in myself that I couldn't give a win to the seniors who deserve it. I'd do anything for those guys and just appreciate where we got this program."