East Carolina Wins Regular Season Finale At Temple

Saturday, November 26

Philadelphia, Pa.

1:00 P.M.

East Carolina University

Temple

November 26, 2022 | Football

Box Score Game Book (PDF)ECU Postgame Notes (PDF)

PHILADELPHIA, Pa. – East Carolina headed north to face Temple with a clear mission: cleansing the bad taste of last week's disappointing Senior Day performance and building momentum for a long-awaited bowl game.

It took a superhuman effort from running back Keaton Mitchell and a clutch game-winning drive to pull it off.

Mitchell put his dazzling speed on display as he matched his career high with 222 yards rushing and scored four times, and senior quarterback Holton Ahlers tossed a 38-yard touchdown pass with 1:11 to play to lift the Pirates to a 49-46 win over Temple before a sparse crowd on a splendid fall afternoon Lincoln Financial Field.

In bouncing back from a 42-3 loss at home to Houston, the Pirates ended a two-game slide and clinched their second consecutive seven-win season. ECU (7-5, 4-4 American Athletic Conference) now awaits its bowl destination and the chance to actually play after Covid canceled last year's Military Bowl.

"To go seven and five this year – I know we're all disappointed that we're not getting ready for the conference championship game next week – but another step forward by this program and by these seniors," fourth-year head coach Mike Houston said. "It kind of puts last week to bed. We got over it, we played well now. Now we're back in bowl season again this year. Don't know where we're going, but the goal now is to go win a bowl game."

The Pirates escaped despite allowing a season-high 46 points and 575 yards in frenzied shootout that featured 1,109 total yards, 13 touchdowns and seven lead changes. ECU, which led by 11 on three occasions, seized the lead for the final time with an 89-yard drive in the final three minutes, scoring on Ahlers' 38-yard strike to Jaylen Johnson.

Temple (3-9, 1-9 AAC), which came in averaging 19.7 points per game, could not muster a final drive as E.J. Warner's last three passes of a record-setting day fell incomplete.

"What a great job by our offense, winning the ballgame there with that last drive and then the defense getting the stop," Houston said.

Mitchell and Warner traded punches in a big-play bonanza that exploited the deficiencies of each defense and racked up 26 plays of at least 10 yards. Mitchell shredded Temple with his speed and elusiveness on 27 carries, matching the 222 yards and three touchdowns he had against Memphis last season and adding a 73-yard catch-and-run score.

Mitchell eclipsed 100 yards for the sixth straight game and for the 14th time in his career, which ranks third in school history.

"Today coach asked me how many I wanted to get, and I told him 200," Mitchell said. "I've got to have at least one 200-yard game this year. The coaches trusted me, and I trusted the O-line, and we did what we had to do."

Mitchell ripped off six runs of at least 11 yards and scored on runs of 2, 8 and 49. He raised his season total to 1,323 yards, second only to Leonard Henry's 1,432 yards in 2001, and has 2,900 yards for his career, one shy of fourth-place Carlester Crumpler.

Mitchell accounted for 27 of ECU's 32 rushing attempts against the Owls. His last carry sparked the final drive, picking up 22 yards on a third-and-10 from the ECU 36.

"We thought we would be able to run the football, and holy cow, Keaton Mitchell," said Houston, who is 15-5 at ECU with a 100-yard rusher. "I know he had 222 rushing, and then he had the long pass he took for a touchdown. What a day.

"If you get Keaton going, the opponent's in trouble," Houston said.

Perhaps no one appreciates that more than Ahlers, who played through multiple injuries to complete 25 of 37 passes for 314 yards and three touchdowns. ECU did not commit a turnover for the sixth-straight game and yielded just one sack to a Temple team that came in with 37 on the season.

"Keaton Mitchell's special, but that O-line is giving him some holes," said Ahlers, who has passed for 3,408 yards this season and now has 92 career TD passes. "You know Keaton, as long as he gets one hole he's gone."

ECU needed everything Mitchell and Ahlers produced – and more – to overcome a sensational performance by Warner, the son of NFL Hall of Fame quarterback Kurt Warner. The true freshman repeatedly found holes in the Pirates' secondary and set school records for completions with 45 and passing yards with 527. His 63 passing attempts tied a school record, and his five touchdowns fell just one shy of the mark set in 2008.

Warner completed 15 of his passes for at least 15 yards. His scoring tosses covered 6, 15, 21, 38 and 40 yards to four different receivers.

"He is a heck of a competitor," Houston said of Warner. "I've watched him do that to several teams, and I was hoping he wouldn't do that to us. He did a great job of being composed and making the throws. He is going to be a really good player in this league."

Warner's primary target, Jose Barbon, finished with career-bests of 13 catches and 160 yards. Tight end David Martin-Robinson added nine receptions for 93 yards.

For the Pirates, Isaiah Winstead collected a team-high seven catches for 63 yards, boosting him 1,013 for the season and giving the Pirates a 3,000-yard passer, 1,000-yard receiver and 1,000-yard runner in the same season for the first time since 2013.

C.J. Johnson added six catches for 60 yards. Jsi Hatfield ignited the special teams with a pair of big kickoff returns, a 43-yarder to open the game and a 97-yarder that gave ECU a 21-17 edge late in the second quarter.

ECU scored on four-straight possessions after consecutive three-and-outs and led 28-24 at the half but missed an opportunity to extend it when Andrew Conrad's 29-yard field goal attempt sailed wide.

Malik Fleming's interception – the only turnover of the game – provided a glimpse of defense, but the offensive onslaught continued. Temple took its last lead at 46-42 on Martin-Robinson's 15-yard catch with 6:11 to go, then Temple had a chance to put the game away just one yard way from a first down at midfield.

Elijah Morris swatted away a Warner pass on third down. ECU took over at the 11 after a punt, then drove for the winning score. Ahlers fired the decisive pass to Jaylen Johnson after eluding pressure and rolling to his left.

"We work that drill every week, the scramble drill," Houston said. "Holton knows where they are going to be, and Jaylen did a good job of being where he was supposed to, then Holton found him."

Ahlers said he saw Johnson break free as he scrambled.

"You're really not supposed to throw it across your body, but he was wide open," Ahlers said. "I saw the coverage they were giving us, and I knew where he was going to be if I had some time. I threw it up, and he attacked the ball and made a really good play there."