ECU Defeats UTSA In AAC Opener, 30-20

Saturday, September 28

Greenville, N.C.

4:00 p.m.

East Carolina University

3-2 , 1-0

UTSA

2-3 , 0-1

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

UTSA

East Carolina

September 28, 2024 | Football

Box Score Game Book Postgame Notes Postgame Quotes

GREENVILLE, N.C. – On a day when East Carolina honored its 1999 team, the 2024 version of the Pirates rediscovered some magic and their winning ways in defeating UTSA 30-20 in the American Athletic Conference opener for both teams.

After two-straight weeks of seeing double-digit leads slip away, ECU stormed back from a 10-point, first-half deficit by reeling off 24 consecutive points while putting a stranglehold on the Roadrunners' offense. The Pirates (3-2) forced three turnovers, stuffed three fourth-down attempts and hounded quarterback Owen McCown into incompletions of 15 of his final 19 passes.

"I thought really we took the fight out of them in the third and fourth quarter," head coach Mike Houston said.

That flipped the script from losses to Appalachian State and Liberty in which ECU saw leads of 16 and 17 points, respectively, vanish. The Pirates led both those games heading into the fourth period but stressed finishing the job heading into the conference opener.

"We've hung our heads when things kind of didn't go our way the last couple of weeks and let the other team take the momentum," Houston said. "We talked a lot about those are the times you've got to stick together, you've got to do your job, play the next play. It's easy to sit here and say that, and it's very cliché, but when you're out there on the field, and the other team is stealing the momentum from you, it's really, really hard. But I thought we grew up tonight."

Perhaps these Pirates took a page from the 1999 team, which overcame mountains of adversity on the way to a 9-3 record. Coach Steve Logan's team is most remembered for a comeback win over nationally ranked Miami, hosted at NC State's Carter-Finley Stadium due to devastating flooding in eastern North Carolina after Hurricane Floyd.

During Saturday's game, the 1999 team not only was honored but a moment of silence was held for victims of Hurricane Helene, which unleashed severe damage in western North Carolina earlier this week. Houston grew up in Franklin and still has family in that part of the state.

"Mom's fine, my sister's fine," Houston said. "They don't have power or anything right now, but they're safe. I just know there's a lot of families that aren't safe and your thoughts and prayers are with them."

Pernell Griffin, a linebacker on the 1999 team, spoke to the ECU team Friday night.

"I told the team the story of that season," Houston said. "Pernell just being there and just sharing with them. … It was great just having him with us. It was great having the '99 team in the stadium."

The returning players and a Dowdy-Ficklen crowd of 41,851 witnessed a slow start by the Pirates and a ragged first half before the momentum shifted. Although the Roadrunners (2-3) outgained the Pirates by 100 yards (456-356), they crippled themselves with 12 penalties for 80 yards and dropped passes in a nearly four-hour game.

With the exception of a 66-yard touchdown run by freshman Brandon High on a fourth-and-1, ECU controlled the final two quarters. The Pirates applied constant pressure to McCown, registered one sack and six tackles for loss, and did not allow a first down on the final four possessions.

Andrew Wilson-Lamp dealt McCown his first interception of the year, and Omar Rogers added another pick moments later.

"The first one as a Pirate, the first one in Dowdy-Ficklen felt special, and many more to come," Rogers said.

Rogers said finishing strong and winning the conference opener brought satisfaction.

"We knew after last week we had to finish, and that was our mind-week throughout the week," he said.

But ECU needed nearly a half to get cranked up.

Each team used a big pass play to get inside the 10 in the first quarter but managed to come away with field goals.

The Pirates turned a fumble recovery by Isaiah Brown-Murray on USTA's first possession into a 21-yard field goal from Akron transfer Noah Perez, who made his first appearance for ECU in place of Andrew Conrad and converted three field goals and all three of his PAT kicks.

A 35-yard pass from Jake Garcia to freshman Yannick Smith put the Pirates in the red zone, but the drive stalled at the 3.

Two roughing-the-passer penalties on ECU led to a Chase Allen field goal and a 3-3 tie. A 5-yard pass from McCown to Oscar Cardenas and a 35-yard field goal by Allen put UTSA up 13-3 with 3:05 left in the half before a game-turning drive by ECU.

With the aid of a facemask penalty on UTSA on third down and pass interference on another third down from the 6, the Pirates drove 75 yards in eight plays with Garcia sprinting in from the 3 to make it 13-10.

"It felt great to score," said Garcia, whose daughter Melani turned one on Saturday. "Everybody did their job on the play. The guys up front were blocking, got push. We had a great fake on it, took it up in there and scored."

Garcia experienced a feast-or-famine night, completing 17 of 35 passes for 294 yards. He tossed a pair of interceptions but also hit Winston Wright Jr. for a 40-yard score and Anthonny Smith for a 53-yard touchdown on consecutive possessions in the third quarter to boost ECU's lead to 24-13.

"We just didn't come out hot like we normally do, and that's OK," Garcia said. "Bad things are going to happen in a football game. You just have to be able to deal with it and literally just go with the punches, just turning the page on that and being able to find our stride, going back to the drawing board and do what we do day in and day out."

Perez matched his career best with a 42-yard field goal to cap off 24-straight points and increase the lead to 27-13.

High's long run gave UTSA new life, and an interception by Zah Frazier at the ECU 25 on the first play of the next series created some uneasiness in the crowd. But the Pirates stuffed four plays, and the Roadrunners never threatened again.

Perez tacked on a 24-yard field goal with 13 seconds left for the final margin, putting a bow on what the Pirates hope is a catalyst to the remainder of the year.

"I've been doing this a long time, and I've had a lot of seasons," Houston said. "When you have a really special season, most of the times you look back at one game and say, you know what, that's when it turned, that was the real game that got things going in the other direction. We'll see if it is. The most important game now is the one next Saturday down in Charlotte."