ECU Outlasts Old Dominion For 20-14 Road Victory

Saturday, September 7

Norfolk, Va.

6:00 p.m.

East Carolina University

2-0 , 0-0

Old Dominion

0-2 , 0-0

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

East Carolina

Old Dominion

September 07, 2024 | Football

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

NORFOLK, Va. – A heavy dose of running back Rahjai Harris and a stout effort by an aggressive defense enabled East Carolina to overcome numerous mistakes Saturday night and hang on for a 20-14 victory at Old Dominion.

The Pirates, now 2-0 and already matching last year's win total, overcame Jake Garcia's four interceptions and 10 penalties a week after committing six turnovers in a season-opening rout of Norfolk State.

The bullish running of Harris ultimately proved the difference. The senior shouldered the load in the running game with a career-high 26 carries for 131 yards and a pair of scintillating touchdown runs – a 22-yarder on the opening drive of the game and a 63-yard burst on ECU's first series of the third quarter.

"We went out there and did what we had to do," said Harris, who now has six 100-yard games and surpassed 2,000 yards for his career (2,085).

"We had a couple of mistakes, a couple of errors we've got to fix before (Appalachian State), but a victory is a victory," Harris said.

ECU head coach Mike Houston concurred, especially after the defense stuffed four ODU fourth-quarter possessions, including a last-gasp chance that ended on the Pirates' 44 as time expired.

The Monarchs (0-2), winless against the Pirates in five meetings, came up empty for the second straight week with an opportunity to pull out a victory on the final possession. ODU fell 23-19 at South Carolina in its opener.

"I was really proud of the kids, how hard they played, how they competed the whole night," Houston said. "They never flinched. I'll be honest, I felt like we should have won that game by a couple of touchdowns. But any way we got the win. We're 2-0. I'm never going to apologize for that."

There are plenty of reasons for that. With its new up-tempo offense, ECU has returned the explosive play to its arsenal and proven it can pile up the yards and points. After 13 "big" plays (15 yards or more) last week, the Pirates racked up 11 against the Monarchs, including seven of at least 20 yards.

The two teams combined to run 164 plays on an overcast, gusty evening at S.B. Ballard Stadium with ECU recording 89 snaps for 466 total yards. Garcia, making his third career start, completed 25 of 38 passes for 283 yards, spreading the ball to nine receivers.

The junior struck feast or famine on third downs, converting 7 of 13 throws with five of those gaining at least 12 yards but also throwing three of his interceptions.

"He made some mistakes, yes, and yes, he's got to cut down the interceptions. These this week were a little bit different from the ones last week. I don't think as many were sloppy this week.

"But he doesn't doubt himself," Houston said. "The kids believe in him. There's just something about him. And everybody feels like that – me, the players, the other coaches. I just think he's going to be really special in time."

Garcia, along with Harris, led the Pirates to a score on the opening drive, completing 3 of 4 passes for 46 yards highlighted by a 19-yard pass to Chase Sowell to convert a third-and-12. Harris, who had just six carries for 24 yards against Norfolk State, capped off the 80-yard drive with a 22-yard run and accounted for 32 yards on the drive.

Andrew Conrad, who made all six PAT kicks in the season-opener and 52 of 53 in his career banged the extra-point try off the upright but responded later with field goals. A 33-yarder in the third period gave ECU a 17-7 led and his 50-yarder with 9:09 to play made it 20-14.

"I was really proud of him for that," Houston said of his senior kicker. "Sometimes a kicker can get in his head after a miss like that first one, but boy he drained the next two. The one from 50, it probably had another five or six yards on it."

ECU trailed 7-6 at the end of a sloppy first half that included four interceptions and 11 penalties for 105 yards. The Pirates squandered a chance to regain the lead at the end of the half, reaching the 7 but without a timeout. An attempt to spike the ball and stop the clock resulted in a penalty and a runoff of the remaining time

Harris made sure that didn't sting too long by ripping off a 63-yard scoring run on a third-and-13 play to give the Pirates the lead for good with 9:09 left in the third quarter. A two-point pass to Sowell made it14-7.

"The whole week, Coach Houston was like 'Trust your speed, trust your speed and just hit the gas,'" Harris said. "When you go through it Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday just becomes easy. You've got to just trust your training and go out there and do it."

ECU still had to withstand some tense moments as the Monarchs, who had a pair of turnovers and finished with 292 yards, tried to claw back. Penalties and an inability to hold off the Pirates' relentless rush led to their demise.

The biggest of ODU's 10 penalties wiped out a 72-yard punt return by Isiah Paige with 3:57 to go. The Pirates registered three of their four sacks in the fourth quarter.

Quarterback Grant Wilson, who completed 20 of 34 passes for 192 yards with one touchdown and one interception, moved ODU from its 9 to the ECU 44 before time ran out.

"It got hairy on that last drive, but honestly I knew that they were going to run out of time," Houston said. "We were just doing too good of a job of staying calm and staying composed."