GREENVILLE — The end of East Carolina’s 42-20 American Athletic Conference loss to Houston at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium on Saturday night may have defined the quarterback situation for the Pirates going forward.
On an evening when ECU delved into its past to recognize the 1993 basketball team, the last to make the NCAA Tournament, as well as new inductees to the Pirates’ athletic hall of fame, the future appeared a little brighter when true freshman quarterback Holton Ahlers went in to run the offense, albeit after the issue had long been decided.
With 2017 Outland Trophy winner Ed Oliver a safe distance away on the sideline, Ahlers threw for one touchdown and ran for another. ECU had not scored a touchdown since the fourth quarter of a 37-35 win at home over Old Dominion on Sept. 26. Temple kept the Pirates out of the end zone in last week’s 49-6 loss in Philadelphia.
“What he did will not go unnoticed,” said ECU coach Scottie Montgomery after Ahlers eased some doubt about his passing ability, connecting on 11 of 18 throws for 137 yards.
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Montgomery also said he liked Ahlers’ ability to implement instructions immediately into game situations.
The Pirates ended their TD famine as Ahlers found senior Trevon Brown for a 13-yard score with 5:15 remaning.
Ahlers capped the scoring with a 1-yard keeper with 1:27 to go.
Ahlers netted 45 yards on five carries to lead ECU’s ground game. Ahlers was not available to media after the game due to program policy with first-year players, but his actions spoke louder than words for an offense that was unable to keep pace with Houston’s point production.
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Asked what Ahlers needed to do to get more playing time, Montgomery said, “I think he did that tonight.”
D’Eriq King threw for a 38-yard score and ran 8 yards for another TD as the Cougars had a 14-0 lead in the opening seven minutes.
Still, Montgomery credited the defense’s performance.
“If you look at the scoreboard, 42-20, it makes it sound like our defense didn’t play well,” said the third-year Pirates coach. “I thought our defense played really well at times throughout the game.”
Most of the stat sheet contradicted the final score as well. ECU led 27-18 in first downs and 415-406 in total yardage. Time of possession favored the Pirates by more than six minutes.
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The Cougars had a third quarter score on a fumble return. The Pirates had four turnovers but no take-aways.
The numbers were in contrast to the trip to Temple, when ECU was outgained, 470-196, although the Pirates were turnover free at Lincoln Financial Field.
“This week we didn’t give up,” said Brown, who had two catches for 22 yards against the Owls and 13 catches for 153 against the Cougars. “Last week, we fell back, myself included. I’m not going to quit on anyone, my team, my coaches or my family — no matter the team or score or anything. . . . No matter the score, we just wanted to keep fighting until the clock hit zeroes.”
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Houston improved to 5-1 overall and 2-0 in the American while ECU slipped to 2-4 and 0-3. The Pirates have lost two games decisively after posting wins over North Carolina and ODU, who have just two wins between them.
The challenge will intensify as ECU hosts Central Florida on Saturday at 7 p.m. The Knights (6-0, 3-0) rallied for a 31-30 win at Memphis on Saturday and likely will climb into the Top 10 with a number of upsets this week.
“I thought we played a lot better defensively as a whole than we did last week,” said defensive end Nate Harvey, who had 3.5 tackles for losses. “There wasn’t really any open gaps to run through. They had to make plays.”
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At least the Pirates will be at home again.
“The crowd kind of helps the defense out, by being loud and by being rowdy,” Harvey said. “It disrupts the offense’s timing on routes and sometimes they can’t get the play called. So it helps a lot.”
The door may have opened for Ahlers to start against UCF.
“He throws a good ball,” Brown said of the D.H. Conley graduate. “All of the quarterbacks do. Our quarterbacks that have been labeled runners like James Summers and Thomas Sirk, defenses would load the box. Holton showed he can throw tonight.”
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Reid Herring started the first six games but has struggled at times with turnovers. Herring completed 26 of 42 against the Cougars for 229 yards, but he had two passes picked off and didn’t get ECU into the end zone.
“It definitely gives you momentum when you score early and we failed to do that,” Herring said. “That hurt us in the long run. But we’ve got to stay up and find a different way to score.”
Redshirt freshman quarterback Kingsley Ifedi of the Pirates was 1 for 3 for 8 yards in the second half with an interception on a deep ball.
“As a team, we have to get better,” Ifedi said. “That’s offense, defense, special teams. That’s everybody. We have to continue to get better each and every day. … This was a team loss.”
Ahlers came in during the garbage time of the game. He was playing against the Houston Cheerleeders which every puts in when they are crushing the other team. Let’s hold off on putting Ahlers in the Hall of Fame. Honestly I would rather you focus your articles on who is going to be the next football coach. Because it is time for Montgomery to get fired!
Great comment about Ahlers. He’s our future. He showed last night he can pass the ball. He’s going to have some ups and downs – but we have to let him play and get game experience. He’s exciting, he’s a leader – and given our overall won/loss situation this year – he’s worth the price of admission to watch and to come to the games. Go Pirates!