GREENVILLE — In the business of college football, the bottom line is wins and losses. Darius Pinnix did not lose sight of that fact even though his two touchdowns from a Wildcat set were a highlight for East Carolina in a 59-41 home loss to Memphis on Saturday.
“The Wildcat might have been effective, but we didn’t do enough to win the football game,” said the sophomore running back. “Wins are more important than individual touchdowns and stuff like that.”
As far as individual stuff, true freshman quarterback Holton Ahlers completed 34 of 62 passes for 449 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions in his second start. Ahlers led the ground game with 57 yards on 17 carries.
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East Carolina fell to 2-6 overall and 0-5 in the American Athletic Conference. With four games left on the regular-season schedule, there is no margin for error if the Pirates are to achieve bowl eligibility.
Using the Tigers (5-4, 2-3) as a measuring stick, the Pirates are getting better. Last season’s trip to the Liberty Bowl produced a 70-13 pounding for the Pirates. ECU trailed 49-0 at the half to a stronger Memphis edition last Nov. 25 and never really was in the game.
This year the Pirates competed to a much higher degree. The Pirates had a lead of 7-0 on Pinnix’s first touchdown in the Wildcat. ECU was ahead 14-10 after a 10-yard touchdown pass from Ahlers to Trevon Brown. Down 31-17 early in the third quarter, the Pirates pulled even at 31 on a 2-yard carry by Pinnix and a 31-yard Ahlers toss to Brown, who had 10 receptions for 193 yards.
Jake Verity, who hit a 52-yard field goal late in the first half, made a 47-yarder to get ECU within 38-34 going into the fourth quarter.
The Pirates finished with more first downs, 29-26, as Memphis held a 639-556 lead in total yardage.
ECU was coming off a bye week. The Pirates had averaged just 12 points in three preceding losses.
“There was some growth for us offensively during the open date,” said ECU coach Scottie Montgomery. “It was very easy to see. Holton has done a good job of building a rapport with his receivers. We talked about not turning the ball over and we didn’t do that. We had one turnover on special teams.”
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The Tigers were turnover free as the Pirates fell to minus-13 for the season in turnover margin.
Brown lost possession on a punt return that gave the Tigers the ball at the ECU 23. The Tigers pushed the lead to 24-14 on the opportunity.
“You’re looking at a 7-point swing, potentially a 10- to 14-point swing,” Montgomery said of the miscue. “We talk about it all the time. Four or five plays in a game (make the difference).”
The Tigers struck for big plays on a 71-yard pass from Brady White to Darrell Henderson in the first quarter and a 75-yard aerial from White to Damonte Coxie to start the second half. Henderson eluded the Pirates on scoring runs of 20 and 39 yards in the fourth quarter.
“Our No. 1 goal coming into the week was stopping the run,” Montgomery said.
Memphis had 277 yards rushing as ECU yielded a season high point total. That was still shy of the 70-point performance by the Tigers in 2017.
“Nate Harvey wore No. 70 in practice this week,” Brown said. “That reminded us that they hung 70 on us last year. That helped me prepare all week.”
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Ahlers said ECU is on the verge of flipping the script that has produced four straight losses going into a contest at Tulane on Nov. 10.
The left-handed quarterback was asked if the team was feeling pressure to win in order for Montgomery to keep his job. Montgomery has an 8-24 record with the Pirates.
“Any time you’re not winning, there’s going to be pressure,” Ahlers said. “But we believe in him. There’s not another coach I’d rather have coaching me right now. We believe in him and he believes in us. That’s a big deal. We want to win for him, because he deserves it.”
Improvement, although variable in its manifestation from week to week, is apparent and there is a well-regarded recruiting class waiting to join the program. Those factors help balance the growing number of losses.
There is obvious disenchantment among the fan base. Only 29,127 were on hand Saturday. The Pirates averaged 42,218 fans the season before Montgomery arrived.
The decision on Montgomery’s status may be the first order of business for a new athletic director, who should be mindful that the last coaching change has not produced the desired results.
The law of averages dictates that we will have a winning season in the next 19 years.
What we have seen from Ahlers in his first two starts is the only hope we have now for a turnaround in this program. 500 yards of offense from him with little help other than the big game ability form Travon Brown is amazing. The interior O line is the main reason we cannot win games.
The OL indeed is killing ECU; they cannot win absent running. I’m pretty sure they’ve been down two OL starters for multiple games now.