HOUSTON — East Carolina’s last hope for a win in its American Athletic Conference opener at Rice ended with Alex Flinn being flushed out of the pocket and tackled for a loss at his own 39 with 24 seconds left on a 4th-and-14 from the ECU 46.
A scan of the statistics would indicate a more favorable outcome than the actual 24-17 loss to the Owls. ECU led 391-277 in total yards and had significantly more first downs, 25-14.
But struggles in the red zone for the Pirates and a screen pass that turned into a 44-yard touchdown for the deciding score for the Owls were ultimately the factors that produced the Owls’ first AAC victory as new members of the league.
Flinn was intercepted to end the first quarter after ECU had driven from its 25 to the Rice 18. The Pirates turned the ball over on downs following a 1st-and-goal at the Rice 3 in the third quarter on a 34-yard pass play from Flinn to Jsi Hatfield.
“We just had too many missed opportunities to win it,” said ECU coach Mike Houston on the Pirate radio network. “You’ll be able to look back at several big plays where we had a chance and didn’t make the play. That’s the difference in winning and losing.”
ECU’s defense got a three and out on the first possession of the game. Flinn converted a 4th-and-4 at the Rice 44 with a 14-yard pass to Chase Sowell on ECU’s first series before Andrew Conrad provided a 3-0 lead with a 35-yard field goal with 7:17 remaining in the first period.
Conrad had subsequent field goals of 27 and 38 yards as the Pirates trailed, 10-9, at the half.
Down 17-9, ECU pulled even as a 1-yard run by Rahjai Harris with 8:24 to go completed a 17-play drive that covered 80 yards. Sowell wrestled the ball from a defender on a fade route to the right for the tying 2-point conversion.
The Owls regained the lead just two minutes later as J.T. Daniels threw to Landon Ransom-Goelz, who went down the sideline for a 44-yard score.
“I hate we let the screen pass get out on us in the fourth quarter,” Houston said.
ECU lost possession on downs at the Rice 29 on its next series.
The Pirates went for a 4th-and-10 at their 24 but turned the ball over as Daveon Hook broke up a pass intended for Shane Calhoun with 2:17 to go.
The Owls left the door open with a missed 42-yard field goal with 1:11 left. ECU advanced to midfield before Flinn was tackled by Chike Anigbogu with 24 seconds showing.
Flinn completed 21 of 44 for 246 yards with one pick.
“We’ve got to get a little more consistency, not only with his play, but we had too many drops,” Houston said. “You had some big drops tonight.”
True freshman Javious Bond had seven carries for 72 yards for the Pirates. Sowell finished with seven receptions for 88 yards and Hatfield had five catches for 74 yards.
Chad Stephens had 2.5 tackles for loss for the ECU. Teagan Wilk had an interception at the ECU 25 in the first quarter.
Daniels completed 18 of 32 for 240 yards with two scores and one interception for Rice (3-2, 1-1 AAC).
ECU (1-4, 0-1 AAC) has a break before hosting Southern Methodist for a Thursday night ESPN game on Oct. 12, at 7:30 p.m.
“We’re all going to look at this and find plays that we could have made, should have made that would have made a difference in the ball game,” Houston said. “The big thing is we’ve got to keep pushing ourselves so that we make those plays and make those correct decisions.
“We’ve got to stick together. I thought the kids played very hard. There’s no doubt they wanted to come in here and win this ball game.
“We had a good week of preparation. The desire is there and the want-to is there. We’ve got to make the plays when we have opportunities to make the plays.”
2-6 on 4th down is the main (and most unusual) stat on an otherwise ECU should win results sheet. I didn’t get to see the game, but that is a crazy number of times to go for it in a close game unless your punter got hurt. Rice was 0-0 on 4th down.
Sadly, this year is a bust. Too many “new” guys trying to find their way in a very competitive environment. The athletes ECU can recruit, by and large, require more time to climb the learning curve than major conference players. With that in mind, some thoughts on how to move forward.
Alex Flinn clearly has some talent. And, he is a wonderful example of what a “student-athlete” should be. However, he’s also inexperienced at a position which exacts a high price for poor decision-making. You can’t just throw a screen pass because it “was called”. Unfortunately for the Pirates, and we fans, the situation isn’t going to change this season. The offensive line isn’t consistent enough to sustain Flinn through his learning curve, as the O-line has their own issues with inexperience.
Let’s face it, Mason Garcia was supposed to be The RPO Guy. Big, strong, definitely a run threat, and has a howitzer for an arm. On paper, he had better credentials than Ahlers. Well, Garcia has been a bust. Not physically, but mentally. We knew mistakes would be made. But, I don’t think any of us thought “the moment” would be too big for him. Sadly, it seems to be.
Unfortunately, the offense has been recruited to support and succeed with a QB like Garcia, not Flinn. Flinn is willing, but he doesn’t have the physical skill set possessed by Garcia.
What we do have, is Javious Bond. He knows how to go north and south. The O-line has shown they can give him a seam to squeak through. Flinn, imo, could benefit from a quick-hitting, I-formation run attack, with Harris and Bond/Gunn/Edmonds behind him. Flinn could be a sneaky good pocket passer with Johnson, Sowell, and Calhoun to play pitch-and-catch in the short/medium range attack.
Otherwise, bite the bullet, and play Garcia through his misery. Make the RPO work with the QB who is built for it.
Defense… still a work in progress, with a few players who haven’t learned how to play under control. The Pirates must stay committed to the mission. Overall, the defense has progressed much further than the offense.
Coaching decisions… so you choose to kick the field goal and not go for the first down on a 4th and two, inside the five yard line. Okay. Then you GO FOR IT on a 4th and goal, and don’t kick a field goal that would GIVE YOU A LEAD when the team really didn’t need to come up empty. As Arsenio Hall would say… HMMMM?
Finally, can we PLEASE just kick the ball into the end zone on kickoffs. No more cutesy placement kicks, that somehow don’t get covered very well.
Where the evidence that MG will come around? There is evidence that AF can do something if they can establish a run game to help him out.
The Pirates’ penchant this season for disappearing late in the game is becoming thematic; last night it happened particularly on offense.
Bluntly, that move to replace AF with MG when they were driving (late in the first half, I think) was profoundly boneheaded; they ended up getting points only because of the pass interference call. …totally inexplicable.
Questions abound in Pirate Nation.
I don’t suggest MG will come around. He does have better RPO skills. Flinn has better pocket presence. I’m saying alter the offensive set away from RPO for Flinn. I think he could be more effective from under center, with Harris and Bond in the I-form.
I completely agree with you about MG coming in on the goal line. All that did was tell Rice that Garcia was going to run the ball.