GREENVILLE — Southern Methodist surged early and late for a 31-10 American Athletic Conference win at East Carolina on Thursday night.
The Mustangs got scoring passes from Preston Stone of 21 yards to Key Shawn Smith and 24 yards to Roderick Daniels in the first quarter for a 14-0 lead.
The ECU defense kept SMU off the scoreboard in the second and third quarters as the Pirates closed within 14-10 before the half.
A 49-yard field goal by Andrew Conrad and a 6-yard keeper by Mason Garcia on a 4th-and-2 got the Pirates within a possession of taking the lead.
But ECU’s season-long offensive problems persisted, and the visitors sealed the victory with 17 unanswered points in the fourth quarter.
“”The defense played their butts off,” said ECU coach Mike Houston on the Pirate radio network. “You’re within 14-10 and you have the ball in the fourth quarter. We’ve got to be able to put these games away.
“I’m really frustrated that we’re not able to finish the games. That’s one of the more talented teams in our league. We had a chance to knock them off at home. We didn’t get it done.”
The Pirates have struggled offensively late in losses to Marshall, Appalachian State and Rice.
ECU had two turnovers — both in the fourth quarter in the Thursday night ESPN matchup witnessed by 33,444 at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium. Alex Flinn had the ball wrestled from his grasp after a 14-yard run to the ECU 32, which led to a 50-yard field goal by Collin Rogers and a 17-10 SMU lead with 13:18 remaining.
Flinn threw a pick six with Jonathan McGill’s 34-yard return stretching the lead to 24-10.
Stone’s third TD pass covered 43 yards to tight end R. J. Maryland with 2:29 to go.
The Pirates (1-5, 0-2 AAC) had a 15-14 lead in first downs as Garcia and Flinn each saw considerable action.
“Mason came in and gave us a spark in the first half,” Houston said. “He did some good things and really gave us the momentum going into halftime. … He had us back in the ball game.
“We just kind of sputtered there in the second half. Alex came in and gave us a little bit of a spark. The two turnovers there in the fourth quarter really, really hurt. Those two turnovers really hurt our chances when it was 14-10. It just kind of got away from us after that.”
Garcia completed 12 of 26 passes for 155 yards. He was the leading rusher of the game with 12 carries for 38 yards.
Flinn was six for 13 through the air for 38 yards.
Chase Sowell was ECU’s top receiver with seven catches for 120 yards, including 56 yards after the catch.
“He’s really developed and come along this fall,” Houston said. “He joined us right before (preseason) camp. … He’s just a redshirt freshman so he’s going to be here for a long time.”
ECU hosts Charlotte on Saturday, Oct. 21, at 2 p.m. The 49ers are 1-4 overall and 0-1 in league play after a 34-16 loss at SMU (4-2, 2-0) on Sept. 30. Charlotte is in the midst of a bye week.
The Pirates can still reach bowl eligibility.
“We’ve got to stay together and get this train moving,” Sowell said.
Horace Stuyvesant says
Lack of talent
Bob Owen says
Coach knows best. I think he has now determined who will be his steady QB.
Irish Spectre says
The defense plays hard and is generally effective, but the offense’s inability to do anything puts a lot of pressure on the d, and it wilts in the 4th quarter.
The OL particularly has been just killing them, and the many play-calls off tackle that are doomed to failure aren’t exactly helping, nor, last night, was the play-calling at the end of the 1st half, when ECU had clawed back to within 4, had the ball in a perfect 2-minute drill situation, and they went conservative, playing keep-away, instead of trying to get to at least within FG range.
…and yes, the Q situation is a big piece of the issue, but until the OL gets a lot better, it hardly matters who’s under center.
Coach rightly praised Sowell after his performance at wideout, but when he says “He’s just a redshirt freshman so he’s going to be here for a long time,” I have to wonder; why won’t he leave early, like it seems so many other exceptionally talented Pirates do?
The university released Montgomery after three seasons and a .250 winning percentage; when they brought in Coach Houston, they surely envisioned a far cry better than .442 after 5 1/2 seasons in.
Donald Tyson says
NIL has made an uneven playing field. It’s not lack of coaching it’s lack of talent! Talent cos$$$, we don’t have it, end of story. At lease have salary cap to create the illusion that we can compete, ncaa ruined a beautiful thing!
Ken Evans says
ECU fans are much like NY Yankees fans this year, wait till next year and hope they can find a qb who can create some type of offense. I questioned why Gardner Webb was on our football schedule, now I know, that may be ECU’s only win this season. Just have to wait for baseball season, which has been ECU’s most consistent sport team through its past history.