GREENVILLE — Emory Williams gave the East Carolina offense a dimension that had been missing in a 42-9 win over North Carolina Central at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium on Saturday.
The transfer from Miami completed 25 of 36 passes for 341 yards with three touchdowns and one interception as the Pirates improved to 2-2 going into a bye week before their American Conference opener at home against Rice on Oct. 10.
“We kind of found our identity a little bit offensively,” said ECU coach Blake Harrell on the Pirate radio network. “We threw down the field and took our shots.”
Ray Ray Joseph Jr., who also transferred from Miami, had 10 catches for 141 yards.
Texas Tech transfer Mitch Griffis started the first three games at quarterback for ECU and had averaged 141.6 yards per game passing against three Football Bowl Subdivision opponents, including No. 8 Alabama.
NCCU (2-3) competes in the Football Championship Subdivision.
The Eagles scored first and last on Saturday. In between, ECU produced a dominant first half for a 42-3 lead at the break.
Harrell played reserves extensively in a scoreless second half for the hosts. The Pirates lost a fumble at the 1-yard line of the visitors in the fourth quarter.
NCCU took a 3-0 lead on the game’s first possession as Riley Daniels kicked a 39-yard field goal with 10:47 left in the first quarter.
Williams directed a drive from the ECU 37 to the Central 7, but Williams was stripped of the ball going into the end zone and the Eagles recovered for a touchback.
“I’d like to have that one back,” Williams said.
Running back Ashton Gray missed the nonconference contest but the Pirates took a 7-3 lead on a 5-yard scoring run by T.J. Engleman around the right side with 4:38 left in the first quarter.
Engleman ran 10 times for 129 yards.
“Credit to the offensive line and the quarterback,” Engleman said. “They opened the lanes for me. I was just hitting the holes and using my God-given ability.”
Joseph was an early catalyst. He had a catch from Williams on the initial ECU scoring series that covered 36 yards to the Central 7.
Williams passed to Michael Allen for a 6-yard score and a 14-3 lead on the first snap of the second quarter. Joseph had a reception for 41 yards on the drive.
An 8-yard TD pass from Williams to Engleman extended the lead to 21-3 with 11:01 left in the first half.
Williams hit a wide-open Kanen Hamlett on a flea flicker for a 22-yard score with 9:24 left in the first half for a 28-3 lead.
Angelo Ross of the Pirates intercepted at the ECU 4 after the visitors had driven from the ECU 34 to the 5 after a strip sack of Williams.
Engleman followed the pick with an 88-yard scoring run as the Pirates went up, 35-3, at 1:49 before halftime.
“Excited to get the fans a win in Dowdy,” Engleman said.
There were 43.772 on hand for the in-state matchup. ECU defeated the Eagles, 52-7, in 2014 in the only previous meeting between the programs.
Ayden Duncanson had a pick six for the second straight week, this one covering 20 yards to put the Eagles in a 42-3 hole with 1:29 to go in the half.
“The first half was excellent,” Williams said. “We did the simple things right. We were executing.”
The only points after intermission on a beautiful fall afternoon came from back-up NCCU quarterback Cobey Thompkins to Nasim Cosby on a 10-yard TD pass with 31 seconds left. Dylon Worthy blocked the extra point attempt.
The Eagles recovered the ensuing onside kick.
ECU led, 489-208 in total yardage.
The Pirates had 10 penalties for 120 yards. Time of possession was 38:23 to 21:37 in favor of NCCU as ECU had some quick-strike scores that didn’t consume the clock.
“We grew tonight,” Harrell said. “We were much better offensively.”
After being outscored, 17-3, in the second quarter in a 20-17 win at Old Dominion last week, the Pirates outscored Central, 35-0, in the second period on Saturday.
I’ll be, “the glass is half full”, on yesterday’s game. As a whole, the Pirates did what they were supposed to do, easily handle a team overmatched – like the Tide did to ECU. The change at QB1 proved successful, as EW pushed the passing game up the field. This also made the running game better by moving defenders out of the box. The defense played a solid game except on the first Eagles drive, and then during garbage time when several substitutes seemed lost. Tackling is still an issue.
Now to what seems to be a big problem – discipline. In conduct more than performance, the Pirates where embarrassing. This cannot continue. The Pirates simply aren’t good enough to spot teams 50 – 75 yards in penalties. I am disappointed Coach Harrell didn’t address the poor conduct more directly postgame, but he clearly expressed his disgust during the game.
Going forward, the jury is still out on the 2026 Pirates. It doesn’t appear, based on total performance, there will be any games where the Pirates will be a “lock”. Some good things happened yesterday, but the consistency required for a full 60 minutes is still missing. The next 13 days will be more important to the season than Saturday’s overpowering second quarter.
Agreed, and contributing to your “lock” evaluation, a few of the supposed weaker teams in conference are developing to be tougher competition than predicted in preseason.