GREENVILLE — Rice introduced some doubt about East Carolina making a successful start in its American Conference opener on Saturday at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium.

The Owls took a 9-7 lead with 12:47 left in the third quarter on a 23-yard scoring run by Tyvonn Byars.

Rice maintained the advantage until Emory Williams connected with Ray Ray Joseph for a 6-yard touchdown and a 14-9 ECU lead with 4:37 left in the third quarter.

That initiated a flurry for the Pirates that produced a 28-9 lead over the next six minutes, 50 seconds.

“I didn’t think we played the first half offensively like we’re capable of playing,” said ECU coach Blake Harrell on the Pirate Sports Network. “It was much better in the second half.”

The Pirates went 75 yards in 17 plays after the Owls had taken the lead with a steady run-pass balance that consumed over eight minutes.

ECU converted twice on third down and twice in 4th-and-1 situations on the go-ahead drive.

The fourth quarter began with Rice quarterback Jacurri Brown being thrown for a 13-yard loss by Rion Roseborough at the Owls’ 8-yard line on a third down.

The Pirates took over at the Rice 43 after a punt and T.J. Engleman went to the house on first down for a 21-9 lead with 14:08 left to play.

Two snaps later, Brown was intercepted by Julien Davis at the Owls 20. Williams scored on a 12-yard keeper with 12:47 to go.

Rice (1-5, 0-2 American) closed the scoring with a 44-yard field goal by Tommy Bauchiero with 30 seconds left. Noah Perez of the Pirates hit the right upright and missed a 38-yard field goal with 2:50 left.

ECU (3-2, 1-0 American) opened the scoring on its second series with a 22-yard pass from Williams to Joseph with 9:15 remaining in the first quarter.

Bauchiero kicked a 46-yard field goal with 2:41 left in the half.

Rice came into the game ranked 17th nationally in rushing yardage but were outgained on the ground, 234-164 by the Pirates, who had 12 tackles for losses.

Engleman ran 14 times for 136 yards.

“Credit to the offensive line, credit to the coaches for believing in me,” Engleman said. “Credit to God.

Williams completed 19 of 31 for 143 yards with the two TDs to his former Miami teammate Joseph, who had eight catches for 68 yards.

Mitch Griffis played the latter portion of the fourth quarter for the Pirates at quarterback.

Brown completed two of 10 for 21 yards. He had 19 rushes for 19 yards. Byars had 14 carries for 111 yards for Rice.

Areas that showed improvement for ECU were penalties, third down conversions and turnovers. The Pirates had just three penalties for 15 yards. ECU was 5-for-16 on third downs and 2-for-5 on fourth downs.

The Pirates had no turnovers and were plus-2 in thar category.

Fifth-year seniors J.D. Lampley, a defensive lineman, and defensive end Samuel Dankah, who have regained their eligibility through a court injunction, each saw action.

A crowd of 33,968 looked on after ECU had a bye week.

Defensive back Kevon Merrell was in on nine tackles in the win.

“We had two weeks to prepare for them,” Merrell said. “We had to have our eyes in the right spot and play our keys. We honed in on that. The coaches emphasized that for the whole two weeks.”

The Pirates have a short week of preparation with a game at Alabama-Birmingham on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. (ESPN). The Blazers were 3-2 overall and 1-0 in league play with a game at Memphis (4-1, 1-0) on Saturday night.

“It’s going to be a quick turnaround,” Merrell said. “We’ll get back at it (Sunday). We play Thursday. We’ve just got to reset, refocus.”