ECU’s football team was able to pull away down the stretch and beat Tulsa, 41-27, on Thursday during the ESPN-televised game.
Below are more details from ECU Sports Information. Videos are from Pirate Radio.
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Photo credit: (ECU Sports Information)
East Carolina needed a dose of thunder and lightning to stave off pesky and persistent Tulsa, capping off the last of four Thursday night games this season with a 41-27 American Conference victory.
The duo of quarterback Katin Houser and wide receiver Anthony Smith provided the electricity early, combining on a pair of long touchdown passes to energize the “blackout” crowd on Night of the Boneyard in Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium.
London Montgomery and Marlon Gunn Jr. delivered the thunder, spearheading a punishing running game that churned out a season-high 268 yards. The Pirates (4-3, 2-1), in bouncing back from a disheartening loss at Tulane last Thursday, finished with a season-best 568 yards in arguably their most complete game of the year. A turnover-free game also contributed to a fairly stress-free night.
“I thought the guys didn’t let last week’s loss turn into two losses,” head coach Blake Harrell said. “You can certainly do that. You go lose a close game on the road. … We just talked about where we’re at, where we want to be and how we’re going to get that. We talked about the process, just going back to focus on us, focus on how we work, how we prepare and getting ready for our opponent.”
That approach carried over to the game, Smith said. The senior speedster, the Pirates’ most dangerous deep threat, teamed up with Houser to provide lightning-quick strikes of 66 and 63 yards in the first half.
Smith, who nearly had a one-hand grab in the end zone on ECU’s first possession, did not waste his next chance. After using a double move to dust cornerback Elijah Green, who came in with five interceptions, he cradled a pass from Houser at the Tulsa 34 and sprinted the rest of the way for a career-long touchdown and a 10-0 lead.
Smith nearly duplicated that in the second quarter with another long-range missile from Houser for a 63-yard score and a 24-14 lead.
“I love playing with Katin,” Smith said. “He throws a good deep ball. I love to catch a deep ball.”
Smith, one of 10 receivers to catch a pass from Houser, set career bests with his two touchdowns and 150 yards receiving. Houser completed 21 of 38 passes for 300 yards, marking the fifth time in his career that he has thrown for at least 300 yards.
Along with the connections with Smith, he had a 30-yarder to Brock Spalding. Houser now has 46 passes of at least 15 yards this season.
“That was part of the game plan,” Houser said of stretching the field with deep shots. “We had some shots called out for Anthony (Smith) and Yannick (Smith), and Anthony got some opportunities to go make some moves on that corner and take a shot downfield. The O-Line protected up for me, and all I had to do was throw it out there.”
The production was hardly limited to the aerial show. Montgomery, in his second year after transferring from Penn State, turned in his best performance as a Pirate with a career-best 125 yards on 16 carries, His 51-yard dash on the first play after a fourth-down stop put ECU in command at 31-14 and was one of six runs of at least 11 yards by ECU running backs.
Marlon Gunn Jr. added 60 yards on 14 carries and scored on a 1-yard run. T.J. Engleman Jr., flashing improvement each week, gained 40 yards on 10 carries – both tying career-highs.
“That’s what it’s supposed to look like,” Harrell said. “The run game is opening up the deep ball. The deep ball is opening up the running game, and Katin is certainly operating at a high level. … I did think offensively we started, and we finished.”
ECU needed all the offense it could muster to subdue the Golden Hurricane (2-5, 0-4). Redshirt freshman quarterback Baylor Hayes didn’t wilt under constant pressure and set career highs in completions (23), pass attempts (41), passing yards (251) and touchdown passes (2). Junior tight end Brody Foley emerged as his favorite target and set career highs with six catches for 126 yards, including a 38-yard touchdown.
The Pirates responded time again to keep Tulsa from mounting a serious threat, holding the Golden Hurricane to 6-of-19 on third down, stopping three fourth-down tries, recording five sacks and 10 tackles for loss.
“It’s amazing man, seeing the D-Line work like that,” said Preston Carr, who had one sack and one tackle for loss among his five total tackles. “When we get in that backfield, we know it’s on.”