On a day when East Carolina honored its 1999 team, the 2024 version of the Pirates rediscovered some magic and their winning ways in defeating UTSA 30-20 in the American Athletic Conference opener for both teams.
After two-straight weeks of seeing double-digit leads slip away, ECU stormed back from a 10-point, first-half deficit by reeling off 24 consecutive points while putting a stranglehold on the Roadrunners’ offense. The Pirates (3-2) forced three turnovers, stuffed three fourth-down attempts and hounded quarterback Owen McCown into incompletions of 15 of his final 19 passes.
“I thought really we took the fight out of them in the third and fourth quarter,” head coach Mike Houston said.
That flipped the script from losses to Appalachian State and Liberty in which ECU saw leads of 16 and 17 points, respectively, vanish. The Pirates led both those games heading into the fourth period but stressed finishing the job heading into the conference opener.
“We’ve hung our heads when things kind of didn’t go our way the last couple of weeks and let the other team take the momentum,” Houston said. “We talked a lot about those are the times you’ve got to stick together, you’ve got to do your job, play the next play. It’s easy to sit here and say that, and it’s very cliché, but when you’re out there on the field, and the other team is stealing the momentum from you, it’s really, really hard. But I thought we grew up tonight.”
Perhaps these Pirates took a page from the 1999 team, which overcame mountains of adversity on the way to a 9-3 record. Coach Steve Logan’s team is most remembered for a comeback win over nationally ranked Miami, hosted at NC State’s Carter-Finley Stadium due to devastating flooding in eastern North Carolina after Hurricane Floyd.
During Saturday’s game, the 1999 team not only was honored but a moment of silence was held for victims of Hurricane Helene, which unleashed severe damage in western North Carolina earlier this week. Houston grew up in Franklin and still has family in that part of the state.
“Mom’s fine, my sister’s fine,” Houston said. “They don’t have power or anything right now, but they’re safe. I just know there’s a lot of families that aren’t safe and your thoughts and prayers are with them.”
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