Pirates’ winning streak snapped at UTSA, 58-24

SAN ANTONIO, Texas – East Carolina discovered what every American Conference team that ventures into the Alamodome has experienced -– no one beats UTSA on its home turf.

Coming off an emotional win over Memphis in their home finale, the Pirates could not build on that momentum and met adversity at every turn, falling 58-24 to the Roadrunners to dash any hopes of a spot in the conference championship game. UTSA (6-5, 4-3), which became bowl eligible, showed why it is 25-0 against conference foes in the loud Alamodome since 2020 by dominating from the start.
ECU (7-4, 5-2), meanwhile, ended its four-game win streak with a self-destructive mix of penalties, turnovers, offensive struggles and surrendering a bevy of big plays.

“Hats off to Coach (Jeff) Traylor and UTSA. They kicked our tails today,” ECU head coach Blake Harrell said. “I told the players in the locker room to call it what it is. They whipped our butts today, and that’s on me. It starts with me, and I’ve got to do a better job and make sure our team is prepared. A lot of little things maybe, a hangover from last week, we’re not locked in enough, or maybe it’s just that field. But whatever it is we’ve got to a better job with it.”

The Pirates set an ominous tone early in UTSA’s house of horrors and never recovered. ECU’s first six possessions of the first half resulted in four three-and-outs, a fumble and turning over possession on downs. Quarterback Katin Houser, who led the Pirates to an average of 510.8 yards and 41.5 points during the four-game win streak, never seemed comfortable and missed on his first five passes.
Houser completed 7-of-15 passes for just 73 yards in the first half and finished 18-of-32 for 241 yards. Houser tossed a pair of touchdown passes and had six completions of more than 15 yards, boosting his season total to 68, but had a tipped interception returned for a touchdown in the second half.

The Pirates finished with 401 total yards, surpassing 400 yards for the 15^th time in 17 games under Harrell, but 168 of those yards came in the fourth quarter long after the game had been decided.
“Just a lack of execution,” Houser said. “It’s easy to blame the dome and the fans and things like that, but you can’t really blame that. We just didn’t go out and execute. We didn’t do enough on offense to score enough points. As a team I didn’t feel like we had enough energy to start the game and throughout the game I felt like we were kind of flat.”

The Roadrunners certainly did not lack energy or motivation. Behind left-handed quarterback Owen McCown, they diced up ECU’s defense with a crafty display of screens and draws and did not waste any opportunity. UTSA scored on six of its seven first-half possessions to build a commanding 34-3 lead and did not allow ECU a sliver of hope of a rally.

The 58 points racked up by UTSA ranks as the most given up by the Pirates since Charlotte scored 55 on Oct. 5, 2024.

McCown completed 24 of 43 passes for 248 yards and set a career high with five touchdown passes – connecting with five different receivers for scores — and now has 18 touchdowns and no interceptions in home games this year. Sophomore Will Henderson III, filling in for injured starter Robert Henry, turned in his second straight strong performance with 173 yards on 19 carries. UTSA finished with 210 yards on the ground and 458 total yards.

UTSA ripped off seven running plays of at least 13 yards and struck for three passes of 33 yards or more.

“I said early in the week you’ve got to win the rushing battle, you’ve to win the explosive play battle and take care of the football, and we didn’t do any of those three things,” Harrell said.

Penalties also played a major role in ECU’s demise. The Pirates were flagged for 12 penalties for 120 yards, including a few crucial 15-yarders.

“All year long this group has done a good job of making it about us and making it about our focus, our preparation and how we play the game, our details,” Harrell said. “I thought a few things got away from us in that area tonight. We let the other team over there affect us, and that’s a little bit of credit to them, but it shows a little lack of discipline on our part.”

A late hit out of bounds on ECU’s first punt dug UTSA out a hole and set up a scoring drive highlighted by a 37-yard pass on a double-reverse flea flicker. A targeting penalty that disqualified Kamaurri McKinley kept the Roadrunners’ second touchdown drive alive.

With ECU down 14-0, a false start on third-and-1 stymied a drive that ended on downs. UTSA took advantage of a pass interference penalty later in the half and kicked a field goal to boost its lead to 31-0. Even after ECU finally scored on a Nick Mazzie field goal with 44 second left before halftime, a kickoff out of bounds and another late hit allowed UTSA to add three more points for a 34-3 lead.

The Pirates’ bid to change the momentum quickly faded in the third quarter after stopping USTA on the opening series but picking up a roughing the punter penalty. A 4-yard pass to D.J, Allen followed by a field goal after a fumble by Anthony Smith made it 44-3.

ECU scored on a 50-yard catch and run by Smith, who finished with 11 catches for 150 yards, a 50-yard run by Marlon Gunn Jr. and a 2-yard catch by Jayvontay Conner.

“In the second half it kind of got away from us,” Harrell said. “You’re trying an onside kick or go after a punt and try to make plays to get back in the game, not play conservative. To me, it’s about winning the game, and that’s all. We came here to win a game, and obviously we didn’t get that done.”

Next week at Florida Atlantic provides another chance.

“We’ve got a chance to go finish off this season the right way,” Harrell said. “We’ve done a really good job of not letting one game, one loss this year turn into two. We haven’t lost back-to-back games all year, and we need to go do what grown men do and finish what you started. We’ve got a great opportunity to do that next week, go get win number eight.”