ECU beaten by Charlotte 10-7

The East Carolina University football team (1-6, 0-3 AAC) came up short against the University of Charlotte,10-7 (2-5, 1-2 AAC). ECU produced only 127 total yards of offense, while Charlotte’s quarterback had over 127 yards rushing alone.

ECU sophomore quarterback Mason Garcia started the game for the Pirates, who ended up being relieved by redshirt junior quarterback Alex Flinn. Garcia finished his day with only four completions off of 14 pass attempts for 19 yards. Flinn ended the game with 18 pass attempts with 11 of them being completions for 69-passing yards.

Heading into the game, ECU was trying to avoid an 1-6 start for the first time since 2020. That Pirates team only won two more games on the campaign, finishing with a 3-6 record.

Flinn would make a crucial mistake by taking a sack instead of throwing the ball away on first down with a minute left in the fourth quarter, pushing ECU back eight yards. The Pirates would miss their next pass and only recover six of those eight-sack yards back. Conrad was sent back out to try to tie the game for the Pirates, but ultimately came up short on his 48-field goal attempt, which would give Charlotte the win.

"Obviously really disappointed in the ending of the game and not being able to get the win”. ECU Head Coach Mike Houston said in his opening statement after the loss. “I thought it would be a close game. They've been in a lot of those just like us this year. We had opportunities; we did not play great in the first half. We've got to do a better job there.”

Houston felt that the team could have done a better job regarding the final drive of the game for the Pirates.

“We have got to do a better job in that situation.” He said “I hate that it all came down to that one situation (Conrad field goal attempt), but we had a shot right there. We’ve got to improve”.

Charlotte took over possession after ECU started the game punting the ball on their first drive. In 13 plays, Charlotte took over seven minutes to score first on a field goal. ECU was unable to get much going on their second drive, ending it with another punt.

Both sides didn’t have much going on from there, as each punted twice to close out the first quarter. Starting the second quarter, Charlotte moved the ball to their own 41-yard line before ECU senior defensive back Julius Wood made a read on the ball and intercepted it to give the Pirates the ball at Charlotte’s 13-yard line.

The Pirates weren’t able to capitalize on it, as ECU sophomore placekicker Andrew Conrad missed the field goal attempt, keeping the Pirates behind 3-0. Both sides continued to stall in drives until the game entered halftime.

The second half kicked off with Charlotte driving the ball down the field to score the first touchdown of the day in only eight plays, putting the Pirates down 10-0. Sensing change, ECU made the switch to Flinn at quarterback in order to get the offense going.

It wouldn’t take long to see if it would work. After Charlotte missed a field goal attempt and fumbled a punt, Flinn recorded his second touchdown pass of the year, connecting with ECU junior tight end Shane Calhoun to get ECU back in the game, down 10-7 in the fourth quarter. Charlotte responded by missing another field goal with six minutes left.

After both teams punted, the game was sitting in the hands of the Pirates down three with two minutes to work with. Flinn completed a key pass on a third and seven to ECU freshman wide receiver Chase Sowell to gain a first down. Two more completed passes from Flinn set ECU up in Charlotte field territory.

Following this loss for ECU, they will head down to San Antonio, Texas, to play against the University of Texas at San Antonio (4-3, 3-0 AAC) on Oct 28, the game will be broadcasted on ESPN+.