A quarterback change followed by a coaching change injected new life into East Carolina, and a bowl game that once seemed unreachable is now more than possible.
Behind another stellar performance from sophomore quarterback Kaitin Houser, the Pirates overwhelmed another American Athletic Conference opponent by rolling past Florida Atlantic 49-14 on Thursday night at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium.
ECU (5-4, 3-2 AAC), which has won all three meetings in the series with the Owls, delivered Blake Harrell his second straight win as interim head coach following the dismissal of Mike Houston. Combined with last week's 56-34 win over Temple, the Pirates have put up 105 points and1,051 total yards in two games under Harrell.
The win also moves ECU within one victory of securing a postseason bowl berth.
"We're hungry," linebacker Zakye Barker said. "Each season goes through its trials and tribulations, goes through its ebbs and flows, its ups and downs. We caught an up right now. We're just trying to get that done. The goal never changed. The mentality never changed. We have a job to do, and we're trying to get the job done."
Harrell credited the dramatic turn-around to playing loose and aggressive.
"We've been saying it since this thing happened two weeks ago," Harrell said. "We're going to go after it; we're going to go get it, whether it's fourth down, fake punts, fake field goals, calling timeouts to get the ball back, let's go score and let's turn it loose. The mind-set I want to have is being loose. I think that's going to feed over to our players and our staff. I have the upmost confidence in our guys to get the job done, and they certainly have the last two weeks."
Especially Houser, who tossed five touchdown passes for the second straight game, ran for another and finished with a career-high 343 yards passing. He would have matched the school record of six TD passes, but Anthony Smith slipped at the 1 at the end of a 64-yard completion.
"I told him he has to buy me dinner or something," Houser said.
That may have been the lone flaw on a night when ECU punted just once, played its first turnover-free game and never gave FAU (2-6, 0-4 AAC) a hint of snapping a three-game losing streak.
The Pirates unleashed an ultra-aggressive and creative offense early in striking for touchdowns on their first three possessions for a 21-0 lead and led 35-7 at halftime. By air or by ground, ECU moved quickly and reeled off yardage in big chunks on the way to a staggering 418 total yards – striking for five passes of at least 25 yards and five rushes of 14 yards or more. Three of ECU's touchdowns came in lightning-quick fashion of 37 seconds or less. All five first-half scores needed less than three minutes.
ECU finished with a season-high 581 total yards – the third game this year with at least 500 yards.
"You're obviously playing a team that may not have a lot of confidence right now," Harrell said. "If you can get up on them early you have a chance to kind of run away with it."
Houser continued a hot hand that started in the second half at Army, amassing 309 yards alone in the first half with three touchdown passes and one on the ground. He especially enjoyed his 35-yard run with just 17 seconds left in the first half.
"The coaches talked to me about my blazing speed," Houser said with a laugh. "I got that opportunity to go run, and I took full advantage of it. That was a lot of fun."
ECU's fun started early as it needed just two plays and 24 seconds to take a 7-0 lead. Houser connected with Tyler Savage for 25 yards after a fake end-around and then lofted a strike to an open Chad Sowell for a 50-yard score.
After a three-and-out by FAU, the Pirates scored in four plays in 1:56. Rahjai Harris gained 21 yards on three carries, vaulting him over 2,500 yards for his career, then Houser and Winston Wright Jr. teamed up for a 47-yard touchdown.
Houser and Wright combined once again on an 8-yard score to cap off an 80-yard drive that drained 2:57 off the clock. A 30-yard rush around right end by Jhari Patterson provided a big chunk of the yardage, and London Montgomery added a 16-yard run up the middle.
After FAU scored to get within 21-7, ECU closed the half with a flurry, striking twice in the final 1:55.
Harris hurdled in from the 1 after Smith slipped at the 1. Smith did finish with a career-best 120 yards on just three catches.
A quick three-and-out returned the ball to ECU with 55 seconds to go, and Houser punctuated a 59-yard drive with the longest run of his career.
ECU's defense kept Owls mostly silent in the second half while the offense tacked on a couple more touchdowns. Ja'Marley Riddle nabbed his third interception in two games, and Gavin Gibson came up with third interception of the year. Gibson's pick foiled a fourth-down pass in the end zone, ending a 13-play drive from the 6.
Smith found the end zone on a 46-yard pass from Houser to put ECU up 42-7. The Pirates then methodically moved 80 yards in 16 plays, consuming 8:13 for their final score – a 2-yard reception by Jayvontay Conner for his first career TD.
Both the plays and time consumed by far set season highs. Of ECU's 34 scoring drives this season, 28 have been under 3 minutes.
"That's a good feeling," Houser said of the long drive. "That just shows that we're not a one-trick pony. I feel like we can do everything. We can run the clock out if we need to. We can score fast if we need to. We're versatile as an offense."
And that could lead to a bowl game.
"These young men are going to finish what they started," Harrell said. "I'm just so proud of them for attacking this thing. I told them during the bye week, it's the fourth quarter, it's No Quarter time. It's time to go finish this thing off the right way. They will remember November. And they're going to remember these seniors for what you do in November. And it was a great start to November tonight."
