Pirates blown out in road loss at Charlotte

CHARLOTTE — The East Carolina football team meekly left Charlotte with its head stooped low.

With a bye week coming up before the team travels to American Athletic Conference-leading Army, the Pirates will have a long time to stew on this latest loss that dropped them back to .500 in a season that is becoming full of starts and stops, leaps forward and backward stumbles.

Nothing went right for the Pirates on Saturday in what turned out to be one of the worst losses in recent memory, a 55-24, blowout loss to the 49ers inside Jerry Richardson Stadium.

The Pirates benched their starting quarterback, were plagued by drops from the receivers, their run defense looked more like a matador than the hammer it had been, and it all amounted to being outclassed by an opponent whose head coach rocked a cutoff T-shirt all game.

Despite looking like he had plans to mow the lawn Saturday afternoon, Biff Poggi outclassed the Pirates in each of the past two seasons, and the second-year coach has a 6-12 overall record in the past two seasons.

ECU coach Mike Houston’s record in the past two seasons is 5-13.

“Challenging day for us today,” Houston said. “Not the way we want to play and I apologize to our fans, because that's not what I expected us to do today. That's not the standard for us. Put it on me, you can put it on our coaching staff, whoever, but I'm the head football coach and I'm responsible for our performance and that's not what we want it to be.”

Pirates quarterback Jake Garcia was benched shortly after throwing his nation-leading 12th interception of the season. The turnover came during a particularly tough stretch for the Pirates. After surrendering a field goal to 49ers’ kicker Stephen Rusnak that extended the Charlotte lead to 17-10, Garcia threw an interception when targeting tight end Casey Kelly.

Charlotte turned that pick into points shortly after as Hahsaun Wilson punched in a 1-yard run. The ECU offense followed with a 3-and-out in 1:09 of game time, and Charlotte delivered a knockout blow with a 62-yard touchdown run by Cartevious Norton to take a 31-10 lead into halftime.

ECU (3-3, 1-1 AAC) managed a touchdown to begin the second half as backup quarterback Katin Houser led the scoring drive that ended in a 48-yard touchdown run by London Montgomery. Houser finished 11-for-28 passing for 84 yards and one interception.

Garcia was 6-for-8 passing for 111 yards with one touchdown and one interception.

ECU’s inability to control the clock or score points caught up the defense. The Pirates had the ball for 18:52 and were more than doubled up in time of possession as the 49ers controlled the clock with 41:08 of possession.

A large reason for the disparity was Charlotte’s effective running game. The 49ers (3-3, 2-0) ripped off more than 500 yards of offense and pounded out a team record-tying six rushing touchdowns. They had 307 yards on the ground.

It was a complete domination by both the Charlotte offensive line and a deep backfield that toted the ball 51 times.

“We knew that we were facing a very good offensive line. They invested a lot in that front and they're very talented,” Houston said. “Still, we’ve faced good offensive fronts before. I thought their ability to throw the football early gave them some momentum, and then I thought in the second half they did a good job of wearing us down.

“So we've got to be able to get off the field, and we've also got to do a better job of driving the football offensively and keep our defense off the field.”

Wilson collected a game-high three rushing touchdowns and 164 yards on the ground, while Norton added two rushing touchdowns and 88 yards. Quarterback Deshawn Purdie added the other rushing touchdown, a 1-yard keeper in the first quarter that extended the early lead to 10-0.

ECU answered the early deficit with a 38-yard field goal by Noah Perez and a 13-yard touchdown reception from Tyler Savage.

After the Pirates cut their deficit to 14-10, Charlotte broke open the game and ran away with a blowout victory with a steady dose of points. The 49ers added a field goal, followed by two rushing touchdowns to take a 31-10 lead before halftime.

The Pirates scored a touchdown out of the break as running back London Montgomery raced for a 48-yard touchdown. But the Pirates couldn’t replicate that success in a meaningful way as Charlotte went back on the attack and poured in the next 24 points, capped by a 53-yard interception return for a touchdown.

Houser’s screen pass was tipped by a defensive lineman and caught by linebacker Stone Handy, whose touchdown made it 55-17 Charlotte. Houston said he made the decision to turn to Houser after he thought Garcia was playing too tight.

“Jake was pressing a little bit and he just was doing some uncharacteristic things,” Houston said. “So it felt like Katin deserved a shot. He had a good week of practice and I'm glad we got him in there and got him some work. Certainly, you know, both of them have a lot of things they can improve on.”

When asked if ECU has a quarterback competition again, Houston said he would consult the film before making any determination.

“I want to get in and look at the film from today,” he said. “And we'll go through this open week and see where we sit.”

Winston Wright Jr. scored on a 94-yard kickoff return to cap the scoring, but the receiver's first return touchdown with the Pirates came as the energy along the sidelines and in the stands was at an all-time low.

Mike Houston is now 0-7 against in-state FBS teams, including losses in consecutive seasons to Charlotte.

Up next is a bye week, before a trip to Army on Oct. 19.