Marlon Mack keeps setting records and the USF Bulls keep winning, running away from the ECU Pirates late. Mack had 152 yards rushing and a pair of touchdowns in the win. Bulls’ quarterback, Quinton Flowers, rushed for 115 yards, and passed for 250 yards and three touchdowns.
It took just five minutes for the Pirates to get on the board, giving ECU the first lead of the football game. They had moved the ball with ease until they got to the Bulls 30, where their drive stalled. A 40 yard field goal by Davis Plowman gave ECU an early 3-0 lead.
USF had some early success on their first drive, but a fourth down conversion on the ECU 40 yard line, made possible by a 13 yard rush by Marlon Mack, was called back due to a holding call. As a result, the Bulls were forced to punt from the 50.
The USF defense woke up on the next drive, forcing a three and out inside ECU’s own red zone. The Bulls would begin their next drive from the ECU 45 yard line after a short punt and 15 yard return by D’Ernest Johnson. Their drive stalled on the ECU 25, prompting the Bulls to go for it on fourth and four. A five yard pass to Johnson gave them the yards to set up first and ten on the ECU 20 yard line.
Two plays later, with 3rd and 7 to go, a very strange sequence of events took place. USF quarterback, Quinton Flowers passed to receiver, Rodney Adams. Adams caught the pass in the air, turned, and landed on ECU cornerback, Colby Gore. As Adams landed, their helmets made contact, drawing flags from the officials for targeting. At the moment of impact, the ball came loose and was bounced upward by Gore’s left foot. ECU defensive back, Travon Simmons, caught the ball in the air and returned it to midfield. Different officials were treating the play as an interception, an incompletion, and a fumble. When the dust settled and the official review was complete, Gore was ejected for targeting and the play ruled an incomplete pass. That gave USF the ball on the ECU 2 yard line. Two plays later, Johnson scored on a six yard catch from Flowers, making the score 7-3, USF.
ECU would take their drive to the USF 41 before running up against a fourth and four. Opting to go for it, they would fail, turning the ball over on downs to the Bulls. A few minutes later, they would turn the turnover into a field goal to go up 10-3.
The Pirates would answer with a field goal of their own after a nearly four minute drive. Plowman was true from 49 yards out, narrowing the gap to 10-6.
The following kickoff gave possession to the Bulls at their own 26 yard line. On the first play of the drive, Mack carried the ball 65 yards to the ECU nine yard line. Inexplicably, USF again called Mack’s number, running him on first and goal. After a two yard gain, Mack fumbled the football, which was picked up by ECU’s Travis Phillips and returned to the Pirates’ seven yard line.
The Pirates tried to make the most of the turnover, driving deep into Bulls’ territory to the 25 yard line. When the drive stalled, ECU chose to kick the field goal. Plowman missed the 42 yard attempt, hitting the right hand upright.
On the next possession, USF seemed to find momentum. They made a trio of first downs to set up first and ten on ECU’s 47 yard line. The next play was a huge Flowers pass to Mitchell Wilcox for 41 yards, setting up first and ten on the ECU six yard line. Two snaps later and Johnson runs 11 yards for the score, putting the Bulls up 17-6. That’s where the score would stay entering the halftime break as the Pirates would punt on their last possession.
The first two drives of the second half resulted in punts. On the third possession of the third quarter, USF began their drive on their own 47. It would take just over four minutes for the Bulls to find the end zone again, a two yard scramble by Flowers that would extend their lead to 24-6. The drive featured an 11 yard catch by Wilcox and a 17 yard catch by Adams.
ECU would quickly respond, putting their first touchdown on the board just a couple of minutes later. Starting quarterback, Phillip Nelson, was replaced by backup quarterback, Gardner Minshew in the middle of the drive. On his fourth play of the game, Nelson connected with Deondre Farrier for a 46 yard pass and catch that set up first and goal on the USF one yard line. It only took one more play for Minshew to find Zay Jones for the final yard. With 5:27 left in the third, ECU trimmed the deficit to 24-13.
USF would run into penalty problems on several drives in the game. After making solid progress, moving the ball from the USF 40 to the ECU 37, the Bulls ended up with a second and 18 after an illegal block by Wilcox, followed up with a holding call against Jeremi Hall that would set up 2nd and 28. The down and distance was too much for the Bulls, who ended up punting to the ECU 23.
It was in the fourth quarter that the game began to get interesting. On the first drive in the fourth, Minshew led his team from their own 23 to the Bulls 14. USF’s defense held, though, forcing the Pirates to settle for a field goal. Plowman made the chip shot, narrowing the score gap to 24-16.
The momentum in the game seemed to be shifting to ECU. The next possession for USF was a three and out. The Pirates seized the opportunity to get within striking distance of the Bulls when Minshew orchestrated another long scoring drive that featured another big play by Farrier. With third and 13 on the ECU 46 yard line, Minshew connected with Farrier for a 28 yard pass. On the next three plays, James Summers would rush for 9, 14, and 3 yards respectively. The final three yards were good for six, but the two point conversion failed, making the score 24-22 with 6:58 left in the game.
The Bulls answered, wasting no time. A four and nine yard run by Mack set up first and ten for USF on their own 38 yard line. On the next play, Flowers connected with Rodney Adams on a cross route for a 62 yard touchdown pass and run. Less than a minute after the Pirates almost tied the game, the Bulls extended their lead to 31-22.
ECU would try again to take back the momentum, but were up against the clock. Starting on their own 26, they were able to grind out to their own 43 before Nigel Harris intercepted a Minshew pass. Harris was able to return the pick 34 yards to the ECU 17.
It took Mack all of two plays to eat up the 17 yards and put another touchdown on the board for the Bulls. That touchdown would tie the school record for most rushing touchdowns in a career, which was previously held by B.J. Daniels.
With just over three minutes left in the game and trailing by 16, the Pirates still had hope to make things go their way. Minshew led the team down from their 31 to the USF 42, converting a fourth down on the way. Their second attempt to convert on fourth down failed, however, giving the Bulls the ball back on downs on their own 42.
There was 1:40 left in the game with USF leading by three scores. They did not rest, however, aggressively trying to score again. Flowers rushed for ten yards on second down, passed to Johnson for 28 yards on the next play, and then for 17 more on the play after that. An offensive pass interference call negated Johnson’s 17 yard reception on the drive. With the clock stopped with one second remaining to play, some thought they should take a knee. Instead, Flowers passed the ball again, this time to Chris Barr, on the final play of the game.
Asked after the game why he had his players do this, head coach Willie Taggart, was taken aback, like he did not expect that sort of question in that situation. His response was, “we want to score. That’s our job on offense is to score points, right. We want to score. So we tried to score.” When the reporter followed up by suggesting other teams would have taken a knee, Taggart replied, “we’re not taking a knee. When we have the ball, we want to score.”
Taggart was also questioned about penalties, which were a season high against his team. He said, “very concerned, very concerned. It was a sloppy game especially offensively there.” The Bulls were penalized nine times for 101 yards. More importantly, those penalties ended drives that probably would have put some points on the board. In some of those cases, like the one at the end of the game, they had a scoring play called back due to penalties.
While looking suspect at times, the USF defense held the Pirates to just 22 points, below their season average, and to just 308 yards passing, nearly 100 yards shy of their norm. Despite less playing time, it was Minshew who led passers for ECU, with 220 yards and a touchdown. Nelson had just 88 yards.
The Pirates drop to 2-4 (0-2) on the season. They’ll play host to the Navy Midshipmen in one week.
The Bulls improve to 5-1, their best starting record since 2009, when they started 5-0. They now lead the all-time series with the Prirates, 6-1 and will welcome the UConn Huskies to town for a 7PM game.