Coming into Saturday’s contest the Pirates had dropped six straight to UCF. Knowing the schedule down the stretch is anything but easy and the Pirates coming in with four wins in felt like a must win for ECU.
In a half that would see not see a punt, it didn’t take long for the Pirate kicking struggles to continue. On the first drive the Pirates got down inside the Knights 10, in big thanks to Holton Ahlers who went 4-6 for 61 yards on the drive. Andrew Conrad hit the left upright on a 25-yard field goal attempt, the 4th missed field goal this season and 9th missed kick including PAT’s. In the first 4 plays UCF had already picked up 39 yards and looked unstoppable when Jireh Wilson picked off a John Rhys Plumlee pass to bring the drive to a halt. Conrad was able to redeem himself on the following drive by hitting a 28-yard field goal to give the Pirates a 3-0 late in the 1st. The next possession looked a lot like the first as UCF once again crossed midfield and turned the ball over. Julius Wood stripped Plumlee and Jireh Wilson picked it up for the second turnover of the night. The Pirates went 80 yards in f10 plays on their 3rd possession and Holton Ahlers ran it in from three yards out to give the Pirates a 10-0 lead.
Can you guess what happened on the next Knights possession? They crossed midfield then Malik Fleming picked off Plumlee at the Pirate 24. ECU took advantage once again as Ahlers hit CJ Johnson for a 39-yard touchdown. This touchdown was Ahlers 87th career passing touchdown which gave him the school record passing Shane Carden (2011-14). UCF got the ball back on their own 21 with 44 seconds to play in the half and all 3 timeouts. The drove deep in Pirate territory but due to an expiring 1st half clock they settled for a 27-yard field goal from Colton Boomer to get on the board and take a 17-3 deficit into the locker room.
UCF picked up right where they left off. On the 1st drive of the half they went 74 yards in 4:25 seconds and Isaiah Bowser capped it off with a 3-yard touchdown run. ECU answered with a score of their own. Keaton Mitchell extended the Pirate lead to 24-10 with a 6-yard touchdown run.
Following the games first punt, the Pirates extended their lead with a 26-yard field goal from Conrad to make it 27-10 with 12:51 remaining.
A few drives later UCF was able to cut the deficit to 14, with a 36-yard kick by Boomer with 3:36 left in the game. UCF had to lineup for an onside kick which was recovered by Ryan Jones to seal the deal. While attempting to run out the clock the Pirates did extend their lead with a 37-yard touchdown by Mitchell.
After the 34-13 defeat of the Knights Pirate head coach Mike Houston said when the team talked earlier Saturday morning they wanted to see two things “We wanted to see the hands team take the field in the 4th quarter, and we wanted the last snap of the game to be the victory offense.” The team set two goal and accomplished both. They are one win away from being bowl eligible for the 2nd straight season with a road trip to BYU on the horizon.