It was a crisp 80 degree day in Greenville, North Carolina. The East Carolina Pirates hosted the Gamecocks of South Carolina. The Pirates coming off a 33-19 lost to App State in week 1, South Carolina headed into the contest 1 and 0 after a 46-0 win over Eastern Illinois.
On the first play from scrimmage ECU quarterback Holton Ahlers handed what appeared to be a jet sweep to Tyler Sneed, who stopped threw a 75 yard bomb to Jsi Hatfield, and the Pirates jumped out to an early 7-0 lead. Later the Pirates capitalized on their third takeaway of the afternoon. When, Ahlers took and option keep to the left for a three yard touchdown run. In the closing minutes of the first half Damani Staley intercepted an Ahlers screen pass and took it 63 yards for the first Gamecock score of them game. The Pirates took a 14-7 lead into the locker room.
That seemed to be the turning point in the ballgame. The story of the second half was the Gamecock rushing attack. Lead by Juju McDowell who had 71 yards on 11 carries and added a 61 yard kick return midway through the 4th, which lead to a game tying field goal. The game was capped off by a Parker White 36 yard field goal as time expired to give the Gamecocks a 20-17 win in Greenville. Next week the Pirates head to Marshall for the first true road game. The game is scheduled for 6 P.M. Saturday.