King, Cougars steamroll past ECU 42-20

D’Eriq King had an amazing first half performance that included two touchdowns through the air and another one on the ground, once again showing off his athleticism. The Pirates defense had no answer for anything he threw at them, giving up under just eight yards a reception through 16 first half attempts.

When the game struck halftime and I decided to go grab some food, I wasn’t too worried going into the third quarter. A 21-3 halftime lead is around where most people turn off the game because it’s been nothing but a shellacking anyways. The Cougars offense was rolling and the only points given up by the defense was a field goal in the middle of the second quarter.

Then I remembered, this game can be unpredictable. You never know when a team is going to have the second half of a lifetime. The Cougars could come out flat, ECU makes a few big plays, and this is a whole new game. It happens every week of every season to someone.

That is exactly what didn’t happen tonight.

The Pirates played respectable defense against a very good offense. but it was all for naught. Offensively, they were a better team. ECU scored first in the second half with a field goal to double their point total.

Two offensive drives later though, Reid Herring was reintroduced to Ed Oliver in the way of a 16 yard sack and fumble, which was picked up by linebacker Emeke Egbule and taken to the endzone for a defensive touchdown.

By the time the middle of the fourth quarter came around, the Cougars had increased their lead to 42-6 and it was all but officially over. The Pirates would go on to score a pair of fourth quarter touchdowns when freshman Holton Ahlers linked up with Trevon Brown before later finding his way into the end zone.

Backup underclassmen quarterbacks Bryson Smith and Clayton Tune were each able to take a few snaps, and runningbacks Patrick Carr and Mulbah Car took a heavy rushing workload to run the clock down.

While the Pirates lost, they had probably the best skill player of the night tonight in Trevon Brown, who made life difficult for the Cougars secondary.

Notable Performances

Houston

• D’Eriq King: 13-23, 209 yds, 2 TDs, 1 rushing TD
• Courtney Lark: 3 rec, 79 yds, 1 TD

ECU

• Reid Herring: 26-42, 229 yds, 2 INT
• Trevon Brown: 13 rec, 153 yds, 1 TD

WHAT’S NEXT

Houston will head to Annapolis, Maryland for an always important divisional game against the Navy Midshipmen (2-4), which will be on CBSSN.

ECU will play host to try and spoil the perfect season of No. 10 UCF (6-0) next Saturday on ESPN2.