East Carolina - Images by UCF Knights
ORLANDO (UCFKnights.com) -- Looking for its first win of the season, UCF opened Thursday night's game vs. East Carolina with an eight-play, 71-yard march, capped by a Tre'Quan Smith touchdown reception to go on top 7-0.
It was all East Carolina from there. The Pirates scored 44 unanswered en route to a 44-7 victory.
"We came out the first drive and looked like everything was going our way," interim head coach Danny Barrett said. "We couldn't stop them on the first drive, then the second drive. Trying to find a way to stop them defensively in the first half was tiring, we were on the field too much."
ECU quarterback Blake Kemp capped an 81-yard drive with a 19-yard pass to Brandon Bishop midway through the first quarter. Once they found the end zone, the Pirates never looked back. Just over one minute later, ECU converted a UCF turnover into seven more points to hold a 14-7 edge after one period of play.
It looked as though the Knights tied it up 14-14, but a holding penalty negated a long touchdown pass.
"I thought once we had the touchdown called back from the penalty, it looked like all the energy and momentum we had left us," Barrett said.
The second quarter saw the flood gates open. The Pirates drove 93 yards on 11 plays as Kemp threw his third TD pass of the game. That 29-yard scoring strike to Trevon Brown made it 21-7. A Davis Plowman field goal pushed the lead to 24-7. With 1:12 left in the first half, Chris Hairston sprinted for a 39-yard touchdown run.
ECU added 13 points in the third quarter, accounting for the final score.