Florida Atlantic Owls vs East Carolina Pirates Match Player Stats On Sep 05, 2013

SportsDirect Inc. staff
Sep 5, 2013

East Carolina 31, Florida Atlantic 13: Shane Carden completed 17-of-25 passes for 191 yards and a pair of touchdowns as the host Pirates rolled past the Owls in the Conference USA opener for both teams.

Vintavious Cooper added 95 yards rushing and a touchdown for East Carolina (2-0), which won its sixth straight conference game. Carden connected on first-half scoring strikes to Davon Grayson and Justin Hardy, who passed Troy Smith (1,982) for second on the Pirates’ all-time list with 1,990 receiving yards.

Florida Atlantic (0-2) drove to the East Carolina 30-yard line or better three times in the first half but only managed a pair of Mitch Anderson field goals. William Dukes caught a 2-yard TD pass from Greg Hankerson with 1:03 left in the game for the Owls, who turned over the ball three times in their first-ever Conference USA game.

Carden was 5-of-6, completing passes to five different receivers, as the Pirates went 81 yards in 4 1/2 minutes on the game’s opening drive, which was capped by an 18-yard touchdown toss to Grayson. Lance Ray returned a kickoff 85 yards to set up Carden's 1-yard TD pass to Hardy (four catches, 36 yards) with 10:35 left in the second quarter.

Maurice Falls picked off Hankerson on the next play from scrimmage, setting up Cooper’s 7-yard scoring run 1:13 later for a 21-6 halftime lead. East Carolina stopped the Owls on fourth down late in the third, and Chris Hairston busted up the middle for a 4-yard score nine plays later for a 31-6 advantage with 46 seconds left in the quarter.