East Carolina surrenders lead late in 24-14 loss to Temple

It was their chance to take the driver’s seat in the American Athletic Conference’s East Division.

Instead, East Carolina got passed at the finish line as No. 22 Temple overcame a four-point deficit with under four minutes left in the game to top the Pirates 24-14 Thursday night.

The Pirates (4-4, 2-2) overcame a penalty-filled first quarter, scoring 14 points in the second to take a 14-10 lead into halftime.

The score would stay that way until 3:31 in the fourth quarter when Temple wide receiver Robby Anderson pulled in a 23-yard touchdown pass from quarterback P.J. Walker to go up 17-14.

Anderson caught eight passes for a game-high 126 yards, and the Owls moved to 7-0 (4-0) for the first time in school history.

Temple cemented its lead a little more than a minute later when running back Jahad Thomas rumbled into the end zone from 14 yards out for a 24-14 advantage with 2:18 left in the game.

With nine penalties for 99 yards and two turnovers, the Pirates had two opponents Thursday night: the Owls and themselves.

“Temple didn’t beat us, we beat our own selves,” said ECU running back Chris Hairston after the game.

ECU had five penalties for 65 yards in the first quarter alone, but managed to trail only 3-0 after the first 15 minutes.

“I thought we stopped ourselves with the penalties,” McNeill said. “... We can’t have (nine) penalties and two turnovers and a blocked punt.”

After the game McNeill shouldered the blame for the loss.

“It’s all on me. I’m not afraid to take it all,” McNeill said. “Those kids have to know we have a lot of season left. We’ll get ready for UConn and go from there.”

Playing as a ranked team for the first time since 1976, Temple got two touchdowns from Thomas, and a 28-yard field goal by Austin Jones.

Facing a Temple defense that’s ranked No. 1 in the American and No. 8 in the country in scoring (14.7 ppg), the Pirates didn’t have enough fire power to overcome the late deficit.

East Carolina junior quarterback Blake Kemp came off the bench to throw for 272 yards, one touchdown and one interception, while junior receiver Isaiah Jones caught 10 passes for 106 yards.

Hairston scored on a 1-yard touchdown run in the second quarter to put ECU up 7-3. Pirates wide receiver Quay Johnson pulled in a seven-yard touchdown pass from Kemp to hand ECU a 14-10 lead right before the half.

The score would stay that way until Walker hooked up with Anderson for the 23-yard score.

The loss wasted a solid effort by a Pirates defense that did not allow the Owls to score any points on turnovers and held them to 4-for-13 on third downs.

This story was originally published October 22, 2015 at 11:24 PM with the headline "East Carolina surrenders lead late in 24-14 loss to Temple."