HATTIESBURG, Miss. (AP) - Shane Carden threw for 171 yards and a TD and East Carolina capitalized on three third-quarter turnovers to beat Southern Mississippi 24-14 Saturday in the Conference USA opener for both teams.
The Pirates (2-1, 1-0 C-USA) trailed 7-3 at halftime, but forced Southern Mississippi's (0-2, 0-1) freshman quarterback Anthony Alford into an interception and two fumbles on the first three Golden Eagle drives of the second half. That led to three third-quarter touchdowns.
After an interception early in the second half, East Carolina's defense held on fourth-and-1 at its 16-yard line. Carden took over and led the Pirate offense 84 yards in four plays for a 10-7 lead.
A fumble by Alford on the very next drive led to an 8-yard TD run by Carden. Another fumble on the next possession was scooped up by Montese Overton and returned 16 yards for East Carolina's last score.
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| Scoring Summary |
| USM | Anthony Alford 1 yd run (Corey Acosta kick) |
| ECU | Warren Harvey 54 yd FG |
| ECU | Justin Hardy 55 yd pass from Shane Carden (Warren Harvey kick) |
| ECU | Shane Carden 8 yd run (Warren Harvey kick) |
| ECU | Montese Overton 16 yd fumble return (Warren Harvey kick) |
| USM | Markese Triplett 8 yd pass from Chris Campbell (Corey Acosta kick) |
| Team Stats | ||
| ECU | USM | |
| First Downs | 13 | 20 |
| Third Down Efficiency | 4-15 | 5-16 |
| Fourth Down Efficiency | 0-0 | 1-3 |
| Plays-Net Yards | 60-228 | 78-324 |
| Rushes-Yds | 33-57 | 43-91 |
| Passing Yds | 171 | 233 |
| Kick Return Yds | 0 | 21 |
| Punt Return Yds | 2 | 0 |
| Passes | 13-27-0 | 17-35-1 |
| Punts | 10-422 | 7-288 |
| Fumbles-Lost | 0-0 | 2-2 |
| Penalties-Yds | 4-47 | 8-61 |
| Time of Poss. | 30:7 | 29:53 |
| Individual Stats |
| RUSHING |
| ECU: Vintavious Cooper 13-51, Michael Dobson 6-8, Reggie Bullock 3-4, Shane Carden 8-2, Team 3--8 |
| USM: Desmond Johnson 13-76, Anthony Alford 20-13, Kendrick Hardy 3-11, Jeremy Hester 3-3, Tracy Lampley 2-0, Chris Campbell 2--12 |
| PASSING |
| ECU: Shane Carden 13-27-171-0 |
| USM: Chris Campbell 11-21-145-0, Anthony Alford 6-14-88-1 |
| RECEIVING |
| ECU: Justin Hardy 5-92, Andrew Bodenheimer 3-45, Derrick Harris 2-16, Lance Ray 2-12, Danny Webster 1-6 |
| USM: Markese Triplett 4-66, Tracy Lampley 2-52, Chris Briggs 2-22, D.J. Thompson 2-11, Jeremy Hester 2-9, Quentin Pierce 1-24, Francisco Llanos 1-16, Justin Sims 1-16, Dominique Sullivan 1-9, Desmond Johnson 1-8 |
| Standings | |||
| Team | Standings | Conference | Overall |
| East Carolina | 1st Conference USA East | 7-1 | 8-5 |
| Southern Mississippi | 6th Conference USA East | 0-8 | 0-12 |
