BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) - Shane Carden threw for 386 yards and East Carolina pulled out a 42-35 victory over Alabama-Birmingham in a see-saw, Conference USA contest Saturday night.
The lead changed hands four times after the Pirates (5-3, 4-1) drew first blood, with Carden tossing the winning score to Justin Hardy early in the fourth quarter.
East Carolina held leads of 10-0 and 13-7, but fell into a 21-13 hole when Austin Brown found Sam Accursio for a 4-yard passing touchdown midway through the third.
Vintavious Cooper cut the lead to 21-20 with a 1-yard touchdown run, and then Carden hit Cooper for a 30-yard touchdown pass to vault the Pirates ahead.
The Blazers (1-6, 0-3) regained the lead when Brown found Kennard Backman for a 9-yard score, but then yielded consecutive Pirates' touchdowns - including Carden's pass to Hardy - and couldn't overtake the lead again.
Carden finished 23-of-35 passing with two scores.
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| Scoring Summary |
| ECU | Michael Dobson 2 yd run (Warren Harvey kick) |
| ECU | Warren Harvey 20 yd FG |
| UAB | Darrin Reaves 1 yd run (Ty Long kick) |
| ECU | Warren Harvey 25 yd FG |
| UAB | Jamarcus Nelson 35 yd pass from Austin Brown (Ty Long kick) |
| UAB | Sam Accursio 4 yd pass from Austin Brown (Ty Long kick) |
| ECU | Vintavious Cooper 1 yd run (Warren Harvey kick) |
| ECU | Vintavious Cooper 30 yd pass from Shane Carden (Warren Harvey kick) |
| UAB | Kennard Backman 9 yd pass from Austin Brown (Ty Long kick) |
| ECU | Justin Hardy 20 yd pass from Shane Carden (VINTAVIOUS COOPER 2pt run) |
| ECU | Vintavious Cooper 3 yd run (Warren Harvey kick) |
| UAB | Darrin Reaves 9 yd run (Ty Long kick) |
| Team Stats | ||
| ECU | UAB | |
| First Downs | 27 | 19 |
| Third Down Efficiency | 9-14 | 5-12 |
| Fourth Down Efficiency | 1-1 | 2-2 |
| Plays-Net Yards | 77-600 | 62-401 |
| Rushes-Yds | 42-214 | 25-82 |
| Passing Yds | 386 | 319 |
| Kick Return Yds | 67 | 159 |
| Punt Return Yds | 4 | 9 |
| Passes | 23-35-0 | 22-37-0 |
| Punts | 2-87 | 5-223 |
| Fumbles-Lost | 0-0 | 0-0 |
| Penalties-Yds | 7-53 | 7-55 |
| Time of Poss. | 32:31 | 27:29 |
| Individual Stats |
| RUSHING |
| ECU: Vintavious Cooper 26-172, Shane Carden 8-35, Michael Dobson 6-11, Team 1--2, Zico Pasut 1--2 |
| UAB: Darrin Reaves 21-69, Greg Franklin 3-12, Austin Brown 1-1 |
| PASSING |
| ECU: Shane Carden 23-35-386-0 |
| UAB: Austin Brown 22-37-319-0 |
| RECEIVING |
| ECU: Justin Hardy 6-132, Michael Dobson 6-70, Danny Webster 3-42, Andrew Bodenheimer 2-29, Reese Wiggins 2-24, Jabril Solomon 1-53, Vintavious Cooper 1-30, Derrick Harris 1-6, Justin Jones 1-0 |
| UAB: Jamarcus Nelson 5-60, Nick Adams 4-114, Jackie Williams 3-50, Darrin Reaves 2-27, Jay Davis 2-18, Sam Accursio 2-17, Kennard Backman 2-17, Greg Franklin 1-11, Patrick Hearn 1-5 |
| Standings | |||
| Team | Standings | Conference | Overall |
| East Carolina | 1st Conference USA East | 7-1 | 8-5 |
| UAB | 5th Conference USA East | 2-6 | 3-9 |
