ECU’s Ahlers throws Birmingham Bowl-record five TD passes

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BIRMINGHAM, Ala – Holton Ahlers threw a Birmingham Bowl-record five touchdown passes and accounted for a game-record six TDs to help East Carolina beat Coastal Carolina 53-29 in the TicketSmarter Birmingham Bowl at Protective Stadium.

Ahlers, selected the game MVP, threw for 300 yards on 26-of-38 passing, rushed for 37 yards and a touchdown and caught a pass for 14 yards for the Pirates (8-5).

“I was locked in,” Ahlers said. “Anytime you have a month to prepare for a game, you better be locked in and play good. We had a good plan to get some quick throws early and get the receivers going. They did a really good job.”

Coastal Carolina quarterback Grayson McCall, the three-time Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year who entered the transfer portal this month, wasn’t as fortunate.

Presumably, McCall’s final play in a Coastal Carolina uniform came on a 9-yard touchdown run. He was hit while tumbling into the end zone and never returned to the game. Jarrett Guest replaced him in the first half and played most of the second half. McCall’s run gave Coastal Carolina (9-4) a 14-10 lead. By halftime, though, Chanticleers were in a 24-14 hole.

Coastal Carolina was fortunate to only be down 10 at halftime. East Carolina had six drives in the first half with four finishing in scores. One ended with a fourth- down stop by Coastal Carolina and the other finished with the Pirates running out the final 35 seconds of the half.

Ahlers was accurate on throws of all depths, connecting on 17 of 22 passes for 213 yards with touchdown passes of 27 and 11 yards to Isaiah Winstead. ECU running back Keaton Mitchell was also effective, carrying the ball 10 times for 107 yards with a 1-yard touchdown run.

“What a great night for Pirate Nation,” coach Mike Houston. “So excited for our players, excited for our fans, excited for our institution. This has been the goal since we got here, to get ECU back to winning and back to get into bowl contention and back to winning bowl games.”

McCall, who missed three games with an injury late in the season, played well before the injury. He was 11 of 14 for 75 yards and carried the ball four times for 12 yards. His 25-yard pass to Ivy Turon set up a 1-yard scoring run by Reese White.

“I don’t know the injury,” Coastal Carolina interim coach Chad Staggs said. “He’s walking around the locker room and we had a big embrace right before I came in here. I don’t think it was concussion stuff but I don’t know.”

What he does know is it made an impact.

“I think when you got No. 10 in the ballgame, we’re a little bit better,” Staggs said.

East Carolina quickly extended the lead to 31-14 in the third quarter. Coastal Carolina’s Braydon Bennett fumbled on the first play of the second half and East Carolina’s Jireh Wilson recovered at the Coastal Carolina 27. Six plays later, Ahlers found Jaylen Johnson for a 2-yard touchdown pass. Ahlers had a 14-yard reception on the drive on a pass from C.J. Johnson.

Coastal Carolina answered quickly, moving 79 yards on three plays with White gaining 32 yards on the first two plays and Guess hitting Tyler Roberts in stride on a 47-yard touchdown pass.

East Carolina scored the next 14 points on a 1-yard run by Ahlers and a 15-yard pass from Ahlers to C.J. Johnson. Ahlers capped off his night with a 1-yard touchdown pass to Shane Calhoun and a two-point conversion pass to Mitchell.

THE TAKEAWAY

Coastal Carolina: Getting started has been an issue for the Chanticleers in the season-ending three-game losing streak. Coastal Carolina was outscored, 75-28. East Carolina had 330 first half yards.

East Carolina: The Pirates are back in the win column in a bowl for the first time since 2013. ECU last played in a bowl game in 2014. The Pirates were scheduled to play in the Military Bowl last year, but the game was canceled a day before kickoff.

Coastal Carolina QB McCall enters NCAA transfer portal

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CONWAY, S.C. – Three-time Sun Belt Conference player of the year Grayson McCall said he’s entering the NCAA transfer portal to “explore other opportunities.”

McCall, the Chanticleers’ three-year starter at quarterback, said in his social media post Monday he’ll play in the the Birmingham Bowl against East Carolina on Dec. 27 and “finish what I started.”

McCall set the NCAA mark for pass efficiency with a mark of 207.6 in 2021. He’s thrown for 8,019 yards, 78 touchdowns and eight interceptions over 33 games at Coastal Carolina.

He made 10 starts this season in leading the Chants to 9-3 mark and a Sun Belt East Division title. Coastal Carolina fell to Troy in the league title game, 45-26, on Dec. 3.

It was a bumpy finish for the program, which started 9-1 and entered the national rankings at No. 23 in mid November. It’s game at Virginia on Nov. 19 was called off after the killing of three Cavalier football players. It then lost consecutive games to James Madison and Troy to close the season before coach Jamey Chadwell left to become Liberty’s head coach earlier this month.

North Carolina State offensive coordinator Tim Beck was named to take over for Chadwell as head coach.

“This has been extremely hard for me,” McCall posted on Twitter. “But after much prayer and careful consideration, I have decided to enter my name into the transfer portal to explore other opportunities.”

McCall passed for 2,633 yards and 24 touchdowns with just two interceptions this season.

Coastal Carolina hires NC State’s Beck to replace Chadwell

Rob Kinnan-USA TODAY Sports
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CONWAY, S.C. – Coastal Carolina has hired North Carolina State offensive coordinator Tim Beck to replace Jamey Chadwell, who left to coach Liberty.

Joe Moglia, Coastal Carolina’s athletic chairman and executive director for football, announced the move Sunday, the same day Chadwell was named the Flames’ head coach.

Beck brings 18 seasons of Power Five coaching experience to the Chanticleers, who have gone 31-6 and been ranked in the AP Top 25 the past three seasons under Chadwell.

Beck spent the past 12 years as offensive coordinator at Nebraska, Ohio State, Texas and N.C. State. Most recently, he helped the Wolfpack to three straight eight-plus winning seasons and three consecutive bowl appearances.

Moglia said in a statement that he’d known Beck since returning to coaching at Nebraska in 2009. “I take a lot of pride in what our program has accomplished in the last 10 years,” said Moglia, who was the Chants’ head coach for six seasons (2012-16, 2018). “Tim will do a great job building on that.”

Beck said he understands what Coastal has accomplished and how expectations for success have risen the past three seasons. “I fully embrace the expectations for how we will run this program each and every day,” he said.

Beck has worked with top-level quarterbacks at N.C. State (Devin Leary), Texas (Sam Ehlinger) and Ohio State (Cardale Jones and J.T. Barrett).