CONWAY, S.C.– Quarterback struggles continue for the Chanticleers, as Coastal Carolina turns the ball over five times in Saturday’s 38-0 loss to East Carolina.
Coastal Carolina was shut out at home for the first time since 2008, as the offense has yet to find its rhythm. Head coach Tim Beck noted last week that turnovers lead to losses, and that’s exactly what happened Saturday.
Redshirt sophomore Tad Hudson completed 19-of-39 passes for 172 yards, throwing two interceptions and losing three fumbles. Hudson replaced quarterback MJ Morris in the fourth quarter of last week’s shutout victory over Charleston Southern, providing a much-needed spark with the game’s only touchdown. Unfortunately, he couldn’t carry that momentum into Saturday’s matchup with East Carolina.
The Chanticleers came out strong, stuffing East Carolina on a pivotal 4th-and-short to open the game.
Hudson hit sophomore receiver Robby Washington for a big 39-yard completion on third down during Coastal’s opening drive, but kicker Philippe Laforge couldn’t capitalize, missing a 48-yard field goal wide. From there, it all went downhill for the Chanticleers.
The Pirates struck first with a 5-yard slant on a risky fourth down to sophomore Yannick Smith, set up by a pair of deep throws to senior Anthony Smith midway through the first quarter, capping off a nine-play, 69-yard drive.
East Carolina linebacker Julien Davis forced a fumble on Hudson late in the first quarter, giving the Pirates the game’s first takeaway.
Despite the final score, the Chanticleer defense wasn’t all that bad, particularly on fourth down, holding ECU to just 1-for-3 on conversion attempts. After a big fourth-and-inches stop early in the second quarter, Hudson was intercepted in the red zone by Jamarley Riddle, a sequence that has summed up Coastal’s 2025 season so far.
Among the bright spots for Coastal was senior Ja’Marion Wayne, who tallied six solo tackles, broke up three passes and blocked a field goal late in the second quarter—arguably the Chanticleer’s top performer.
In the third quarter, the Chanticleers punted on their first three possessions, unable to find any rhythm offensively. Meanwhile, Pirates junior running back Parker Jenkins capped a drive with a 3-yard touchdown run, set up by a 24-yard completion to Anthony Smith.
Veteran defensive captain Shane Bruce continued his strong stretch, snagging his second interception of the season in back-to-back weeks. After the game, he said there were plenty of positives to build on, despite the negatives.
“It’s a long season, we have 12 games to play… at the end of the day, conference play is what we’re looking forward to, we know that there’s positives that we could take from this game as many negatives as there were, and we could grow from this,” said Bruce.
The Pirates widened the gap to 24-0 early in the fourth quarter, as Katin Houser found Yannick Smith for a second time, this one in the corner of the end zone.
Hudson then turned the ball over three more times in eight minutes, throwing another interception and fumbling twice.
When asked about the quarterback situation moving forward, Beck said they are going back to the drawing board and figure out why they keep turning the ball over.
“When you win the turnover battle, you usually win and when you lose it, you usually lose, and we lost it bad today…We’re going to continue to struggle as long as we keep giving them short fields, we put our defense on the field all the time and we can’t get in the end zone because we shoot ourselves in the foot.”
The Pirates tacked on a pair of late touchdowns from quarterback Mike Wright Jr. and running back TJ Engleman Jr., closing out a 38-0 victory.
Quarterback Katin Houser and receiver Anthony Smith stole the spotlight and led the way for the Pirates. Houser completed 28 of 37 throws for 293 yards and two touchdowns, with Smith catching 11 balls for 136 yards.
East Carolina improves to 2-1 as they seek their next win at home next week against a talented BYU team.
Next up, Coastal heads to Mobile to face South Alabama in its first Sun Belt contest of the season, keeping its sights set on a conference title—the team’s ultimate goal.
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