East Carolina spent another 60 minutes in the Temple of doom on Thursday night, and once again the Pirates had their hearts ripped out.
With a chance to avenge last season’s heartbreaker against the Owls on dry home soil, ECU hung with the unbeaten visitors from Philadelphia, and then hung with them some more.
And that became the problem for ECU in Temple’s quick-turnaround 24-14 win in a blacked-out Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium that became mostly empty seats in the wake of the Owls’ shocking reversal. The Pirates took a 14-10 lead late in the first half and then fell completely silent, successfully defending the advantage until a worn-out defense succumbed to a two-touchdown knockout punch in the final four minutes of the game.