“Our defense, I thought they played their heart out,” said ECU head coach Scottie Montgomery. “In every situation, I thought they played their heart out. All the way to the end of the game.”
To start off the game South Carolina returned the first kickoff to the ECU nine-yard-line, where quarterback Brandon McIlwain ran the ball into the end zone to start the game 7-0 for the Gamecocks. Things didn’t get much better from there as the Pirates were only able to move the ball 19 yards and were forced to punt within only four plays.
With a lot of momentum after making a defensive stop, McIlwain repeated his first play and ran the ball into the end zone untouched to pick up the second score of the game.