East Carolina 29, Georgia State 49
ATLANTA – Cornelious Brown IV passed for 238 yards and three touchdowns, two of them to Sam Pinckney, as Georgia State scored 35 first-half points en route to a 49-29 win over East Carolina Saturday at Center Parc Stadium.
Despite the final margin, the Georgia State defense did not allow a touchdown as the Pirates' three touchdowns came on a pick-six, a fake field goal and a blocked punt. The Panthers held ECU to 292 total yards, including just 50 yards rushing, the fewest rushing yards allowed by the GSU defense since holding WKU to a school-record minus-2 yards in the 2017 AutoNation Cure Bowl.
Pinckney finished with a career-high 134 yards on seven catches, including scoring plays of 38 and 13 yards.
The Panthers piled up 247 yards on the ground, including Destin Coates who finished with 113 yards and two touchdowns, while Terrance Dixon rushed three times for 78 yards, including a long of 43.
Georgia State's 35 first-half points are a program record for points in a half. After East Carolina scored on a pick six on the first play of the game, the Panthers reeled off four straight touchdowns and took a 35-13 lead into the locker room.
Holton Ahlers finished 29-for-50 for 242 yards for East Carolina, but threw three interceptions.
Georgia State's next game is Thursday, Oct. 15 at Arkansas State on ESPN.
Arkansas State 23, Coastal Carolina 52
CONWAY, S.C. – Coastal Carolina held the ball on offense for over 41 minutes of the contest and totaled 539 yards of total offense on its way to a 52-23 home win over Arkansas State in the two teams' Sun Belt Conference opener on Saturday afternoon at Brooks Stadium.
With the win, Coastal improves to 3-0 on the year and 1-0 in Sun Belt play, while Arkansas State falls to 1-2 overall and 0-1 in league play on the season.
The 52 points are the most points scored by the Chants in a Sun Belt Conference game in the program's history.
Coastal dominated the time of possession, as the Chants' offense had the ball for 41:21 compared to Arkansas State at 18:39.
Coastal totaled 539 yards of total offense on 217 yards rushing and 322 yards passing.
Georgia Southern 35, ULM 30
MONROE, La. – J.D. King rushed for 196 yards and a touchdown, NaJee Thompson blocked two punts and Rashad Byrd made a game-saving tackle as Georgia Southern held off ULM for a 35-30 Sun Belt Conference football win over the Warhawks Saturday night in Malone Stadium.
The Eagles (2-1, 1-1) led 35-17 with 5:30 left in the third quarter, but ULM cut the margin to 35-30 and got the ball back on its own 27-yard line with 2:42 to play. Quarterback Colby Suits converted two third downs with is arm and scrambled for seven yards on 4th-and-6 to lead the Warhawks (0-4, 0-3) down to the Georgia Southern 9-yard with 12 seconds remaining.
With ULM out of timeouts, Suits stepped up in the pocket and tried to run for the goal line, but Byrd came in and knocked the sophomore down at the 1-yard line. ULM tried to line up and spike the ball, but time expired. Officials reviewed the play to make sure Suits did not reach the end zone and ruled that the call on the field stood.