Quarterback Dominique Davis ran for two touchdowns and passed for another to lead East Carolina to a 34-13 victory against Tulane on Saturday.
"We're just trying to stay motivated by stacking on wins," Davis said. "We've really found our identity, and we're excited about playing for one another. Do that and stay excited, and all the execution and all the hard work will pay off."
East Carolina (4-4, 3-1 Conference USA) won its third straight game. Tulane (2-7, 1-4) lost its second straight under interim head coach Mark Hutson, who took over Oct. 18.
"We missed out on some opportunities," Hutson said. "We had it there in the red zone twice and had to settle for field goals. We also missed a makeable field goal."
Davis completed 29 of 46 passes for 329 yards — his third straight game of more than 300 yards passing — and scored on runs of 5 and 6 yards.
His touchdown pass to Lance Lewis was for 1 yard. Mike Barbour hit field goals of 35 and 20 yards for the Pirates, and Michael Dobson added a late 1-yard touchdown run.
Davis opened the scoring for ECU, leading a nine-play, 69-yard drive after Tulane missed a 48-yard field-goal attempt. Davis was 4 of 5 on the drive, including two 16-yard gains that set up the Pirates up at the Green Wave 8.
After a 3-yard run by Torrance Hunt, Davis finished the drive with a touchdown run around the left side.
Tulane held a brief 10-7 lead after scores on successive possessions.
The Green Wave got a 20-yard field goal by Cairo Santos with 44 seconds left in the first quarter and a 7-yard touchdown run by Orleans Darkwa with 13:34 to go in the second.
The closest Tulane came the rest of the way was after a 26-yard field goal by Santos cut East Carolina's lead to 14-13. After that, the Pirates put together four more scoring drives.
"I didn't think we tackled very well in the first half," coach Ruffin McNeill of ECU said. "We did a much better job in the second half of tackling and making plays on third down. Our defense has progressed each week, but we have to continue to take care of the little things."
Darkwa rushed for 89 yards on 15 carries.
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