Conrad Kicks 55-Yard Field Goal With 2 Seconds Left as East Carolina Beat South Florida 20-17

East Carolina beat South Florida 20-17 on Friday night in Greenville, North Carolina, when Andrew Conrad kicked a 55 yard field goal with 2 seconds left in the fourth quarter. The Week 10 American Conference game at Bagwell Field at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium was played in light rain at 66 degrees and shown on ESPN2. East Carolina improved to 5-4, and South Florida fell to 6-3.

A tie game deep into the fourth quarter

South Florida scored first. Luke Kromenhoek threw a 26 yard touchdown pass to Bryson Rodgers at 10:28 of the first quarter for a 7-0 lead. East Carolina answered in the second quarter with a 44 yard field goal by Noah Perez, and Nico Gramatica restored the seven point margin with a 30 yard field goal at 1:15 of the second quarter. Emory Williams then found Landon Sides for a 15 yard touchdown at 0:38 of the second quarter, and the teams went in level at 10-10.

Williams and Sides combined again at 6:29 of the third quarter, this time from 8 yards, to put East Carolina ahead 17-10. South Florida tied the game at 9:50 of the fourth quarter on a 1 yard touchdown run by Jason Collins Jr. South Florida punted with 1:53 left, and East Carolina drove 9 plays and 39 yards to set up Conrad, whose kick split the posts as the clock ran down.

Sides and Williams carried East Carolina

Williams finished 19 of 27 for 175 yards, 2 touchdowns and no interceptions. Backup Mitch Griffis was 7 of 11 for 48 yards. Sides caught 14 passes on 18 targets for 126 yards and both East Carolina touchdowns. Ashton Gray rushed 18 times for 101 yards and caught 3 passes for 26 yards.

For South Florida, Kromenhoek finished 17 of 21 for 179 yards and 1 touchdown and rushed 15 times for 19 yards. D.J. Crowther rushed 17 times for 111 yards, and Rodgers caught 5 passes for 50 yards and 1 touchdown.

The numbers underneath

East Carolina outgained South Florida 361 total yards to 329 and led in first downs 25 to 19. The clearest gap came on third down: East Carolina converted 6 of 15, South Florida only 1 of 10. East Carolina lost one fumble, the only turnover of the game. Perez made his one field goal and both extra points for East Carolina, and Conrad was 1 of 1 on field goals. Gramatica made his one field goal and both extra points for South Florida.

The quarter scores were South Florida 7-3-0-7 and East Carolina 0-10-7-3. A game that had been tied at halftime and tied again in the fourth quarter came down to one kick from 55 yards, and Conrad made it.