GREENVILLE, N.C. – East Carolina jumped out to a 17-0 lead early and cruised to a 48-9 win over Gardner-Webb Saturday night in Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium.

The Pirates (1-1) established their ground game early and got 134 yards and two scores on 21 carries from Darius Pinnix to lead a 365-yard rushing effort by the end of the game. ECU finished with 574 total yards.

"We have to do a better job tackling and wrapping up," said head coach Carroll McCray. "We had trouble getting them on the ground and East Carolina was able to get going with their running game.

"Our kids did a nice job covering them up in the kicking game, so that was a positive, but we have to get off the field on third down defensively. Credit to ECU for the way they got after us on the other side of the ball. We had one drive that went really well, but had a hard time establishing our run game."

Gardner-Webb (0-2) struggled again against an 85-scholarship opponent from the FBS, running just seven plays over its first two drives for negative yardage. After East Carolina scored on its first three drives to build a 17-0 lead, the Runnin' Bulldogs had their best drive of the night. Quarterback Jordan Smith heated up and the 'Dogs mixed things up nicely on a 10-play, 75-yard drive that resulted in an A.J. Moses touchdown run to cut the margin to 17-7.

Smith hit A.J. Alexander for a nine-yard gain down to the ECU 40-yard line to continue momentum early in the drive and – after a pass interference call – connected with Izaiah Gathings for a 25-yard gain down to the Pirates' two-yard line. A targeting call moved the ball one-yard closer and Moses finished the march by bulling into the end zone with 12:23 to play before the half.

A great special teams tackle by Jamari Jenkins pushed East Carolina back to its own 13 on the ensuing kickoff, but quarterback Holton Ahlers worked his team downfield with accurate passing and a 21-yard rush himself down to the GWU 24. Pinnix capped an 87-yard scoring drive with a 13-yard sprint, pushing East Carolina's lead to 24-7 with 8:22 left in the half.

GWU stalled on its next drive, and East Carolina marched once again, but stalled itself when Kobe Rodgers nearly picked off a pass at the goal line. After a Pirates' punt, Gardner-Webb gave itself some breathing room with a 22-yard hookup from Smith to Chuma Awanna. A 36-yard gain to Gathings was negated by a holding call, however, and Smith's next pass down the field was picked off and returned all the way to the one-yard line.

The Pirates scored two plays later for a 31-7 halftime lead.

Another interception to start the third quarter put East Carolina in business at the Gardner-Webb 20-yard line and Ahlers hooked up with Blake Proehl for a touchdown from that distance with 12:37 to play in the third – giving the Pirates a 38-7 edge.

Smith connected with Gathings on a 37-yard gain to move Gardner-Webb into East Carolina territory, but the drive was halted soon after. Jack Pawloski pinned East Carolina down at its own one-yard line with a 41-yard punt and Josh Ramseur caught Pinnix in the end zone on second down for a safety and a 38-9 lead.

Deonte Grier picked off a Ahlers pass early in the fourth quarter, but Gardner-Webb was forced to punt again. Ahlers moved the Pirates down the field again with several accurate passes, but a sack by Janathian Turner and Quinton Jones at the Gardner-Webb 11-yard line limited ECU to a short field goal and a 41-9 lead with 8:57 to play.

The Pirates got a 10-yard scramble from Reid Herring for another score with 4:33 to play, pushing the lead to 48-9 – a drive that saw Demetrius Mauney nearly score on a winding, 27-yard sprint down to the Gardner-Webb 10-yard line.

East Carolina averaged 7.0 yards per play Saturday night, and was the third-straight opponent to top the 500-yard mark against the Runnin' Bulldogs – dating back to last season. In addition to Pinnix, former East Rutherford (N.C.) High Demetrius Mauney went for 107 yards on 13 carries in the fourth quarter and Ahlers ran for 78 yards on 10 carries.

Ahlers also completed 18-of-29 passes for 195 yards, one touchdown and an interception. He was sacked once. Proehl had 68 yards and a score on seven catches, and was one of eight men to catch a pass.

Xavier Smith led the defense with 10 tackles, while Alex Turner had seven hits, three tackles for loss and two of the Pirates' five sacks.

Gardner-Webb finished the humid night with 186 yards offensively, rushing for only 39 yards after a solid debut on the ground last week at Charlotte. 

Smith was 11-of-23 for 147 yards and two interceptions – and was sacked five times for the second week in a row. He hit Gathings four times for 83 yards and also connected with Awanna and Alexander three times each.

Jayln Cagle had 40 yards on 12 carries to lead the rushing attack.

Defensively, Gardner-Webb was on the field for long stretches and got 13 hits from All-Big South linebacker Darien Reynolds and 13 more from safety Kobe Rodgers (career-high). Ramseur added a career-high 10 tackles, 3.0 tackles for loss and a safety to go with a quarterback hurry.

"We need to show what we can really do," said Ramseur. "These first two weeks we've had a really tough schedule, so people are probably going to be sleeping on us. A lot of people may be doubting us, but we've got a special team and we will get it going."

Gardner-Webb will get back to Boiling Springs for its first home game next Saturday, September 14 against North Carolina Central (0-2). The Eagles dropped a 42-3 decision on the road at No. 8 Towson Saturday.

The game will stream live on ESPN+ (Fabian Fuentes, Brendan Boylan) and air live on WGNC radio (1450 AM / 101.1 FM / TuneIn app), with Dave Friedman and Bryan Fetzer on the call.