A late brawl mars East Carolina’s Military Bowl win over NC State

ANNAPOLIS, Md. – If you’re already looking ahead to 2025 in college football, mark this season opener: East Carolina at NC State on Aug. 30.

The Pirates and Wolfpack began feuding in the final minute of East Carolina’s 26-21 win in the Military Bowl on Saturday night – and the teams won’t have to wait long for a reunion. They are about to open next season.

“As a coach, I’m embarrassed,” NC State coach Dave Doeren said. “I know our players are too. So the people of this program, the players of this program, the staff of this program don’t want anything to do with anything like that. For me it was a terrible reaction to something that happened to one of our players, and there are no excuses for that. That’s why I apologize to ECU and their team for the way we reacted.

Emotions during this duel were understandably high. NC State and East Carolina are about 80 miles apart, and while they don’t play every season, they have frequently been on each other’s schedules over the years.

NC State rallied from a 20-7 deficit in the fourth quarter to lead by one point when ECU’s Rahjai Harris capped a spectacular day with an 86-yard touchdown run that gave the Pirates a 26th with 1:33 to play :21 lead.

An interception gave East Carolina the ball back with 44 seconds left and just had to run out the clock. But after a run up the middle by Harris, the fight broke out around the hash marks closer to the ECU sideline.

“Obviously I didn’t like the last part of the game,” Pirates coach Blake Harrell said. “There is no place for that in sport.”

East Carolina receiver Yannick Smith appeared to rip a towel from the waist of NC State defender Tamarcus Cooley, who then chased Smith toward the sideline and pushed him to the ground. Two other ECU players came to Smith’s defense. As the fight escalated, it took about a full minute to get the situation under control – and about eight minutes before the ball could be snapped again to finally put him down.

At least one official appeared to have a bloody face after the fight, and the referee appeared to be reading a note as he announced the ejection of eight players.

Given NC State’s popularity at North Carolina State, it makes sense if ECU had a bigger chip on its shoulder in this game. However, Harrell seemed to have more words for other teams in the state afterward than he did for the Wolf Pack.

“I don’t think you can look at our fans and tell them it’s not a rivalry. It’s another hour and 15 minutes,” Harrell said. “And there are a few other schools that are about the same distance. Maybe they should put us on their schedule instead of trying to take our players with them. They want to call our players and take our players. How about we put ourselves on the list? Schedule?

“People will look at us like a little stepbrother, that’s okay. These guys will compete, they will accept the challenge. I know we have to play against these guys again next year. “But we’re going to celebrate that tonight.