Eight players are ejected from the ECU-NC State Military Bowl after brawl results in official bleeding

After a late scuffle between East Carolina and NC State in Saturday’s Military Bowl, which the Pirates won 26-21, eight players were ejected and one official was left bleeding from a cut on his face.

During the altercation, an ECU player pushed an NC State player from behind, and the NC State player’s helmet struck the referee in the face, resulting in the cut. The official, referee Rod Tucker, wiped himself with a towel and a team trainer looked at him.

In the weeks leading up to the contest, the drama surrounding the state-by-state game grew as teams and their fan bases traded contentious issues. ECU fans have long felt disrespected by North Carolina State’s Atlantic Coast Conference schools and have recognized the rarity with which those schools have scheduled the Pirates since ECU won six straight games against ACC opponents from 2013 to 2016 including two wins each against NC State and North Carolina. NC State and East Carolina have played four times in the last seven seasons and will open the 2025 season against each other in Raleigh.

ECU led 20-7 early in the fourth quarter of Saturday’s game, but NC State scored two rushing touchdowns to take a 21-20 lead.

With just over two minutes to play, ECU appeared to return a fumble for a touchdown and the lead, but officials said the NC State runner was on the ground and then his progress was stopped, even though replay showed he wasn’t was on the ground and a whistle hadn’t been blown yet. It’s not messed up.

On ECU’s ensuing possession, running back Rahjai Harris took a handoff 86 yards for the go-ahead touchdown. The Pirates intercepted an NC State pass on their next drive and secured the victory.

As ECU ran the ball on its final drive as time expired, two players began wrestling behind the play. Both sidelines were cleared and several scuffles broke out as coaches and officials tried to keep them apart.

Five of the players excluded were from North Carolina State and three were from East Carolina. The penalties were equalized and a final knee ended the game.

“A great game, it’s a shame it ended like that,” ECU coach Blake Harrell said. “We have to be smarter to finish the game. But a huge win for the Pirates.”

Harrell also spoke about the relationship between the teams after the game, saying, “I don’t think you can look at our fans and tell them it’s not a rivalry.”

“It’s an hour and 15 minutes up the road,” Harrell said. “And there are a few other schools 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 them with them. Well, how about we get on the schedule?”

NC State coach Dave Doeren congratulated ECU after his team’s loss and apologized for “how it ended.”

“I’m embarrassed as a coach and I know our players are embarrassed too,” Doeren said of the altercation. “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 is no excuse for that.”

The next meeting between these teams will be August 30, 2025 at the Wolfpack’s Carter-Finley Stadium. NC State leads the all-time series 19-14, which dates back to 1970.

(Photo: Tommy Gilligan / Imagn Images)