It was a sleepy Halloween in Greenville, North Carolina, and the entire student section was in costumes. The game at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium was anything but sleepy and one of the strangest wins for UH in the 1990s.
Percy Forman blocked a punt in the first quarter, which led to a UH score. Louis Hampton blocked another punt in the second quarter, also leading to a UH score. Andrew Bayes, who would be a consensus All-American at punter in 1999, had never been blocked before.
At that point, UH was up 14-10 in the second quarter, but the Pirates marched 74 yards and had first-and-goal at the three. After a Cougar timeout, safety Mike James stripped the running back, and David Williams picked it up at the one and raced 99 yards for the score. It was 21-10 Houston. Those 21 points came on scoring drives totalling 30 yards of offense.
On their first drive of the second half, ECU went 12 plays and scored from the one, but Bayes’ PAT was blocked. It was the third time of the day the Cougars had gotten to one of his kicks. UH kicker Mike Waddell booted a 46-yard FG before ECU scored again and converted a two-point conversion and tied the game at 24 on the last play of the third quarter.
Houston strung together a nine-play drive, and Waddell kicked a 43-yarder to go ahead 27-24. ECU struck back just 80 seconds later with a three-play touchdown drive.
Three plays later, UH quarterback Jason McKinley was intercepted. After an ECU punt, McKinley was intercepted again, his third of the day. But junior DT Mike DeRouselle forged through the line to nab the ECU running back for a loss on first down. He stopped the same back on 3rd down and forced a punt.
With Ketric Sanford nursing a bruised hip, UH offensive coordinator Dan Lounsbury leaned on “Big Back” Mike Green most of the day. With 2:09 on the clock, Green caught a swing pass and raced 57 yards to the eight. After Leif Penn carried it to the one, Green burst into the end zone to put the Coogs on top, 34-31.
Waddell then kicked it out of bounds, setting up ECU at the 35. On first down, Ahmad Charles sacked QB David Garrard before ECU committed illegal procedure to set up 2nd-and-25. They got 22 yards back on second down, then 19 yards on 3rd down. ECU called their final time out, then hit for six more yards, spiked it, and gained three more over the middle with 18 seconds to play.
But ECU got cute and lined up as if they were to run another play, preventing UH from getting its kick block team on the field. But once Bayes and the FG unit made it to the field, the clock was under five seconds. Bayes, who had been blocked three times, tried kicking the 47-yarder high, but it drifted right and was no good (and was caught on the field by this Daily Cougar reporter). Houston survived 34-31.
