SATURDAY'S STAR

T.J. Lee, special teams

East Carolina

Lee was chewed out by head coach Skip Holtz for committing two penalties on running plays while lined up at wide receiver. Lee became the hero later when he blocked Brent Bowden's punt and returned it for the winning touchdown. Holtz said after the game that he planned to apologize to Lee. When told that, Lee said no apology was necessary.

IT WAS OVER WHEN

Lee found a gap on the right side of Tech's offensive line and got his left arm in the way of Bowden's punt. Lee scooped it up and sprinted for the end zone to give the Pirates a 27-22 lead with 1:52 to play.

GOOD CALL?

Tech has a 14-0 lead with less than three minutes to go in the first half and faces a third-and-16 from its 17. Instead of running a draw play, punting and getting to halftime with a two-touchdown lead, the call comes in to throw. Sean Glennon hits linebacker Nick Johnson between the numbers and he returns it to the 1 to set up an ECU touchdown.

THEY SAID IT

"There's no excuse for that. I thought the snap was a little bit soft, and I thought the kick was a little bit slow. ... I give them credit. Their guys did a nice job."

-- Tech coach Frank Beamer, on Lee's blocked punt return for a TD

CRITICAL NUMBERS

62 The longest play of the game. Sean Glennon hit Dyrell Roberts in stride down the right sideline for his first career catch to set up Tech's final touchdown.

17 Consecutive games Tech had won when blocking a kick. Defensive tackle John Graves blocked an extra point that Stephan Virgil returned for two points, but this time it didn't mean victory.

6 Consecutive victories for Tech over ECU entering Saturday's game. The last time the Pirates had beaten Tech was in 1992. The Pirates won that game 30-27 at home.

1 The number of penalties called against Tech. It was a half-the-distance penalty inside the 1 so it was officially for zero yards. ECU scored its first touchdown three plays later.

0 The number of sacks by Tech's defense. Tech failed to record a sack against ECU last year.

-- Staff reports