GREENVILLE — Saturday was a stinger.

East Carolina lost to South Carolina 20-17 in Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium, falling to 0-2 in Mike Houston’s third season. The Pirates were the better team most of the first half but gained no separation on the scoreboard, then labored later losing their grip in the trenches.

“Quiet. Sincere,” Houston said of the locker room before a decisive pause. “I told everybody this summer, I really like the group I have in that locker room. They fought their tails off. They’re hurting.”

An interception return for touchdown sparked the Gamecocks’ rally from down 14-0. Senior Holton Ahlers, the face of the program for ECU, threw for just 77 yards, tossing 11 times to players in purple and twice to those in white.

“He’s his own worst critic,” Houston said, adding Ahlers is going to have plays he wants back, and he’s going to be trying to fix things immediately. He choked back emotion at one point while discussing his quarterback.

“He’s a great leader,” Tyler Snead said of Ahlers. “Day in and day out, he shows that. We won’t have a problem bouncing back with him leading us.”

That was the thought, too, after losing 33-19 to Appalachian State in Charlotte. No question he’s among the best to ever take snaps in the program’s history.

But it’s two games, two neighbors in the Carolinas, and two ouches. The Pirates are winless, and recruiting is taking a hit.

South Carolina opened looking more the part of a homecoming guest than a member of the powerful Southeastern Conference. Make no mistake, there’s an ongoing massive rebuild. The Pirates showed respect in comments afterward, pointing out NFL potential and five-star recruits.

No doubt, the Gamecocks hung steady, fought to not let the American Athletic Conference hosts get away, and rode back to Columbia with a rousing victory. Parker White’s 36-yard field goal was the game-winner on the final play, a little under seven minutes after he tied it from 39 yards.

“That’s a big-time kick,” Houston said. “I’ve seen that missed a lot.”

Not this day. It was the final thorn.

As much as the game opened with a bang for ECU, it certainly finished with a thud. The Pirates’ first snap was razzle dazzle, with Snead throwing a 75-yard strike of a bomb deep down the right sideline to a streaking Jsi Hatfield for a touchdown.

With the largest crowd since 2017, some 40,000 roaring, the Pirates seized the energy and dominated everything but the score. South Carolina should have been run out of the building.

If only the momentum could have lasted.

“The kids played their tails off,” Houston said. “I’m proud of the way we competed, physicality, intensity. I thought we had it. It just didn’t go our way.”

The Gamecocks were stronger in the fourth quarter. They were better at point of attack, Houston said, on decisive runs to set up the field goals. Graduate student D.J. Ford, a safety who recovered a fumble to set up ECU’s second score, agreed and said that’s nothing more than making plays.

“I don’t think it’s culture or confidence,” Ford said. “You just have to get it done.”

The Pirates didn’t on this resplendent afternoon. And it stung deep.

Alan Wooten can be reached at 910-247-9132 or awooten@bladenjournal.com. Twitter: @JournalBladen.