The2013 Beef 'O' Brady's Bowl was an Americancollege footballbowl game that was played on December 23, 2013, atTropicana Field inSt. Petersburg, Florida. Sponsored by theBeef 'O' Brady's restaurant franchise, it was the sixth edition of the game formerly known as theSt. Petersburg Bowl. It featured theOhio Bobcats of theMid-American Conference against theEast Carolina Pirates ofConference USA.^[4] It was one of the2013–14 bowl games that concluded the2013 FBS football season. The game began at 2:00 p.m.EST and aired onESPN.^[5] East Carolina defeated Ohio, 37–20, by scoring 20 points in the fourth quarter.^[6]

This was the first Beef 'O' Brady's Bowl for both Ohio and East Carolina. It was the third meeting between the two schools, both of the previous of which East Carolina won, the most recent of which occurred in 1998.^[7] It was the last time a team from theMid-American Conference went to the game, as the third tie-in will go to theAtlantic Coast Conference from 2014 until at least 2019.^[8]

The game had an attendance of 20, 053.^[9]

East Carolina was heavily favored to win the game, including predictions from all sixCBS Sports panelists,ESPN writers,Bleacher Report, and Dr. Saturday, a feature fromYahoo Sports,^{[10][11][12][13]} as Ohio had fallen apart in the latter half of the season, and ECU's offense was very explosive offensively. One Yahoo Sports preview commented that it was a strength on strength game: "It's a game of strength vs. strength. East Carolina's passing attack is ranked 11th in the country at 331 yards per game. Ohio has given up 212 passing yards per game. The Bobcats are much worse against the run, but East Carolina runs the ball poorly. The Pirates are 101st in the nation in rushing offense ... I like ECU's strength much more than I like Ohio's strength."^[10]

The Bobcats continued their recent winning ways, finishing 7–5 overall and 4–4 in-conference (tied with theAkron Zips for third place in the MAC East Division). After their season, bowl director Brett Dulaney extended an invitation to play in the game.^[14] After starting their season 4–1 (the loss in the opener to number nine Louisville), the Bobcats lost a close game againstCentral Michigan, and then won two more games before losing three consecutive games, including being shut out 49–0 againstBowling Green, before resoundingly defeatingUMass in their season's final game. In addition to being the Ohio's first Beef 'O' Brady's Bowl and their fifth consecutive bowl game.^[8]

Coordinated by Tim Albin, Ohio's offense, which averaged 238.5 passing yards per game (58th in FBS), 136.3 rushing yards per game (96th in FBS), and 28.0 points per game (72nd in FBS),^[15] relied heavily on senior quarterbackTyler Tettleton – in games during which he threw for more than 200 yards, Ohio was 6–1, but when he did not, they were just 1–4.^[16] His up-and-down season^[17] totaled 2623 passing yards, 20 touchdowns, and 9 interceptions.^[18] Sophomore Derrius Vick also contributed, predominantly as a rushing quarterback, totaling 28 rushes for 68 yards and 1 touchdown. Leading the Bobcats' rushing attack, however, was seniorBeau Blankenship, who "trudged through a letdown of a season" after entering the season with significant hype;^[17] he ultimately totaled 844 rushing yards and 5 touchdowns, eclipsing 100 yards in a game just twice.^[19] The backup was fellow senior Ryan Boykin, who rushed for 399 yards and a team-leading 7 rushing touchdowns.^[20] Sophomore Daz'mond Patterson was also a contributor in both the rushing and receiving games.^[18]

The Bobcats' leading receiver was second team all-conference honoreeDonte Foster,^[21] who caught 63 passes for 858 yards and 6 touchdowns. Upperclassmen wide receivers Chase Cochran and Matt Waters were second and third respectively in receiving yards, recording 656 and 446 respectively. At tight end, senior Troy Hill caught 19 passes for 253 yards and 2 touchdowns.^[18] Walk-on sophomoreJosiah Yazdani took over the kicking duties a few games into the season, and was a perfect 12 of 12 on his field goal tries (with a long of 49 yards), one of only four FBS kickers to be perfect, and 28 of 28 on his extra point attempts; he achieved second team all-conference honors.^[18][21] Ohio's offensive line was anchored by fifth-year seniors Jon Lechner, a right guard, and Ryan McGrath, a right tackle.^[22]

The Pirates continued their recent success, finishing 9–3 overall and 6–2 in-conference, but their "devastating" 59–28 loss to theMarshall Thundering Herd kept them from the2013 Conference USA Football Championship Game, and dampened their overall season success.^[12] At season's end, bowl director Brett Dulaney extended an invitation to play in the game.^[23] In addition to being the East Carolina's first Beef 'O' Brady's Bowl, it was also the Pirates' final game as a member of Conference USA before moving to theAmerican Athletic Conference as part of the2010–13 Big East Conference realignment.^[24]

Broadcast onESPN,Beth Mowins handled theplay-by-play duties,Joey Galloway was theanalyst, and Paul Carcaterra was thesideline reporter. OnESPN Radio, the game's broadcasters wereEamon McAnaney (play-by-play),Anthony Becht (analyst), and Ian Fitzsimmons (sideline).^[3]

East Carolina (ECU) got the ball to start the game, and promptly wentthree-and-out, ultimately punting. Ohio achieved a few first downs, however quarterback Tyler Tettleton threw an interception to Michael Dobson, setting ECU up with good field position around midfield. On the ensuing possession, ECU drove down the field on 5 plays for 55 yards, with the drive culminating in a 5-yard pass fromShane Carden to Cam Worthy, taking a 7–0 lead. Ohio failed to respond, and punted on their next drive. When ECU regained possession of the ball, they embarked on a drive that was highlighted by a 39-yard rush byVintavious Cooper, as well as a 15-yard pass toJustin Hardy on which he broke the career receiving yard record, but failed to score when Ohio stopped ECU on a fourth down conversion attempt in thered zone. Ohio could not capitalize, and ultimately punted. ECU subsequently embarked on an 11-play drive that covered 76-yards and took up 3:40, and culminated with a 2-yard run by Breon Allen for a touchdown. Ohio's offense finally came to life on their next drive, which culminated in the second quarter.^[25]

At the end of the first quarter, Ohio embarked on a drive during which they gained 26 yards on aflea flicker pass from Tettleton to Daz'mond Patterson, gained 15 more thanks to a personal foul on ECU, and then scored on a 17-yard swing pass from Tettleton to Patterson, making the score 14–7 ECU. ECU's offense took the field and used predominantly ano huddle offense that once caused an illegal substitution penalty on Ohio, however they committed a delay of game penalty when there was confusion on a play call. On that drive, they stalled around midfield and punted for atouchback. Ohio's subsequent drive lasted only one play – an 80-yard touchdown pass from Derrius Vick, Ohio's second quarterback, whom they previously used predominantly for running, to Donte Foster that tied the game at 14. As happened in the first quarter, ECU stalled in the red zone on their ensuing drive, failing to convert a fourth down, but Ohio went three-and-out, thus negating their momentum. ECU, relying predominantly on their running game (seven of nine plays) again approached scoring territory, but when faced with a 3rd down and 15, failed to convert the first down, and settled for a field goal try for Warren Harvey, who made a 41-yard attempt, taking the lead for the Pirates, 17–14.^[26]

Ohio received the opening second half kickoff, but failed to avenge the first half time of possession deficit (ECU possessed the ball for more than 20 of the 30 minutes in the first half), and quickly punted the ball to ECU, but the Pirates also punted after an ineffective series. On Ohio's ensuing drive, Tettleton took off running on one play, and exited the game with an apparent ankle injury; Vick subsequently entered the game for one play before Tettleton's return. Later on the drive, Ohio converted a fourth down to advance into the red zone; Josiah Yazdani subsequently attempted a 29-yard field goal, which he made, tying the game, to culminate a 16-play, 60-yard drive. After exchanging punts, ECU advanced into Ohio territory on a drive highlighted by a 37-yard pass from Carden to Worthy, but that was decimated once deep in Ohio's territory by a chop block penalty, ultimately forcing the Pirates to settle for a 29-yard field goal attempt that Harvey missed wide right. At the end of the quarter, the game was tied at 17.^[27]

Early in the quarter, Ohio took its first lead of the game when Yazdani made a 28-yard field goal that culminated a 6-play, 69-yard drive. They surprised ECU on the ensuing kickoff, by attempting anonside kick, which they recovered around midfield. On their subsequent drive, Ohio drove down the field, but stalled around the 30-yard line, and settled for a 45-yard field goal attempt for Yazdani, which he missed, his first miss of the season. On the ensuing drive, ECU took advantage of two 15-yard penalties on Ohio (a personal foul and a pass interference), and Cooper rushed for a touchdown, putting ECU back on top, 24–20. Ohio failed to move the ball on their next drive, and their punt wasfair caught in their own territory, setting ECU up with excellent field position, from which they embarked on a drive that culminated when, on a trick play, Carden caught a 14-yard touchdown pass from Worthy, putting ECU up 31–20. Tettleton threw an interception on Ohio's ensuing drive that again set up ECU in Ohio's territory, however this time, they did not convert a third down when at their 38-yard line, after which they took a delay of game penalty to give ECU five more yards' room to pin Ohio deep on the punt, but only managed to pin them at their own 16-yard line. On Ohio's next drive, Tettleton rushed for 17 yards on 3rd and 16 to convert for a first down, however on the following series, Tettleton threw another interception; on the return, Ohio committed a personal foul, giving ECU another drive to start in Ohio's territory. Cooper subsequently rushed for a 22-yard touchdown, giving him 198 rushing yards on the day, a career-best. The extra point was blocked, and as such, the game's final score was 37–20.^[28]

Source:^[29]

• All statistics perESPN's Box Score of the game.

• Box score atESPN

• 2013–14 NCAA football bowl games
• Gasparilla Bowl
• East Carolina Pirates football bowl games
• Ohio Bobcats football bowl games
• December 2013 sports events in the United States
• 2013 in sports in Florida
• 2010s in St. Petersburg, Florida

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