2015 Birmingham Bowl results: Florida beats East Carolina, 28-20

Florida is officially 1-0 since hiring Jim McElwain. The Gators’ new head coach may not have been involved in their 28-20 win over East Carolina in Saturday’s Birmingham Bowl, but his new team showed off some promise in a victory over one of the nation’s best smaller conference teams. Defensive coordinator D.J. Durkin served as the Gators’ interim head coach.

East Carolina started the scoring when Justin Hardy jumped over a Florida defender for the receiving touchdown. The Pirates’ offense started off hot against what has been a good Gators defensive unit, as quarterback Shane Carden complete nine of his first 11 passes for 73 yards and that score.

Florida started playing better on the defensive end soon after, as Brian Poole tied it up later in the quarter with a 29-yard interception return for a touchdown. The Gators took the lead early in the second quarter with Adam Lane’s two-yard touchdown run, and expanded it before the half when Treon Harris found Brandon Powell for the 13-yard score. It was just the third time Florida scored at least 21 points in the first half this season -- the other two came against Eastern Kentucky and Eastern Michigan.

The Pirates pulled it back within a touchdown when Carden found Cam Worthy for his second touchdown pass of the game, but the Gators kept the lead distant with Harris’s 86-yard touchdown pass to Ahmad Fullwood. Jeff Driskel came in for Harris at quarterback in the second half (after a brief stint in the first), completing eight of 17 passes for 48 yards.

East Carolina pulled it back within a touchdown with a pair of field goals, and had one last chance when a forward moving fumble brought them to the five-yard line. On second-and-goal from the five, Carden lobbed a pass into the end zone -- looking for nearly the exact same route he found Hardy on at the game’s beginning. This time, Vernon Hargreaves III jumped the route, picking off the pass and securing the win.

East Carolina fans were not pleased.