MURFREESBORO, TN — East Carolina showed its depth, focus and desire in getting to 2-0 in Conference USA on Saturday with a 24-17 win at Middle Tennessee State's homecoming.

The teams may not play again as the Pirates leave C-USA after this season, but the Blue Raiders' homecoming was competitive enough to be remembered for some time.

ECU showed few after effects from last week's 55-31 win at North Carolina as Shane Carden completed five passes for 66 yards on the game's opening possession and Vintavious Cooper went into the end zone from a yard out just 2:30 into the game.

Strong safety Damon Magazu had 11 tackles and the hosts never got the ball back after his interception at the ECU 30-yard line with 5:10 to go.

The Pirates obviously didn't dwell on last week's accomplishment. That was a good thing as they had their hands full with MTSU.

"We came back out to practice on Sunday and it was a new week," Magazu said.

Within the ECU team, the celebration of the triumph over the Tar Heels lasted one day.

"The 24-hour rule, like Coach Ruff (Ruffin McNeill) says," Magazu said. "We actually really mean that so after the 24 hours we started focusing on (Middle Tennessee). They're a great football team as they showed today. ... We really had to focus on fixing our mistakes from the North Carolina game.

"We just preached the 24-hour rule and that's what we did."

Carden had a big game as has become a factor consistent with ECU success. The offense played fast and totaled 511 yards on 98 snaps.

The junior quarterback from Houston said the goal of a league championship helped the Pirates regain their focus after the performance against UNC.

Carden completed 43 of 57 passes for 365 yards and one throwing score against MTSU. He also had a keeper for a 14-10 ECU lead at the half, although he was stopped short of the goal on another scoring chance at the close of the second quarter.

ECU is minimizing distractions.

"We don't listen to the outside noise, whether it's good or bad," Carden said. "They don't know what's going on in our locker room.

"I think we have a great attitude and we know our goal. This was a huge game for us. We understand Carolina's a big game. It's a great one for our university, but it doesn't help us get to our goal of a championship."

The Blue Raiders (3-3, 1-1 C-USA) answered the Pirates' first scoring foray and led 10-7 after a field goal following a potentially-game changing situation involving running back Vintavious Cooper.

The senior back, who had 186 yards rushing in Chapel Hill, appeared to take a helmet-to-helmet hit and fumbled in the first quarter. Cooper left the game with concussion symptoms.

Chris Hairston stepped in to keep the run game going, He totaled 94 yards on 18 carries.

"You've got to really be focused," Hairston said. "That's what we prepare for. The coaches get you ready for things like this that happen. I was ready."

The term the coaches use is "Carry the flag" when someone goes down with an injury.

"That's what we want to see," McNeill said of the response to the depth-challenging loss of Cooper.

Junior college transfer Breon Allen also picked up the banner, contributing seven carries for 28 yards in his first significant action.

After MTSU tied the score at 17 on a 26-yard pass from Logan Kilgore to Tavarres Jefferson with three seconds left in the third quarter, Lance Ray of the Pirates returned the ensuing kickoff 51 yards to the Raiders' 42-yard line.

Carden completed two passes to Danny Webster for 16 yards and had a 5-yard toss to Davon Grayson. The winning touchdown covered 21 yards to Justin Hardy, who dived into the end zone with 13:31 remaining in the game.

"A great football game," said MTSU coach Rick Stockstill, offensive coordinator on John Thompson's staff at ECU in 2003. "It breaks my heart that we didn't get the win. ... Our guys played hard against a really good team."

McNeill put the magnitude of the outcome in perspective.

"This was a big win for us, as big a win as last week," said the Pirates coach. "To win this one, under these circumstances, coming off last week, is big. We get 24 hours to enjoy and then we start getting ready for the next one."

ECU (4-1) heads to the Superdome to play Tulane on Saturday at 3:30 p.m.. Counting the New Orleans Bowl last year, it will be the Pirates third contest in the structure in their last eight games.

View box score and statistics on ecupirates.com (PDF)

Read game recap on ecupirates.com

Read game recap on goblueraiders.com