East Carolina compiled a school-record 789 total yards of offense and nearly set a Pirate standard for points when it thumped UNC 70-41 before a stadium record 51,082 fans, eclipsing the previous mark when UNC last traveled to Greenville in 2011.

The Pirate faithful was treated to some serious offensive fireworks throughout as Breon Allen turned a 3rd-and 28 into his second touchdown run with a 44-yard scoring romp to give ECU 28-20 lead with just under four minutes left in the first half.

ECU (3-1) extended its advantage to 35-20 with just eight seconds remaining in the second quarter as standout quarterback Shane Carden collected his third touchdown pass on a 19 yard hookup with Brian Bishop.

The play capped a stunning final 10 minutes of the opening half in which the Pirates turned a one score deficit into a 15-point lead and the Pirates went on to roll up their second straight decisive win over the Tar Heels (2-1) in the non-conference battle.

Carden completed 30 of 48 passes for 438 yards and four touchdowns to just one interception. Allen rolled up 211 yards and a pair of scores as the Pirates shredded the Tar Heels defense in just about every way imaginable.

The Tar Heels kept pace with the Pirates early into the second quarter as Tommy Hibbard faked a punt and instead passed to Eric Albright for a 29 yard score and a 20-14 lead.

East Carolina’s defense did a solid job of shutting down the Tar Heels offense from there, including a three-and-out series led by Mitch Trubisky who replaced Marquise Williams for a spell.

Williams took a pounding with several hard hits by ECU’s defense, but the move to Trubisky seemed to take some steam out of the Tar Heels offense.

Williams and his ‘mates had some early success in what appeared to be a Southern-style shootout, as Ryan Switzer took a pitch and instead of running connected with an uncovered T.J. Thorpe for a 35 yard touchdown strike.

UNC also moved the ball well on two other series in the first half, getting the ball within the 5 yard line twice but settling for a pair of short Nick Weiler field goals.

Zeke Bigger added to the Tar Heels woes early in the second half with an interception and ensuing 35 yard return for a touchdown, boosting his team’s lead to 42-20.

Bigger already had 12 tackles at that point and his pick came just after the Tar Heels had a first down erased as coach Larry Fedora burned a timeout before the play got off.

The Tar Heels gathered themselves to make it 42-27 on a 75-yard, 2:31 drive capped by Romar Morris’ 7 yard scoring dash.

It was all ECU from there, however, as Carden and company kept running and passing through the heart of the Heels defense, which wasn’t existent for much of the contest.

The final stats showed what a massacre the Pirates pulled off, as they had the ball for nearly 10 more minutes than the Tar Heels, piled up 343 rushing yards to 145 for UNC and the victors had a 40-23 advantage in first downs.

UNC will look to bounce back next Saturday when it travels to Clemson.