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East Carolina recorded a 42-9 win over North Carolina Central on Saturday evening inside Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium. After the game, head coach Blake Harrell met with the media. Here's what he had to say about the team's comfortable win, improving to 2-2 on the season. OPENING STATEMENT "Always good to get a W. Always good to get back in that column and told our guys, last time we were out in Dowdy Ficklen Stadium, nobody's happy about that. But I thought we responded in the right way. A little bit different tale of two halves there, but really happy about how we played the first half. Right at 300 yards of offense, did a really good job on third down, kept the ball moving. Took some shots down the field offensively, so a lot of good things defensively, other than the first tackle of the game. Played pretty well throughout it, and then, the second half, we have got to clean some things up there, just penalty-wise. I think we had some young guys making some mistakes that are probably seeing their first snaps defensively there, too, with playing some freshmen. But all in all, to get back in the win column, get this thing to 2-2. Got a bye week coming up, getting ready to attack conference play.  "We're moving in the right direction. You always want to catch a little bit of momentum, catch a little bit of forward pace and identity of who you are, and I thought we did that tonight. I thought, regardless of our opponent, our biggest focus was on us, and I thought we made the right steps in the first half to go play the game the right way. Both sides of the football, and special teams, I thought we did a good job. So we'll continue to push there, and I think we had some bright spots.  "Emory certainly did some good things in the first half. I'd like to see us take better care of the football, especially in the end zone area, around the goal line area. Emory had a fumble down there that cost us seven points in the first half. Michael Allen had one down there that cost us seven points in the second half. So we got to do a better job taking care of the football. Put those two scores in, you feel a lot better about it. So, all in all, had some positives. We got to keep building on it, and we got to keep pushing.  "It's good to see Landon Sides out there. That's the first snaps Landon's had. I think that's the first time he's been hit since the spring. He had a concussion early in camp. As soon as he came back, he pulled a hamstring, so he never got hit during camp. And so we've been just kind of getting him back, get him in the game, and throw a hitch out there. And the first time, he got about seven yards. But as soon as they hit him, the ball went flying out of bounds. So he'll get better. I love his energy. I love his passion that he brings. We need that offensively. So looking forward to having him back. I think Ashton Gray, Jeremiah Melvin, both will be at practice next week. They'll be back in it. So it's a good time for them get healthy over the bye week and get ready to go attack the conference play."