East Carolina 28, No. 19 Virginia Tech 21: Shane Carden's 1-yard touchdown run with 16 seconds remaining lifted the visiting Pirates to a stunning upset of the Hokies.

Despite squandering a 21-point lead, East Carolina (2-1) prevailed on Carden's quarterback sneak, capping a three-play, 65-yard drive that featured two long gains by receiver Cam Worthy and a costly Virginia Tech 12 men on the field penalty. Carden racked up 427 passing yards and three touchdowns despite going just 23-of-47 while Worthy finished with a career-best 224 receiving yards.

Michael Brewer went 30-of-56 for 298 yards with three TDs and a pair of interceptions for the Hokies (2-1), who failed to build on last week's one-sided win over Ohio State. Isaiah Ford had seven grabs for 77 yards and two scores while Cam Phillips added 89 yards and a touchdown on seven receptions for Virginia Tech.

East Carolina struck on its opening drive, as Carden connected with Bryce Williams on a 4-yard fade deep in the end zone. Carden split a pair of defenders to find Trevon Brown for a 15-yard TD strike on the Pirates' next possession - a five-play, 70-yard drive that ate up less than a minute - and added a 3-yard scoring pass to Isaiah Jones near the end of the quarter to help East Carolina go into the half with a 21-7 advantage.

Virginia Tech threatened to make a game of it in the opening moments of the fourth quarter, but Brewer's pass on fourth-and-goal from the 2 floated untouched through the middle of the end zone. Brewer atoned on the Hokies' next possession - connecting with Ford on a 15-yard TD with just over 6 1/2 minutes remaining - and he hit Phillips on an 18-yard score after East Carolina went three-and-out to set the stage for Carden's heroics.

GAME NOTEBOOK: The Hokies fell to 5-4 in games following a win over a ranked opponent in the past five years. ... Worthy came into the game with 78 receiving yards over his first two games of the season, and had only 295 in all of 2013. ... Carden has thrown for 1,031 yards and seven touchdowns over his first three games.