College football: No. 18 East Carolina beat UConn, 31-21

Shane Carden threw for a season-high 445 yards, Breon Allen ran for two touchdowns and No. 18 East Carolina pulled away to beat Connecticut, 31-21, on Thursday night at Greenville, N.C.

Carden completed 38 of 64 during his seventh career 400-yard performance. He helped the Pirates (6-1, 3-0 American Athletic Conference) sidestep a major upset bid by four-touchdown-underdog Connecticut (1-6, 0-4) in East Carolina’s first prime-time, weeknight showcase game in its new league.

Warren Harvey kicked the go-ahead 31-yard field goal with 6:15 left, Carden threw touchdown passes of 13 yards to Justin Hardy and 10 yards to Bryce Williams, and Allen scored on runs of one and nine yards.

In the other Thursday night college game, Duke Johnson rushed for 249 yards and fellow Miami back Gus Edward rushed for 111 as the Hurricanes (5-3, 2-2 in Atlantic Coast Conference) rolled to a 30-6 victory over Virginia Tech (4-4, 2-2).

Etc.

Northwestern cornerback Dwight White has decided to stop playing football. White found out in June after experiencing abdominal pain that he was born with one kidney. He decided to keep playing. But after suffering a kidney contusion in practice in the final days before the season opener, he ultimately opted to stop. White appeared in all 12 games and made six starts as a freshman last season. He did not appear in any games this year.

Michigan is reducing the price of student season tickets to football games by 37.5% next year. The athletic department announced Thursday that the seven-game home schedule will be priced at $175 for 2015, down from $280 this season. There have been a fair number of empty seats this year in the sections where students usually sit. Non-student season ticket prices will remain unchanged for a third consecutive season.