HATTIESBURG — In the blink of an eye, Southern Miss lost the lead. Not long after that, it lost the game.

East Carolina scored three touchdowns in a 31⁄2-minute span of the third quarter Saturday, turning a tight game into a relatively easy 24-14 victory.

Southern Miss led 7-3 at halftime, but committed three turnovers and had a drive end on downs deep in East Carolina territory in the third quarter. The Pirates (2-1, 1-0 Conference USA) turned those missteps into a long touchdown pass, a four-play scoring drive and a fumble return touchdown to take a 17-point lead into the fourth quarter.

“We just did not play very smart and lost it, and we made some terrible mistakes that ended up in a very disappointing loss,” Southern Miss coach Ellis Johnson said.

Freshman quarterback Anthony Alford ran for 61 yards in his first college start, including a 1-yard touchdown in the first quarter that gave Southern Miss (0-2, 0-1) the early lead. He was just 6-for-14 passing for 88 yards, however, and fell victim to an aggressive East Carolina defense in the third quarter.

Alford was stopped short of the first down on a fourth-and-1 run at the ECU 15-yard line, which gave the Pirates the ball on downs with 6:35 to play. Five plays later, Shane Carden hit Justin Hardy for a 55-yard touchdown pass that put ECU ahead 10-7.

On the next Southern Miss possession, Alford was sacked and fumbled at his own 33. Former Hinds Community College star Adonis Armstrong recovered for East Carolina, and the Pirates cashed in with an 8-yard TD run by Carden four plays later.

USM’s next possession was even worse.

Alford completed a pass for a first down, then was sacked and hit for a loss on designed runs on consecutive plays. Alford fumbled on the second carry, and linebacker Montese Overton scooped it up and returned it 16 yards for a touchdown and a 24-7 East Carolina lead with 1:19 to go in the third.

“I’m disappointed in myself. I didn’t play the way I wanted to play with a couple of turnovers so I was disappointed in myself,” Alford said.

Chris Campbell replaced Alford at quarterback on USM’s next series. He led the team on an eight-play, 79-yard scoring drive, capped by an 8-yard touchdown pass to Markese Triplett that cut the deficit to 10 points with 13:47 remaining.

Campbell finished 11-of-21 passing for 145 yards and a touchdown.

The damage had been done, though. East Carolina had a six-minute drive in the middle of the fourth quarter that didn’t net any points, but ate up valuable time. And Southern Miss, for its part, barely got past midfield on its last two possessions of the game.

Afterward, Alford’s teammates refused to put the blame for the loss on their young, struggling quarterback.

“You can’t just fault one guy for a loss,” USM center Austin Quattrochi said. “It’s a team game and it’s always going to be a team game. He’s a freshman. You have to take it upon yourself as a senior, as people who have been there, you have to take it upon yourself to help him along. We might have slacked a little in that department. You just can’t fault one guy.”

East Carolina 24, Southern Miss 14

Records: USM (0-2, 0-1 C-USA); ECU (2-1, 1-0)

Skinny: East Carolina turns three second-half turnovers into touchdowns to beat Golden Eagles

Next: USM at Western Kentucky, Saturday at 6 p.m.