ECU Hosts SMU In Its Inaugural American Conference Game
October 02, 2014 | Football
| East Carolina Game 5: SMU | |
| Date | Saturday, Oct. 4 |
| Time | 12 Noon (EDT) |
| Location | Greenville, N.C. (Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium) |
| Tickets & Parking | Game Tickets | Fan Guide | Parking Information |
| Live Game Coverage |  Radio: WNCT 107.9FM | Pirates On Demand (Listen Live) | SiriusXM Radio (138/XM 200) |  Television: ESPNU/ WatchESPN |
| Internet Options | Gametracker |
| Official Web Sites | East Carolina | SMU l American Athletic Conference |
| Game Notes | East Carolina  | SMU l The American |
| 2014 Football Statistics | East Carolina | SMU | The American |
| ECU Football Central | Gameday Central | Roster | Fact Book | The American | NCAA Football |
| Official Social Media Sites | |
| East Carolina | SMU | The American | |
| East Carolina | ECUScoreboard (In-Game Updates) l SMU | The American | |
| Twitter Hashtags | #ECUPirates | #ECUFootball | #PonyUp | #AmericanRising | #SMUvsECU |
GREENVILLE, N.C. - It's Homecoming on the East Carolina University campus as the Pirates host SMU in their inaugural American Athletic Conference contest at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium Saturday beginning at 12 noon. ECU will be playing as a nationally-ranked program for the first time since 2008 following back-to-back wins against Atlantic Coast Conference opponents Virginia Tech (28-21) and North Carolina (70-41).
The Pirates will be looking for their seventh-straight victory in league openers and are also hoping to match last year's 4-1 start, which ranks second in the team's history (5-0 in 1999) when they meet the Mustangs for the first time since 2010.
EAST CAROLINA RECORDS AND STREAKS
- Qualified for nine bowl appearances since 2000 (seven of the last eight years) ...
- Has had at least eight wins in five of the last seven years ...
- Has won 20 of the last 22 games (and 47 of 54) when scoring 30 or more points ...
- Has won 27 of the last 29 games when converting third downs at 50% or higher ...
- Has won 13 of the last 15 games when forcing two or more turnovers ...
- Has won 16-straight games when gaining 200 or more rushing yards ...
- Has won five-straight, nine of the last 10 (and 13 of the last 15) home games ...
- Has won seven of the last 10 games vs. American Athletic Conference opponents ...
THE AMERICAN - PREVIEWING THE NEW
East Carolina has posted a 68-37 (.648) all-time mark against current members of the American Athletic Conference ... In addition to their four-game series against SMU (2-2), the Pirates have also squared off against Memphis (15-6), Cincinnati (12-5), Tulane (10-3), UCF (9-3), Houston (7-5), Temple (7-4), Tulsa (6-5) and USF (0-4) ... ECU has never faced Connecticut on the gridiron, but are scheduled to meet Oct. 23 this year.
REVIEWING THE OLD - CONFERENCE USA
During its 17-year membership in Conference USA (1997-2013), East Carolina produced an all-time 78-50 (.609) league record ... Overall, the Pirates completed C-USA action by winning 11 of the last 13, 27 of the last 37 and 36 of the last 49 league games.
CONFERENCE OPENER & HOME LEAGUE GAME SUCCESS
ECU has captured six-straight conference openers dating back to a 28-21 setback to Southern Miss in 2007 ... The Pirates also currently enjoy a nine-game win streak against league opponents at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium.
THE SERIES
Series tied 2-2 ... The Pirates completed a two-game sweep during the first pair of inter-divisional meetings as Conference USA members in 2005 and 2006, but SMU used defensive and special teams scores to hand ECU its only league loss of the season in 2009 before following with an overtime win a year later.
AGAINST THE LONE STAR STATE
The Pirates have won 18 of 29 all-time matchups (18-11) against FBS programs from the state of Texas ... ECU is 7-5 against UH, 3-1 vs. UTEP, 2-2 vs. Rice, 2-1 vs. TCU, 2-2 vs. SMU, 1-0 vs. Texas Tech and 1-0 against North Texas ... East Carolina has never faced current Big 12 Conference members Baylor, Texas A&M or Texas on the gridiron.
Ruffin McNeill VS. TEXAS
Although he's only 2-4 against Texas-based FBS institutions as East Carolina's head coach (28-18 and 48-28 wins against UTEP and Houston in 2012, respectively), Ruffin McNeill has recorded an all-time record of 38-20 (.655) when coaching against Lone Star State opponents ... Most of the games occurred when McNeill was wearing the Red & Black while on the Texas Tech staff, including a combined 30 contests against Baylor (10-0), Texas (2-8) and Texas A&M (7-3) ... He's also battled SMU (6-3), TCU (3-1), UTEP (4-1), Rice (3-2), North Texas (2-0) and Houston (1-2).
LOOKING FOR A ANOTHER NOTABLE START
East Carolina will be attempting to post its second-straight 4-1 (five-game) start when it meets SMU Saturday ... A win over the Mustangs would represent the Pirates' best two-year "combined" start (8-2) since the 1998 and 1999 squads went 9-1.
BACK-TO-BACK-TO-BACK "POWER FIVE" CHALLENGES
By facing South Carolina (Sept. 6), Virginia Tech (Sept. 13) and North Carolina (Sept. 20), ECU battled against members of the "Power Five" (formerly known as automatic-qualifying BCS opponents) in successive games for the 10th time since 2005 - 1-2 in 2005 (Duke/WFU/WVU), 1-1 twice in 2006 (WVU/UVA and NCSU/USF), 1-1 in 2007 (VT/UNC), 2-0 in 2008 (VT/WVU), 0-2 in 2009 (WVU/UNC), 0-2 in 2010 (VT/UNC), 0-2 in 2011 (SC/VT), 1-1 in 2013 (VT/UNC) and 2-1 in 2014.
AT DOWDY-FICKLEN STADIUM - WINS IN NINE OF THE LAST 10
East Carolina's all-time record at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium is 174-86-1 (.669) ... The Pirates opened the facility on Sept. 21, 1963 with a 20-10 win over Brian Piccolo and the Wake Forest Demon Deacons in front of 17,000 fans and celebrated the stadium's 50th anniversary last fall ... Before consecutive 5-1 marks in 2013 and 2012, a 3-3 ledger in 2011 and a 4-2 clip in 2010, ECU won a combined 10 of 12 home matchups in 2009 (6-1) and 2008 (4-1) ... Overall, East Carolina has turned in 38 winning campaigns at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium since 1963.
ATTENDANCE LEADERS
In addition to departing Conference USA as a six-time attendance champion - 2008 (42,016), 2009 (41,742), 2010 (49,665), 2011 (50,012), 2012 (47,013) and 2013 (43,985) - East Carolina also topped all non-AQ BCS Conference (now referred to as the "Group of Five") members in attendance the last two seasons and currently top the latter list this season ... Overall, ECU ranks 45th nationally in average attendance and 43rd in capacity percentage (93.84) so far in 2014.
ALREADY REPEATING IN THE AMERICAN
As ECU begins competition in the American Athletic Conference this fall, the Pirates are already contending for top attendance honors there as well ... After the first five weeks of play, ECU has grabbed the early lead in its new league with an average 46,920 (UCF/44,510; Cincinnati/36,919; Memphis/36,870; Houston/31,415; Connecticut/29,137; USF/29,137; SMU/28,957; Tulane/28,179; Temple/23,805 and Tulsa/23,247).
A SINGLE-GAME RECORD-BREAKER
With an attendance total of 51,082 against North Carolina two weeks ago on Sept. 20, ECU established a single-game home record - surpassing the 50,610 clip who watched the Pirates battle the Tar Heels on Oct. 1, 2011 ... In all, East Carolina has enjoyed sell-out crowds for 10 contests since Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium was expanded in 2010, including four in 2011 (UAB, Southern Miss and UCF were others).
SHUTOUT-FREE ... 210 AND COUNTING
ECU will enter the SMU game with an active streak of 210 games of not suffering a shutout - a school record (17 points at Rice in `06 surpassed the previous mark of 110 set from '71 to `81) ... The last time the Pirates were blanked was on Oct. 4, 1997 (56-0 at Syracuse) ... In terms of a national standing, ECU's 210-game run currently ranks eighth among all active FBS streaks and is the 20th-longest in the all-time annals.
TAKING OFF THE (RED)SHIRT
Ruffin McNeill's "play immediately" count is currently at 20 during his ECU head coaching tenure ... A program-high eight (8) players have had their redshirts removed this year - TE Steve Baggett, OWR Trevon Brown, ILB Joe Carter, IWR Quay Johnson, DS Colton Oliver, DB Cody Purdie, RB Anthony Scott, ILB Ray Tillman - to join a list of 12 others beginning in 2010: 2010 (4), 2011 (2), 2012 (1) and 2013 (5).
TO PILLAGE AND PLUNDER
The Pirates have netted a takeaway in 18 of the last 19 games ... Most recently, ECU has forced 17 in the last nine contests (and is 22-7 with two or more TOs in the McNeill era).
TO ZEEK AND DESTROY
Junior ILB Zeek Bigger has set or at least matched career-high tackle totals in each game played this season, netting 11, 13, 13 and 17 in contests vs. NCCU, SC, VT and UNC, respectively ... He currently ranks fifth nationally with a 13.5 per-game average - just 2.5 behind FBS leaders Dakota Lox (New Mexico) and Jeff Luc (Cincinnati).
Notebooking Shane Carden
Although initially passed over for the starting position to open the 2012 season as a sophomore, Shane Carden took over the job prior to ECU's third game and has responded with 8,724 aerial yards and 67 TDs ... A closer look at Carden's career:
- Statistically, rates as the top "returning" QB in the American Conference, currently ranking among Top 5 FBS active career leaders in completion percentage (3rd/67.6), TDs responsible for (4th/88), total offense plays per game (4th/43.3), completions per game (5th/24.9), pass yards per game (5th/281.4), pass yards (5th/8,724), pass completions (5th/771), pass attempts per game (5th/36.8), pass attempts (5th/1,140) ...
- Selected as the 2013 Conference USA Most Valuable Player ...
- Has accounted for 89 of 132 offensive TDs (67%) as ECU's starter in two-plus years ...
- Has converted 126-of-142 (89%) redzone opportunities while under center ...
- Has thrown for over 400 yards on five occasions and authored nine contests over 350, 14 over 300 and 23 over 250 yards ...
- First QB in school history to pass for over 4,000 yards in a season and one of only two to eclipse 3,000 in back-to-back campaigns ...
- One of eight (8) returning FBS QBs who own their school's single-season passing record - Garrett Grayson (Colorado State), Jared Goff (California), Connor Halliday (Washington State), Brett Hundley (UCLA), Chuckie Keeton (Utah State), Sean Mannion (Oregon State) and Brandon Doughty (Western Kentucky) ...
- Established an ECU single-game passing record on three occasions - 439 vs. Marshall in 2012, 447 vs. Old Dominion and 480 vs. Tulane in 2013 ... His effort vs. the Monarchs included a 46-of-54 performance - the program's second-highest completion percentage ever (85.2) ...
- Directly responsible for all four TDs vs. No. 17 Virginia Tech (three pass, game-winning rush with 0:16 remaining) and accounted for 12 scores vs. ACC member North Carolina in consecutive years (six; three/three in 2013, six; four/two in 2014) ...
- Earned eight career league player-of-the-week awards, including four C-USA versions in 2013 and one American Conference honor so far this year; also has picked up two ESPN Helmet Stickers (vs. UNC/'13, vs. VT/'14) ...
- Current rush TD co-leader with three (led unit with eight in `12, second with 10 in `13) ...
- Has equaled a single-game East Carolina record with five TD passes on four occasions - vs. Memphis (`12) and vs. Old Dominion, Tulsa and UAB (`13) ...
- Has thrown a touchdown pass in 25 of his last 26 games ...
HARDY "ACTIVELY" TOPPING THE NATION
Senior inside receiver Justin Hardy (114) is one of only three returning pass catchers nationally who posted 100 or more receptions in 2013, joining Duke's Jamison Crowder (108) and Marshall's Tommy Shuler (106) ... Hardy, who tallied his 10th double-digit catch and 10th triple-digit yardage outing vs. South Carolina (11-133) on Sept. 6, currently leads all active receivers in career receptions and receiving yards.
TWO FOR 2 ... IN 40-STRAIGHT
Justin Hardy has caught at least two passes in every career game he's played, a run that sits at 40-straight contests heading into the SMU tilt ... The streak, which began with an 11-catch, 91 yard effort vs. South Carolina on Sept. 3, 2011, currently ranks first among all active receivers in 2014.
ECU'S TOUCHDOWN TANDEM
Seniors Shane Carden and Justin Hardy have connected for 20 touchdowns during their Pirate careers, which leads all active QB-WR tandems at the FBS level:
| National Rank | Quarterback | Receiver | School | TDs |
| 1. | Shane Carden | Justin Hardy | East Carolina | 20 |
| 2. | Rakeem Cato | Tommy Shuler | Marshall | 19 |
| 3. | Bryce Petty | Antwan Goodley | Baylor | 13 |
ECU's Carden-to-Hardy connection accounted for 1,284 yards in 2013, ranking second among returning QB-WR duos in FBS - trailing only Baylor's Petty-to-Goodley tandem (1,339 yards).
