East Carolina Travels To USF For Saturday Night Contest
October 09, 2014 | Football
| East Carolina Game 6: USF | |
| Date | Saturday, Oct. 11 |
| Time | 7:00 PM (EDT) |
| Location | Tampa, Fla. (Raymond James Stadium) |
| Ticket Information | Game Tickets |
| Live Game Coverage |  Radio: WNCT 107.9FM | Pirates On Demand (Listen Live) Television: ESPNU/ WatchESPN |
| Internet Options | Gametracker |
| Official Web Sites | East Carolina | USF l American Athletic Conference |
| Game Notes | East Carolina  | USF l The American |
| 2014 Football Statistics | East Carolina | USF | The American |
| ECU Football Central | Gameday Central | Roster | Fact Book | The American | NCAA Football |
| Official Social Media Sites | |
| East Carolina | USF | The American | |
| East Carolina | ECUScoreboard (In-Game Updates) l USF | The American | |
| Twitter Hashtags | #ECUPirates | #ECUFootball | #GoBulls | #AmericanRising | #ECUvsUSF |
GREENVILLE, N.C. - East Carolina will try to record its first-ever victory over USF when the Pirates battle the Bulls at Raymond James Stadium Saturday beginning at 7 p.m. ECU, which earned inclusion in both Top 25 polls on Sept. 21 after consecutive wins against Atlantic Coast Conference opponents Virginia Tech (28-21) and North Carolina (70-41), will be playing as a nationally-ranked program for the second-straight week following Saturday's 45-24 triumph over SMU.
The Pirates will be looking for their seventh win in the last eight league road openers and are also hoping to improve to 5-1 for the first time since 1999 when they meet USF.
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 21 of the last 23 games (and 48 of 55) when scoring 30 or more points ...
- Has won 28 of the last 30 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 generated 500 total yards or more in three-straight (and five of the last six) games ...
- Has won seven of the last 10 regular season road games ...
- Has won eight of the last 11 games vs. American Athletic Conference opponents ...
THE AMERICAN - PREVIEWING THE NEW
East Carolina has posted a 69-37 (.651) all-time mark against current members of the American Athletic Conference ... In addition to their four-game series against USF (0-4), 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 SMU (3-2) ... 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.
THE ECU-USF SERIES
USF leads East Carolina 4-0 all-time in a series which dates back to 2002 ... Two (2003, 2004) of the four meetings were league contests while both programs were members of Conference USA ... The Papajohns.com Bowl matchup in Birmingham was the Pirates' first against the Bulls at a neutral site.
A PIRATE-BULL-PIRATE CONNECTION
East Carolina Defensive Coordinator Rick Smith served as USF's Assistant Head Coach with oversight of the Bulls secondary in 2010, 2011 and 2012 before rejoining the Pirates' staff prior to the 2013 campaign ... While at USF under Skip Holtz, the 2010 Bulls defense ranked 17th nationally in total defense (317.9 ypg), 22nd in scoring defense (20.0 ppg) and netted 15 interceptions - third on USF's single-season list ... Holtz captured two C-USA titles and made four bowl appearances as ECU's head coach from 2005 to 2009.
`CANES, `NOLES, GATORS, BULLS, KNIGHTS, OWLS AND PANTHERS
The Pirates have dropped 24 of 37 all-time matchups (13-24) against FBS (formerly Division I-A) programs from the state of Florida ... ECU is 9-3 against UCF, 2-9 vs. Miami, 1-0 vs. Florida Atlantic, 1-0 vs. Florida International, 0-1 vs. Florida, 0-4 vs. USF and 0-7 vs. Florida State.
VYING TO REACH A 15-YEAR MILESTONE
East Carolina will be attempting to post its first 5-1 (six-game) start since 1999 when it meets USF Saturday ... A win over the Bulls would represent the Pirates' best two-year "combined" start (9-3) since the 1998 and 1999 squads also went 9-3.
ON THE ROAD - WINS IN SIX OF THE LAST NINE
Since becoming a conference member in 1997, East Carolina is 50-65 (.435) when playing away from Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium ... Before a 1-1 mark so far this year and a 5-2 record in 2013, the Pirates were 3-4 in 2012, 2-4 in 2011, 2-5 in 2010, 3-4 in 2009 and 5-4 in 2008 ... When the Pirates topped the Bobcats 37-20 at Tropicana Field last December, it marked "away" wins in five of seven contests during the 2013 campaign - ECU's top road ledger since a 5-1 slate in 1991.
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 47th nationally in average attendance (46,290) and 49th in capacity percentage (92.58) so far in 2014.
ALREADY REPEATING IN THE AMERICAN
As ECU has opened competition in the American Athletic Conference this fall, the Pirates are already contending for top attendance honors there as well ... After the fi rst six weeks of play, ECU has grabbed the early lead in its new league with an average 46,290 (UCF/44,510; Memphis/36,870; Cincinnati/33,098; Houston/30,232; Connecticut/29,137; USF/29,137; SMU/28,957; Tulane/28,179; Temple/23,805 and Tulsa/23,247).
SHUTOUT-FREE ... 211 AND COUNTING
ECU will enter the USF game with an active streak of 211 games of not suffering a shutout - a school record (previous mark was 110 set from `71 to `81) ... The last time the Pirates were blanked was on Oct. 4, 1997 (56-0 at Syracuse) ... ECU's 211-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).
IN THE BALL-HAWKING BUSINESS
Junior CB Josh Hawkins owns three of ECU's five interceptions in 2014 and currently ranks third nationally in passes defended with 10 (seven pass breakups, three picks).
TO ZEEK AND DESTROY
Junior ILB Zeek Bigger set or at least matched career-high tackle totals in the first four games this season, netting 11, 13, 13 and 17 in contests vs. NCCU, SC, VT and UNC, respectively ... He currently ranks seventh nationally with a 12.2 per-game average.
Notebooking Shane Carden
Although 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 a school-record 9,134 aerial yards and 71 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 (2nd/67.9), total offense plays per game (3rd/43.4), TDs responsible for (4th/92), completions per game (5th/25.1), pass yards (5th/9,134), pass completions (5th/802), pass attempts (5th/1,181) ...
- Selected as the 2013 Conference USA Most Valuable Player ...
- Has accounted for 93 of 138 offensive TDs (67%) as ECU's starter in two-plus years ...
- Has converted 132-of-148 (89%) redzone opportunities while under center ...
- Has thrown for over 400 yards on six occasions and authored 10 contests over 350, 15 over 300 and 24 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 years (currently on pace for a 4,510-yard campaign in `14) ...
- One of eight (8) returning FBS QBs who own their school's single-season passing record, but currently is one of only three (nationally) to have set his program's career mark as an active player (Old Dominion/Taylor Heinicke, Oregon State/Sean Mannion) ...
- 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 nine career league player-of-the-week awards, including four C-USA versions in 2013 and two 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 26 of his last 27 games ...
- Has passed for 1,275 yards (425. 0 ypg) and 11 TDs in last three 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 total vs. South Carolina (11) and 11th triple-digit yardage outing vs. SMU (120) earlier this season, currently leads all active receivers in career receptions and receiving yards.
TWO FOR 2 ... IN 41-STRAIGHT
Justin Hardy has caught at least two passes in every career game he's played, a run that sits at 41-straight contests heading into the USF 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 23 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 | 23 |
| 2. | Rakeem Cato | Tommy Shuler | Marshall | 20 |
| 3. | Bryce Petty | Antwan Goodley | Baylor | 14 |
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).
OFFENSE O'PLENTY
ECU has racked up 1,370 total yards in its last two outings (UNC/789, SMU/581) - a two-game program record, surpassing 1,130 yards set last year vs. Tulsa/505 and UAB/625.
