ECU Travels West To BYU
October 08, 2015 | Football
Oct. 8, 2015
| East Carolina Game 6: BYU | |
| Date | Saturday, Oct. 10 |
| Time | 7:30 PM (EDT) |
| Location | Provo, Utah (LaVell Edwards Stadium) |
| Tickets & Parking | Ticket Information | Visitor Information |
| Live Game Coverage |  Radio: WNCT 107.9FM | ECU Pirates On Demand (Listen Live) TuneIn Radio Online (within the app search ECU or Pirate IMG Sports Network) Television: ESPNU | WatchESPN |
| Internet Options | GameTracker |
| Official Web Sites | East Carolina | BYU | American Athletic Conference |
| Game Notes | East Carolina  | BYU | The American |
| 2015 Football Statistics | East Carolina | BYU |
| ECU Football Central | Gameday | Roster | Fact Book | The American | NCAA Football | College Scoreboard |
| Official Social Media Sites | |
| East Carolina | BYU | The American | |
| East Carolina | ECUScoreboard (In-Game Updates) l BYU | The American | |
| Twitter Hashtags | #ECUPirates | #ECUFootball | #BYUFootball | #AmericanRising | #ECUvsBYU |
| East Carolina | BYU | The American | |
GREENVILLE, N.C. -- East Carolina will close out its 2015 non-conference schedule when it faces BYU at LaVell Edwards Stadium Saturday beginning at 7:30 p.m. (EDT). The Pirates will try to continue their momentum against the Cougars after posting a 49-23 American Athletic Conference triumph against SMU last week.
The visit to Provo will also wrap up a two-game road swing for ECU, which will host AAC West Division member Tulsa next week for its annual Homecoming festivities. East Carolina will try to capture its sixth consecutive victory in the month of the October when it makes its second-longest regular season voyage in program history.
East Carolina Records and Streaks
- Qualified for 10 bowl appearances since 2000 (three-straight, eight of the last nine years) ...
- Has won 25 of the last 29 games when scoring 30 or more points ...
- Has lost 14-straight games when scoring 20 or less points (19-14 vs. UCF in `09/last win) ...
- Has won 18 of the last 19 games when gaining 200 or more rushing yards ...
- Has won 25-straight games when leading at the half ...
- Has won five-straight games played in the month of October ...
- Has won 10 of the last 17 regular season road games ...
- Has won eight of the last 11 regular season non-conference games ...
The Series
Saturday's contest will mark the first meeting (0-0) between East Carolina and BYU in the sport of football ... In fact, softball represents the only "team" sport which the Pirates and Cougars have squared off in prior to this week ... BYU owns a 4-0 record against ECU in the circle, posting wins in a pair of regular season tournaments (2008 and 2014) and handing the Pirates 1-0 and 8-3 setbacks at the 2010 NCAA Regional in Austin, Texas.
McNeill Against The Beehive State
Ruffin McNeill has recorded an all-time record of 1-2 when coaching against Beehive State FBS opponents ... In addition to the 38-14 loss at BYU as a member of the UNLV staff in 1998, McNeill also battled Utah and Utah State once each ... While Fresno State's defensive line coach in 1999, the Utes posted a 17-16 win against the Bulldogs at the Las Vegas Bowl on Dec. 18 ... A year later, during his initial season at Texas Tech as linebackers coach, the Red Raiders captured a 38-16 triumph over the Aggies in Lubbock on Sept. 2, 2000.
East Carolina Against The Independents
ECU has compiled an all-time record of 8-0 against FBS programs which currently compete as an independent ... The perfect mark is admittedly a little bit of a misnomer in the fact all eight victories have come against Army ... In addition to BYU, the Pirates have also never faced Notre Dame in their football history ... ECU was 1-3 vs. Navy when the Midshipmen were an independent (before beginning American Conference play this fall).
BYU Against The American
BYU has posted a 19-5 (.792) all-time mark against current members of the American Athletic Conference ... The Cougars have squared off against Tulsa (6-1), SMU (3-0), Houston (2-0), Temple (2-0), Tulane (2-1), Connecticut (2-0), Navy (1-1), UCF (1-1) and Memphis (0-1) ... In addition to East Carolina, BYU has never faced Cincinnati or USF on the gridiron prior to the 2015 campaign ... The Cougars are the midst of the three-game run against AAC members with contests against UConn (last week), ECU and Cincinnati (next week).
A Pirates' Voyage ... Second-Longest In Regular Season History
When East Carolina travels to Provo to battle BYU on Saturday, the trip will officially go down in the record books as the second-longest regular season voyage ever made by the Pirates' football program (longest -- 1993 at Washington) ... ECU's visit to Honolulu for the Sheraton Hawai'i Bowl in 2007 (and 41-38 win over Boise State) is recognized as the longest overall trip in program history (4,862 miles).
Non-League Statistical Comparisons
In its three regular season non-conference contests this year, ECU has averaged 29.0 points, 120.3 rushing yards, 269.7 passing yards and 390.0 total yards per game ... By comparison, the Pirates have booked 35.0 ppg, 193.0 rypg, 287.0 pypg and 480.0 ypg averages in their two conference tilts so far in 2015.
The American - Year Two
ECU has posted a 76-43 (.639) all-time mark against current members of the American Conference ... The Pirates currently own series records against Memphis (15-6), Cincinnati (12-6), Tulane (11-3), UCF (9-4), Temple (8-4), Houston (7-5), Tulsa (7-5), SMU (4-2) Connecticut (1-0), Navy (1-4) and USF (1-4).
On The Road - Wins In Nine Of The Last 16 (Regular Season)
Since becoming a conference member in 1997, East Carolina is 53-70 (.431) when playing away from Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium ... Before a 1-2 start this season, a 3-4 mark last 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 Ohio 37-20 at the Beef `O' Brady's Bowl inside Tropicana Field to close out the 2013 campaign, it marked wins in five of seven "away" contests - ECU's top road ledger since 1991 (5-1) ... From a regular season standpoint, the Pirates have won 10 of the last 17 road contests dating back to 2012 (7-5 in conference play, 3-2 in non-conference action).
Missing The Pirate Nation - 7.7 Million Strong
East Carolina has always been able to claim plenty of hometown support, even more so when playing at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium during the fall - establishing itself as a conference attendance leader on an annual basis ... In all, a total of 7,775,267 fans have seen the Pirates in action since 1963, and in the last seven-plus years, ECU has averaged 45,888 (1,973,204/43 regular season games) ... Since the completion of a 7,000-seat expansion project in 2010 that pushed Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium's capacity to 50,000, the Pirates have drawn 1,503,981 fans - recently cracking the 1.5 million mark when 50,514 watched ECU down Virginia Tech on Sept. 26 ... ECU set back-to-back school records in total attendance and season average attendance in 2011, breaking '10 marks (297,987/49,665) with 300,069 and 50,012 figures that year.
NOTE: ECU's student ticket allotment of 15,000 ranks ninth nationally, trailing only Texas A&M (31,000), Ohio State (28,333), Penn State (21,500), Florida (19,500), Alabama (17,500), Texas (17,000), Florida State (16,000) and Georgia (16,000).
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), as well as topping the American Athletic Conference during its first year of membership, East Carolina has also led all non-AQ BCS Conference (now referred to as the "Group of Five") members in attendance the last three seasons and currently stand second (in 2015) after the first five weeks of play ... Overall, ECU ranks 52nd nationally in average attendance (45,613) and 47th in capacity percentage (91.23) so far in 2015.
Tops In The American
As previously mentioned, ECU opened competition in the American Athletic Conference last fall and immediately took command of the attendance title ... The Pirates' average of 44,786 easily ranked ahead of UCF (37,812), Memphis (33,851), USF (30,694), Cincinnati (29,686), Houston (28,311), Connecticut (28,218), Tulane (25,892), Temple (23,370), SMU (21,528) and Tulsa (19,647).
Analyzing The 2015 Schedule
East Carolina's 2015 schedule consists of games against two conference champions (UCF and Cincinnati/American co-champs), six bowl participants (Florida/W, Navy/W, Virginia Tech/W, BYU/L, UCF/L, Cincinnati/L) and four programs either currently ranked or earning votes in the two major Top 25 polls - Florida, BYU, Navy and Temple. Collectively, the Pirates' opponents have gotten off to a 29-26 start thus far this season.
CHARTING THE PIRATES MONTH-BY-MONTH
In all, ECU is 3-2-0 in August, 121-110-2 in September, 159-147-4 in October, 136-115-5 in November, 9-9-0 in December and 1-4-0 in January ... The Pirates will try to maintain their October productivity, a month in which ECU has won five straight and 14 of its last 21 battles (dating back to 2010) ... On the flipside, the Pirates have dropped five of the last seven in non-conference play (last October N-C game was in 2012) ... East Carolina posted an October sweep (3-0) a year ago - the program's first since 1991.
Shutout-Free ... 224 And Counting
ECU will enter the BYU game with an active streak of 224 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 224-game run currently ranks 14th among all active FBS streaks and is the 24th-longest in the all-time annals ... Florida currently sits atop the active leaderboard with 339 (began in 1988).
Introducing This Year's First-Time Starters
There have been a combined eight first-time starters in East Carolina's lineup against Towson, Florida, Navy, Virginia Tech and SMU to open the season - four on the offensive side of the ball with QB Blake Kemp, OT Brandon Smith, OG Christian Matau and RB Shawn Furlow, and four more on defense with NT Demage Bailey, ILB Jordan William, OLB Joe Allely and ILB Devaris Brunson each making a starting debut.
Get The Ball First Mentality
East Carolina has received the opening kickoff in 39 of the last 42 contests (the South Carolina and UCF games in 2014 and the SMU tilt last week are the only exceptions) ... The Pirates cashed in their first possession with touchdowns during the initial two outings (Towson, Florida) before stalling out at the Navy 37-yard line and getting picked off by Virginia Tech in the next pair of games ... On the other hand, ECU scored on its first offensive drive (after playing defense first) at SMU to take a brief 7-6 lead.
Time Is Finally On Our Side
The Pirates were on the short end of the possession clock in their first four games this season before ending the string against SMU (32:47/27:13, +5:34) ... In all, East Carolina has had ball nearly 25 minutes (23:28) less than its opponents, but still owns a 3-2 record and is plus-10 in the scoring ledger (157-147) ... Ruffin McNeill's 2010 squad "endured" a run of nine-straight games in the minus column and finished the year 75:30 in the proverbial red despite advancing to a bowl game.
Quick Eight-Play Drives
Although East Carolina averages 7.6 plays per touchdown drive in 2015, it has only taken 2:58 to reach the endzone ... In fact, only one drive has exceeded the 5:00 mark (opener vs. Towson) -- 19 of the 22 successful possessions have been under 3:59.
Second And Four-And-A-Half?
ECU has enjoyed notable production on first down so far this year, averaging 5.5 yards per snap ... The Pirates have had 156 first down plays, gained 851 yards, moved the chains on 39 occasions and reached the endzone seven times ... Against SMU last week, East Carolina picked up 203 yards on 34 first down plays (6.0 ypp), racked up 10 or more yards seven times and scored once ... ECU tallied a season-high four touchdowns on first down plays against Virginia Tech two weeks ago.
Plenty Of Pirate Pressure
Led by senior OLB Montese Overton, the Pirates racked up a total of eight sacks (-72 yards) against SMU last week ... Of the eight quarterback drops, seven were recorded in the second half to help ECU keep the Mustangs scoreless and erase a two-point intermission deficit ... ECU stood 99th nationally (1.3 spg) prior to its visit to Dallas and now rank 29th (2.6) ... With his 4.0 sacks, Overton matched a single-game school record, which had stood since 1997 (and established a new AAC standard).
Zay's Streak
Junior IR Isaiah Jones has caught at least one pass in 28-straight games heading into the BYU contest ... The streak, which began with a two-catch, 27-yard effort vs. North Carolina on Sept. 28, 2013, currently ranks 13th among active receivers ... His 10-catch, 130-yard performance against Navy on Sept. 19 represented the fourth double-digit reception outing and seventh triple-digit yard total of his career ... Additionally, Jones has 12 career touchdown receptions and the Pirates are 11-1 when he snares a scoring catch (only loss was against Florida on Sept. 12) ... Of his 12 TD grabs, six have been in league games (four C-USA, two AAC) in two-plus seasons.
The Rolaids Award
Junior quarterback James Summers has turned in successive impact-producing relief appearances, helping rally East Carolina to wins over Virginia Tech and SMU ... Against the Hokies, he posted the second-highest single-game positional rushing total in school history (169 yards, most by a Pirate QB since 1979) and threw his first career TD pass before finishing with 279 yards of total offense - also accounting for three of ECU's five TDs ... He was 9-of-10 for 153 yards with a pair of TDs through the air at SMU, while also adding 85 yards and two more scores on the ground.
On This Day In Pirates' History (7-4)
Oct. 10, 1941 -- East Carolina 39, Newport News Apprentice 0
Oct. 10, 1953 -- East Carolina 45, Elon 25
Oct. 10, 1959 -- East Carolina 31, Elon 8
Oct. 10, 1964 -- East Carolina 21, Woff ord 0
Oct. 10, 1970 -- NC State 23, East Carolina 6
Oct. 10, 1981 -- East Carolina 17, Richmond 13
Oct. 10, 1987 -- East Carolina 56, Cincinnati 28
Oct. 10, 1992 -- Duke 45, East Carolina 14
Oct. 10, 1996 -- Southern Miss 28, East Carolina 7
Oct. 10, 1998 -- East Carolina 26, UAB 7
Oct. 10, 2009 -- SMU 28, East Carolina 21
