ECU Hosts USF On Military Appreciation Day
November 05, 2015 | Football
Nov. 5, 2015
| East Carolina Game 10: USF | |
| Date | Saturday, Nov. 7 |
| Time | 7:30 PM (EST) |
| Location | Greenville, N.C. (Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium) |
| Tickets & Parking | Buy Tickets | Parking Information | New To Gameday |
| 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: CBS Sports Network |
| Internet Options | GameTracker |
| Official Web Sites | East Carolina | USF | American Athletic Conference |
| Game Notes | East Carolina  | USF | The American |
| 2015 Football Statistics | East Carolina | USF |
| ECU Football Central | Gameday | Roster | Fact Book | The American | NCAA Football | College Scoreboard |
| Official Social Media Sites | |
| East Carolina | USF | The American | |
| East Carolina | ECUScoreboard (In-Game Updates) l USF | The American | |
| Twitter Hashtags | #ECUPirates | #ECUFootball | #BullsUnite | #AmericanRising | #USFvsECU |
| East Carolina | USF | The American | |
GREENVILLE, N.C. -- It's Military Appreciation Day as East Carolina will open the month of November by hosting USF for an American Athletic Conference contest at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium on Saturday beginning at 7:30 p.m. The Bulls, who opened the 2015 campaign with a 1-3 mark, will enter the matchup having won three of their last four games - including a 45-24 decision over Atlantic Coast Conference member Syracuse.
The Pirates, who are playing for the 10th consecutive week, are the owners of a 3-1 overall home record this season and have split a pair of league games in Greenville. ECU needs two victories in its remaining three contests to secure bowl eligibility for the fourth-straight year (and ninth time since 2006).
East Carolina Records and Streaks
- Qualified for 10 bowl appearances since 2000 (three-straight, eight of the last nine years) ...
- Has won 26 of the last 31 games when scoring 30 or more points ...
- Has lost 16-straight games when scoring 20 or less points (19-14 vs. UCF in `09/last win) ...
- Has won 18 of the last 20 games when gaining 200 or more rushing yards ...
- Has won 26 of the last 27 games when leading at the half ...
- Has won 11 of the last 13, 15 of the last 18 (and 19 of the last 23) home games ...
- Has won 13 of the last 16 conference home games ...
- Has won six-straight home games in the month of November (last loss in 2011) ...
The Series
USF leads East Carolina 4-1 all-time in a series which dates back to 2002 ... The 2003 and 2004 meetings were league contests while both programs were members of Conference USA, while the last matchup (2014) served as the Bulls' and Pirates' initial American Athletic Conference encounter (and ECU's first win in the series) ... The Papajohns.com Bowl matchup in Birmingham was the East Carolina's first against then Big East member USF at a neutral site.
McNeill Against The Bulls
Despite Ruffin McNeill's long and successful assistant coaching career at eight institutions, East Carolina's 28-17 win last October marked his first-ever meeting against USF.
Taggart Against The Pirates
Saturday's meeting will also be Willie Taggart's second against the Pirates, either as a head coach or an assistant ... East Carolina has squared off against Stanford in its history, but not when Taggart was an assistant on the Cardinal staff ... ECU has never played Western Kentucky on the gridiron.
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 before announcing his resignation on January 14, 2010 to formally accept the USF head coaching position later that day.
`Canes, `Noles, Gators, Bulls, Knights, Owls And Panthers
The Pirates have dropped 27 of 41 all-time matchups (14-27) against FBS (formerly Division I-A) programs from the state of Florida ... ECU is 9-4 against UCF, 2-9 vs. Miami, 1-0 vs. Florida Atlantic, 1-0 vs. Florida International, 1-4 vs. USF, 0-3 vs. Florida and 0-7 vs. Florida State.
Formidable Setbacks
ECU's five losses this year have been against teams that currently sport a combined record of 30-9 (.769): Florida (7-1), Navy (6-1), BYU (6-2), Temple (7-1) and UConn (4-5).
The American - Year Two
ECU has posted a 77-45 (.631) 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 (8-5), Tulsa (8-5), Houston (7-5), SMU (4-2) Connecticut (1-1), Navy (1-4) and USF (1-4).
At Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium - 18-4 Since 2012
East Carolina's all-time record at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium is 180-88-1 (.671) ... 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 in 2013 ... Before an early 3-1 record this fall, consecutive 5-1 marks in 2014, 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 `09 (6-1) and `08 (4-1) ... Overall, East Carolina has turned in 39 winning campaigns at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium since 1963 ... The Pirates currently enjoy a run of victories in 11 of the last 13 games and 15 of the last 18.
The Pirate Nation - 7.8 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 7,857,749 fans have seen the Pirates in action since 1963, and in the last seven-plus years, ECU has averaged 45,682 (2,055,686/45 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 1,586,463 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 third after the first nine weeks of play ... Overall, ECU ranks 55th nationally in average attendance (43,427) and 54th in capacity percentage (86.85) so far in 2015.
NOTE: The 40,712 and 50,514 figures announced for the Pirates' first two contests (Towson and Virginia Tech, respectively) marked the 11th and 12th-straight home games that East Carolina surpassed 40K in attendance.
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). East Carolina ranks third in 2015, trailing only Temple and Memphis.
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, Navy, Virginia Tech, BYU, UCF, Cincinnati) and four programs either currently ranked or earning votes in the two major Top 25 polls - Florida (11/12), Temple (23/23), BYU (RV) and Navy (RV). Collectively, the Pirates' opponents this season are a combined 53-45.
Charting The Pirates Month-By-Month
In all, ECU is 3-2-0 in August, 121-110-2 in September, 160-150-4 in October, 136-115-5 in November, 9-9-0 in December and 1-4-0 in January ... The Pirates open play in November, a month in which East Carolina has captured nine of the last 12 contests ... At home, the Pirates currently enjoy a six-game win streak - last falling to No. 24 Southern Miss at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium on Nov. 5, 2011 (48-28).
Shutout-Free ... 228 And Counting
ECU will enter the USF contest with an active streak of 228 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 228-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 341 (began in 1988).
Introducing This Year's First-Time Starters
There have been a combined 11 first-time starters in East Carolina's lineup so far this year -- five on the offensive side of the ball with QB Blake Kemp, OT Brandon Smith, OG Christian Matau, RB Shawn Furlow and QB James Summers, and six more on defense with NT Demage Bailey, ILB Jordan William, OLB Joe Allely, ILB Devaris Brunson, OLB Yiannis Bowden and SS DaShawn Benton each making a starting debut.
Reaching Paydirt Quickly
Although East Carolina averages 7.3 plays per touchdown drive in 2015, it only takes 2:46 to reach the endzone ... In fact, only two drives have exceeded the 5:00 mark all year (vs. Towson, Temple) - 27 of the 31 successful possessions have been under 3:59.
Second Down, 4.5 To Go
ECU has enjoyed solid production on first down this year, averaging 5.5 yards per snap ... The Pirates have had 291 first down plays, gained 1,607 yards, moved the chains on 68 occasions and reached the endzone nine times ... Against UConn last week, East Carolina picked up 191 yards on 28 first down plays (6.8 ypp) and racked up 10 or more yards five times ... In their last five games combined (SMU/BYU/Tulsa/Temple/UConn), the Pirates have collected 959 yards (6.5 ypp) and 36 first downs on "1st-and-10" snaps.
Rare Offensive Doldrums
First down production aside, the turnover bug and an inability to convert on third down has slowed ECU's offense the last two games ... The Pirates did not score an offensive TD in five-straight quarters (3rd/4th vs. Temple, 1st/2nd/3rd vs. UConn) and have been limited to 27 points in its last two outings - the lowest scoring total in back-to-back games since Oct. 1 and Oct. 8, 2011 (20/North Carolina, 3/Houston).
Impressive Damage Control
After Navy (2), Virginia Tech (2) and SMU (2) collectively converted all six East Carolina turnovers into points (four TDs, two FGs), the Pirate defense has done some impressive damage control in their last four games ... Despite gaining a combined 10 takeaways against ECU, BYU (FG), Tulsa, Temple and UConn managed to score only three points.
Limiting Ground Movement
Despite surrendering 220 to UConn last week, East Carolina's recent efforts slowing opponent running attacks has rekindled a few memories of the Pirates' stellar performance a year ago (2014) which included a No. 11 national rank after allowing just 111.8 yards per game.
Creating Havoc & Limiting Pass Success
East Carolina has been credited with 14 quarterback pressures (i.e. hurries) against Tulsa, Temple and UConn in successive games ... The Pirates had nine vs. the Golden Hurricane, the most since racking up 11 vs. Russell Wilson and NC State on Oct. 16, 2010 ... ECU has also knocked down 21 passes in its last five games (14 in first four), which with the pressure, has helped lower opponent pass production.
The Fourth Quarter Challenge
ECU enjoyed an 154-63 edge in the fourth quarter a year ago (+91 ranked first nationally), but is -14 (69-83) through nine games this year ... Furthermore, in the last three outings, the Pirates are -24 (14-38) in the final 15 minutes of play.
American, Non-League Statistical Comparisons
In its five American Athletic Conference contests (2-3) this year, ECU has averaged 25.4 points, 165.4 rushing yards, 246.6 passing yards and 412.0 total yards per game ... By comparison, the Pirates booked 31.3 ppg, 123.5 rypg, 298.5 pypg and 422.0 ypg averages in their four non-conference tilts in 2015 (Towson, Florida, Va. Tech and BYU).
Zay's Streak
Junior IR Isaiah Jones has caught at least one pass in 32-straight games heading into the USF 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, 106-yard effort vs. Temple on Oct. 22 represented the sixth double-digit reception outing and eighth triple-digit yard total of his ECU career.
The Pirates' Double-Option
Junior East Carolina quarterbacks Blake Kemp and James Summers have each contributed in their own unique way over so far this season ... A closer look:
- Blake Kemp (4-2/starter) - Currently ranks 8th in completion percentage and 29th in completions per game, while also standing among the FBS' top 40 in passing yards with 1,878 and in the top 55 in TD throws (11) ... Of his two relief appearances, effort at BYU stood out with a career-high 371 air yards and two touchdowns ... Completed 77.8 percent of his throws (28-of-36) and engineered two fourth-quarter TD drives operating in the "two-minute drill" (85 yards/1:52, 63 yards/2:36) to erase a 17-point deficit and put the Pirates in a position to even game with 4:01 left.
- James Summers (0-3/starter) - 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 coming off the bench vs. Virginia Tech.
On This Day In Pirates' History (3-4)
Nov. 7, 1953 -- Tampa 18, East Carolina 13
Nov. 7, 1959 -- Lenoir Rhyne 22, East Carolina 21
Nov. 7, 1964 -- East Carolina 34, Furman 14
Nov. 7, 1970 -- West Virginia 28, East Carolina 14M
Nov. 7, 1981 -- East Carolina 66, East Tennessee State 23
Nov. 7, 1987 -- East Carolina 31, Temple 26
Nov. 7, 1992 -- West Virginia 41, East Carolina 28
