ECU Travels To The Swamp To Face Florida
September 10, 2015 | Football
Sept. 10, 2015
| East Carolina Game 2: Florida | |
| Date | Saturday, Sept. 12 |
| Time | 7:00 PM (EDT) |
| Location | Gainesville, Fla. (Ben Hill Griffin Stadium) |
| Tickets & Parking | Game Tickets | Parking 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: ESPN2/WatchESPN |
| Internet Options | Live Stats l GameTracker |
| Official Web Sites | East Carolina | Florida | American Athletic Conference |
| Game Notes | East Carolina  | Florida | The American |
| 2015 Football Statistics | East Carolina | Florida |
| ECU Football Central | Gameday | Roster | Fact Book | The American | NCAA Football | College Scoreboard |
| Official Social Media Sites | |
| East Carolina | Florida | The American | |
| East Carolina | ECUScoreboard (In-Game Updates) l Florida | The American | |
| Twitter Hashtags | #ECUPirates | #ECUFootball | #GoGators | #AmericanRising | #ECUvsUF |
| East Carolina | Florida | The American | |
GREENVILLE, N.C. -- East Carolina will face the first of two "Power Five" members on its 2015 schedule when the Pirates travel to Gainesville Saturday to meet Florida at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.
The battle against the Gators will also open a two-game road swing for ECU, who will visit Navy for its American Athletic Conference opener next week before returning home for a Sept. 26 clash against Virginia Tech. The Pirates will also try to move to 2-0 for the third time in the six-year tenure of head coach Ruffin McNeill.
East Carolina Records and Streaks
- Qualified for 10 bowl appearances since 2000 (three-straight, eight of the last nine years) ...
- Has won 23 of the last 27 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 17 of the last 18 games when gaining 200 or more rushing yards ...
- Has held seven of last 14 opponents to less than 100 rushing yards ...
- Has won nine of the last 14 regular season road games ...
- Has won seven of the last nine regular season non-conference games ...
- Has won four of the last seven regular season non-conference road games ...
- Has lost eight of the last 10 games vs. SEC opponents ...
The Series
Florida leads 2-0 ... The Gators, ranked No. 6 at the time, used a late fourth-quarter touchdown run by Neal Anderson to post a 24-17 victory on Oct. 22, 1983 in Gainesville to open the "series" ... UF's 28-20 win in the 2015 Birmingham Bowl obviously marked the other meeting.
East Carolina Against The Southeastern Conference
East Carolina has compiled an all-time record of 6-26 (.188) against current members of the Southeastern Conference ... In addition to the Pirates' 0-2 ledger vs. Florida, ECU is 5-13 against South Carolina, 1-1 vs. Missouri, 0-3 vs. Auburn, 0-2 vs. Kentucky, 0-1 vs. Alabama, 0-1 vs. Georgia, 0-1 vs. LSU, 0-1 vs. Tennessee and 0-1 vs. Arkansas ... The Pirates have dropped eight of their last 10 games against SEC opponents.
Against Non-Conference Opponents
Since accepting membership in a conference, the Pirates have produced a 29-45 (.392) regular season nonleague record ... East Carolina claimed its first winning non-conference mark since 1999 (a program-best 5-0 clip) with a 3-1 ledger in 2013 before following with an identical mark a year ago.
On The Road - Wins In Nine Of The Last 14 (Regular Season)
Since becoming a conference member in 1997, East Carolina is 52-68 (.433) when playing away from Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium ... Before 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 "away" wins in five of seven contests - ECU's top road ledger since a 5-1 slate in 1991 ... From a regular season standpoint, the Pirates have won nine of the last 14 road contests dating back to 2012 (6-4 in conference play, 3-1 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 7,724,753 fans have seen the Pirates in action since 1963, and in the last seven-plus years, ECU has averaged 45,778 (1,922,690/42 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 1,453,467 fans - needing only 46,533 for the Virginia Tech game on Sept. 26 to crack the 1.5 million mark ... 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 (in 2015) after the first weekend of play ... Overall, ECU ranks 32nd nationally in average attendance (40,712) and 39th in capacity percentage (81.42) 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 five programs earning votes in the preseason top 25 polls - Florida, Virginia Tech, Cincinnati, UCF and BYU. Collectively, the Pirates' opponents have gotten off to an 8-3 start thus far this season.
Shutout-Free ... 220 And Counting
ECU will enter the Florida game with an active streak of 220 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 220-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 335 (began in 1988).
Introducing This Year's First-Time Starters
There were four first-time starters in East Carolina's lineup against Towson Saturday - one on the offensive side of the ball with QB Blake Kemp and three more on defense as NT Demage Bailey, ILB Jordan Williams and OLB Joe Allely each made their respective collegiate starting debut.
Redshirt Removal 101
Ruffi n McNeill's "play immediately" count is currently at 23 during his ECU head coaching tenure ... CB Corey Seargent and PK Caleb Pratt were pressed into immediate action against Towson last Saturday after a program-high nine (9) players had their redshirts removed in 2014 - TE Steve Baggett, OWR Trevon Brown, ILB Joe Carter, OWR Terrell Green, IWR Quay Johnson, DS Colton Oliver, DB Cody Purdie, RB Anthony Scott, ILB Ray Tillman ... A complete chronological listing of redshirt strips in the McNeill era include: 2010 (4), 2011 (2), 2012 (1), 2013 (5), 2014 (9) and 2015 (2).
Rick's Picks
In addition to significant per-game average improvements since taking over the coordinator duties in 2013, Rick Smith's leadership of the ECU defense - most notably his influence in the secondary - resulted in a return to national prominence as one of the top interception units on the FBS level ... The Pirates have picked off a pass in 22 of 27 games since Smith's return to Greenville.
Zay's Streak
Junior IR Isaiah Jones has caught at least one pass in 24-straight games heading into the Florida contest ... The streak, which began with a two-catch, 27-yard effort vs. North Carolina on Sept. 28, 2013, currently ranks 16th among active receivers.
A Sunshine State Homecoming
OL Garrett McGhin (Tallahassee, Florida State HS) and ILB Joe Carter (Ponte Vedra, Ponte Vedra HS) are the only Florida natives expected to experience action against the Gators Saturday ... In all, ECU has a total of seven players from the Sunshine State on its roster, but injuries and redshirt plans likely will sideline the remaining five - QB Kurt Benkert/injured (Cape Coral, Island Coast HS), WR Deondre Farrier/injured (Orlando, Lake Nona HS), OL Erik Lenzen/injured (Fort Lauderdale, Cardinal Gibbons HS), OLB C.J. Maybin/redshirt (Pompano Beach, Cardinal Gibbons HS) and DB Blake Norwood/injured (Pensacola, Pensacola HS).
On This Day In Pirates' History (3-5)
Sept. 12, 1959 -- Presbyterian 18, East Carolina 13
Sept. 12, 1964 -- East Carolina 25, Catawba 0
Sept. 12, 1970 -- Toledo 35, East Carolina 2
Sept. 12, 1981 -- North Carolina 56, East Carolina 0
Sept. 12, 1987 -- Florida State 44, East Carolina 3
Sept. 12, 1992 -- East Carolina 30, Virginia Tech 27
Sept. 12, 1998 -- East Carolina 31, Chattanooga 0
Sept. 12, 2009 -- West Virginia 35, East Carolina 20
