ECU Opens Conference Play At Navy
September 17, 2015 | Football
Sept. 17, 2015
| East Carolina Game 3: Navy | |
| Date | Saturday, Sept. 19 |
| Time | 3:30 PM (EDT) |
| Location | Annapolis, Md. (Navy-Marine Corps Memorial 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: CBS Sports Network |
| Internet Options | GameTracker |
| Official Web Sites | East Carolina | Navy | American Athletic Conference |
| Game Notes | East Carolina  | Navy | The American |
| 2015 Football Statistics | East Carolina | Navy |
| ECU Football Central | Gameday | Roster | Fact Book | The American | NCAA Football | College Scoreboard |
| Official Social Media Sites | |
| East Carolina | Navy | The American | |
| East Carolina | ECUScoreboard (In-Game Updates) l Navy | The American | |
| Twitter Hashtags | #ECUPirates | #ECUFootball | #NavyFootball | #AmericanRising | #ECUvsNavy |
| East Carolina | Navy | The American | |
GREENVILLE, N.C. -- East Carolina will officially open its 2015 American Athletic Conference schedule by traveling to Annapolis for a 3:30 p.m. (ET) matchup against Navy on Saturday. The Pirates, at the tail end of a two-game road swing, will try to move their record to 2-1 for the fourth-straight year after falling 31-24 at Florida last week.
The contest against the Midshipmen will temporarily halt ECU's two-game slate against Power Five members as the Pirates will host the Virginia Tech Hokies at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium next week before returning to league play by visiting SMU in Dallas on Oct. 3.
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 15 opponents to less than 100 rushing yards ...
- Has won nine of the last 15 regular season road games ...
- Has lost three of the last fi ve American Athletic Conference games ...
- Has lost two of the last three American Athletic Conference road games ...
- Has won seven-straight conference openers (all five in the Ruffin McNeill era) ...
The Series
Navy leads 3-1 ... The Midshipmen posted 28-23 and 76-35 victories to open the series in 2006 and 2010, respectively, before ECU used Dominique Davis' record-setting 40-of-45 passing effort to record its first win in 2011.
REVERSE HOME FIELD ADVANTAGE?
In addition to its 2-0 mark when playing at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium, Navy has averaged a combined 66.0 points, 516.5 rushing yards and forced a total of six East Carolina turnovers ... On the flipside, in the two contests at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium, the Pirates not only picked up a victory, but held the Midshipmen to just 31.5 points and 343.5 rushing yards per game, while only turning it over once ... In fact, Navy's 521- and 512-yard ground efforts in 2010 and 2012 still ranks as the second-and third-highest ever recorded vs. ECU.
PIRATES AGAINST THE ARMED FORCES (9-3)
The Pirates' eight wins against Army (8-0 series record) and the four contests versus Navy represent the only meetings East Carolina has had against the nation's military academies who annually compete for the C-I-C Trophy ... ECU has never faced Air Force since beginning its football program in 1932.
MIDSHIPMEN & PIRATE CONNECTIONS
Current ECU assistant head coach/inside receivers coach/recruiting coordinator Donnie Kirkpatrick and Midshipmen defensive consultant Buddy Green both served as head coach at FCS-member UT-Chattanooga ... Green, who led the Mocs' program from 1994 to 1999, hired Kirkpatrick as his offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach in 1998 ... Two years later, Kirkpatrick was promoted to the top position (2000-2002) after Green left UTC to become the defensive coordinator at NC State ... Pirate running backs coach/special teams coordinator Kirk Doll faced Navy in 2011 while in the same capacity at San Jose State and the Spartans won 27-24 (Nov. 19).
THE AMERICAN - YEAR TWO
ECU has posted a 75-42 (.641) all-time mark against current members of the American Conference ... In addition to their four-game series with Navy (1-3), the Pirates have also squared off against Memphis (15-6), Cincinnati (12-6), Tulane (11-3), UCF (9-4), Temple (8-4), Houston (7-5), Tulsa (7-5), SMU (3-2), Connecticut (1-0) and USF (1-4).
ON THE ROAD - WINS IN NINE OF THE LAST 15 (REGULAR SEASON)
Since becoming a conference member in 1997, East Carolina is 52-69 (.430) when playing away from Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium ... Before an 0-1 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 nine of the last 15 road contests dating back to 2012 (6-4 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 7,724,753 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 fourth (in 2015) after the first two weeks of play ... Overall, ECU ranks 56th nationally in average attendance (40,712) and 72nd 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 a 16-7 start thus far this season.
CHARTING THE PIRATES MONTH-BY-MONTH
In all, ECU is 3-2-0 in August, 120-109-2 in September, 158-147-4 in October, 136-115-5 in November, 9-9-0 in December and 1-4-0 in January ... In addition to capturing 12 of their last 20 overall September games, the Pirates have rolled off seven-straight wins against conference foes in the ninth month (last loss on Sept. 27, 2008 vs. Houston).
Shutout-Free ... 221 And Counting
ECU will enter the Navy game with an active streak of 221 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 336 (began in 1988).
Introducing This Year's First-Time Starters
There have been a combined five first-time starters in East Carolina's lineup against Towson and Florida to open the season - two on the offensive side of the ball with QB Blake Kemp and OT Brandon Smith, and three more on defense with NT Demage Bailey, ILB Jordan Williams and OLB Joe Allely each making a starting debut.
GETTING OFF TO A GOOD START ... PART 1
East Carolina has won seven-straight conference openers dating back to 2008 ... Getting off to a good start in league play has helped the Pirates post a collective 40-16 (.714) mark during that span in Conference USA (2008-13) and the American Athletic Conference (2014).
GETTING OFF TO A GOOD START ... PART 2
East Carolina has received the opening kickoff in 37 of the last 39 contests (the South Carolina and UCF games in 2014 are the only exceptions) ... So far this season, the Pirates have cashed in their first possession with touchdowns against Towson (45-yard run by Chris Hairston) and Florida (31-yard pass from Blake Kemp to Davon Grayson).
SECOND QUARTER DOLDRUMS
The Pirates' quick starts apparently have been greeted with adjustments from opponent defenses as East Carolina is suffering through a drought of sorts in the second quarter ... ECU has failed to score a touchdown in the second period in four-straight games dating back to the 2014 campaign (a field goal with 0:00 showing before intermission against UCF mark the only tallies in that stretch).
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 23 of 28 games since Smith's return to Greenville.
Zay's Streak
Junior IR Isaiah Jones has caught at least one pass in 25-straight games heading into the Navy 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 ... His personal-best 14-catch, 135-yard performance against Florida last week represented the third double-digit reception outing and sixth triple-digit yard total of his career.
On This Day In Pirates' History (3-5)
Sept. 19, 1953 -- East Carolina 41, Wilson Teachers 0
Sept. 19, 1959 -- East Carolina 45, Albright 0
Sept. 19, 1964 -- East Carolina 33, West Chester 7
Sept. 19, 1970 -- East Tennessee State 10, East Carolina 0
Sept. 19, 1981 -- NC State 31, East Carolina 10
Sept. 19, 1987 -- Illinois 20, East Carolina 10
Sept. 19, 1992 -- East Carolina 20, South Carolina 18
Sept. 19, 1998 -- East Carolina 21, Ohio 14
Sept. 19, 2009 -- North Carolina 31, East Carolina 17
