East Carolina University
Navy
Gameday: ECU Hosts Navy On Senior Day
November 17, 2016 | Football
| East Carolina Game 11: Navy | |
| Date | Saturday, Nov. 19 |
| Time | 4:00 p.m. (EST) |
| Location | Greenville, N.C. (Bagwell Field at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium) |
| Tickets & Parking | Game Tickets | Parking Information | New To Gameday |
| Live Game Coverage | Radio: WNCT 107.9FM | TuneIn Radio Online | Television: ESPNews/WatchESPN |
| Internet Options | Live Stats |
| Official Web Sites | East Carolina | Navy | American Athletic Conference |
| Game Notes | East Carolina (PDF) | Navy (PDF) | The American (PDF) |
| 2016 Football Statistics | East Carolina | Navy |
| ECU Football Central | Roster | Fact Book (PDF) | 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 | #ECUGameday | #ECUndaunted | #ECUFootball #NavyFootball | #AmericanRising | #NavyvsECU |
| East Carolina | The American | |
GREENVILLE, N.C. – It's Senior Day as East Carolina officially completes its 2016 home schedule by hosting Navy on Saturday for a 4:00 p.m. (ET) American Conference clash. The Pirates will honor 19 seniors who will play their last game in Greenville and try to act the role of spoiler against the West Division-leading Midshipmen after being eliminated from bowl eligibility status. Navy has won four of the last five, including a pivotal 42-40 divisional triumph vs. Tulsa last week. The contest was originally scheduled to be played Oct. 13, but was postponed due to flooding associated with Hurricane Matthew.
EAST CAROLINA RECORDS AND STREAKS
- Qualified for 10 bowl appearances since 2000 (three of the last five years) ...
- Has won 30 of the last 36 games when scoring 30 or more points ...
- Has lost 21-straight games when scoring 20 or less points (19-14 vs. UCF in '09/last win) ...
- Has won 19 of the last 22 games when gaining 200 or more rushing yards ...
- Has racked up 400 or more yards in 10-straight games (only once in previous six games) ...
- Has won 29 of the last 31 games when leading at the half ...
- Has lost nine of the last 11 conference games ...
- Has won 14 of the last 20, 18 of the last 25 (and 22 of the last 30) home games ...
- Has won six of the last nine home games played in the month of November ...
THE SERIES
Navy leads 4-1 ... 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 (and only) win in 2011 ... Last year's 45-21 Navy triumph marked the first conference matchup between the two programs.
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 three contests at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium, the Pirates not only picked up their lone victory, but have held the Midshipmen to "just" 36.0 points and 367.3 rushing yards per game, while only turning it over three times (1.0 tpg) ... In fact, Navy's 521- and 512-yard ground efforts in 2010 and 2012 still rank as the second-and third-highest ever recorded vs. ECU.
PIRATES AGAINST THE ARMED FORCES (9-4)
The Pirates' eight wins against Army (8-0 series record) and the five 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.
PLAYING THE "WILD" WEST ... THE LAST OF THREE-STRAIGHT
East Carolina owns a 2-3 mark (1-1/home, 1-2/road) against the "other side" since the league began divisional play in 2015 ... The Pirates are 1-1 vs. SMU, also split a pair against Tulsa and dropped its only league contest to Navy ... ECU is 2-7 against foes in its own East Division so far with a 44-7 triumph against UCF in the 2015 road finale and a 41-3 win vs. Connecticut on Oct. 29 representing the lone two victories ... After closing out play against the West by meeting Navy this week, the Pirates will "return" to the East by facing Temple Nov. 26.
AMERICAN, NON-LEAGUE STATISTICAL COMPARISONS
In its six American Athletic Conference contests (1-5) this year, ECU has averaged 27.7 points, 124.7 rushing yards, 353.8 passing yards and 478.5 total yards per game ... By comparison, the Pirates booked 29.2 ppg, 155.8 rypg, 368.0 pypg and 523.8 ypg averages in their four non-conference tilts in 2016 (Western Carolina, NC State, South Carolina and Virginia Tech).
AT DOWDY-FICKLEN STADIUM - 3-2 IN 2016 & 21-8 SINCE 2012
East Carolina's all-time record at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium is 183-92-1 (.665) ... 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 a 3-3 record last fall, ECU recorded consecutive 5-1 marks in 2014, 2013 and 2012 (15-3) and won a combined 10 of 12 home matchups in 2009 (6-1) and 2008 (4-1) ... Overall, East Carolina can guarantee its 40th winning campaign at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium with a win over Navy.
PIRATE NATION - 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 and a national "Non-Autonomy Five" attendance leader on a near annual basis ... In all, a total of 8,168,886 fans have seen the Pirates in action since 1963 (ECU cracked the 8 million mark when 50,719 watched ECU down NC State Sept. 10) ... Since the completion of a 7,000-seat expansion project in 2010 (to push capacity to 50,000), the Pirates have drawn 1,897,600 fans.
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 led all so-called "Non-Autonomy Five" conference members in attendance from 2012 to 2014 before following with a third-place standing in 2015 and a current first-place slot after 11 weeks of the 2016 season ... Overall, ECU ranks 51st nationally in average attendance (45,040) and 47th in capacity percentage (90.08) after Week 11.
ANALYZING THE 2016 OVERALL SCHEDULE
East Carolina's 2016 schedule consists of games against two conference divisional champions (Navy and Temple/ American West co-champs and East champs, respectively), eight bowl participants (NC State, Virginia Tech, USF, Navy, Cincinnati, Connecticut, Tulsa, Temple) and three programs that are either currently ranked or earning votes in the two major Top 25 polls (Associated Press/USA Today Amway Coaches) - Navy (RV/RV), Virginia Tech (RV/RV) and USF (RV/RV) ... Collectively, the Pirates' opponents this season are a combined 66-53 (.555) after the first 11 weeks of action.
CHARTING THE PIRATES MONTH-BY-MONTH
In all, ECU is 3-2-0 in August, 123-112-2 in September, 161-153-4 in October, 137-119-5 in November, 9-9-0 in December and 1-4-0 in January ... The Pirates continue play in November, a month in which East Carolina has captured 10 of the last 17 contests ... At home, ECU has won six of the last nine (but have dropped three straight - back-to-back losses to USF and Cincinnati to close out 2015 and SMU last week).
MANY FIRST-TIME STARTERS SO FAR
There have been a combined 16 first-time starters in East Carolina's lineup so far this season - seven on the offensive side of the ball with TE Stephen Baggett, WR Deondre Farrier, WR Terrell Green, G Garrett McGhin, T Messiah Rice, T Justin Sandifer and RB Anthony Scott, and nine on defense as OLB Kiante Anderson, DE Justin Brown, SS Bobby Fulp, OLB Kendall Futrell, CB Colby Gore, OLB Pat Green, DE Mike Myers, CB Corey Seargent and SS Devon Sutton have each made their respective starting debuts.
SPREADING THE WEALTH & TRIPLE-TRIPLES
ECU has featured a 100-yard receiver (12 times by three different players - Zay Jones/8, Jimmy Williams/3 and Quay Johnson/1) in nine of 10 games this season ... Williams (145), Jones (137) and Johnson (113) all surpassed the century mark against UCF on Oct. 1 ... Most recently, Jones has topped all Pirate receivers in three consecutive games - 185 yards vs. UConn, career-high 206 at Tulsa and 173 vs. SMU last Saturday.
ZAY'S STREAK
Senior WR Zay Jones has caught at least one pass in 45-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 as the fourth-longest among all active receivers ... His 12-catch, 173-yard day vs. SMU last week represented his 17th double-digit reception outing and his 18th triple-digit yard total at ECU … In his last six games, Jones has made 90 (15.0 rpg) receptions for 915 yards (152.5 ypg).
ZAY AGAINST THE FBS ... ENTIRE TEAMS
Zay Jones has more receptions than 17 entire FBS teams, including 10 P6 programs - Jones 139, Arizona 138, Illinois 136, Kansas State 132, Rutgers 130, Kentucky 126, LSU 124, UNLV 119, Kent State 118, Georgia Southern 117, Boston College 115, San Diego State 113, Tulane 94, New Mexico 83, Georgia Tech 66, Navy 64, Air Force 55 and Army 47 ... Of the P6 members, schools represent the Atlantic Coast (2), American (2), Big 10 (2), Southeastern (2), Big 12 (1) and Pac-12 (1) conferences.
SPEAKING OF THE P6 .... #AMERICANPOWER
During Saturday's game, both East Carolina and Navy will continue to wear P6 helmet stickers, recognizing Commissioner Mike Aresco's long-standing message that the American Athletic Conference is a Power 6 Conference based on the league's competitive results and commitments made at all the conference's institutions.
IMPROVING REDZONE EFFICIENCY
Despite still ranking near the bottom of FBS units in redzone efficiency (72.7 percent), the Pirates have rebounded strongly with a near-perfect 17-of-18 combined performance vs. USF (3-3), Cincinnati (2-2), Connecticut (5-5), Tulsa (2-3) and SMU (5-5) in their last five games ... ECU got off to a slow start by converting only six-of-16 RZ trips (37.5 percent) in contests against South Carolina, Virginia Tech and UCF.
NOT EXACTLY LIVING A PIRATE'S LIFE
East Carolina has netted only eight (8) takeaways so far in 2016 and are in serious jeopardy of establishing a new single-season record for fewest overall thefts (16 set in 2001 and 2015) ... From an interception standpoint, the Pirates have pilfered only five (5) passes this season and need two in their remaining pair of games to avoid setting a new standard in that category as well ... ECU squads with the fewest picks include 1986 (6), 2003 (7), 2011 (7), 2001 (8), 2015 (8), 1982 (10), 1997 (10), 2002 (10) and 2012 (10) ... The Pirates have managed just a combined 13 INTs in the last two campaigns.
SECOND QUARTER DOLDRUMS, THIRD QUARTER HEAT
The Pirates have enjoyed the third quarter with a 100-60 ledger so far this year ... On the flipside, ECU has been outscored by a psuedo-similar 125-68 count in the second stanza.
2016 SENIOR DAY
A total of 19 players will be dressing out for their final game at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium on Saturday: Joe Allely (OLB), DaShaun Amos (DB), DaShawn Benton (DB), Brandon Bishop (WR), J.T. Boyd (OL), Will Dancy (OL), Bladen Gatling (OL), Worth Gregory (P), Brian Hardy (WR), Zay Jones (WR), Demetri McGill (DL), Philip Nelson (QB), Davis Plowman(PK), Dayon Pratt (OLB), Fred Presley (DL), Terrell Richardson (ILB), James Summers(RB), Cam White (ILB) and Jimmy Williams (WR).
THIS AND THAT
INDIVIDUAL NOTES: OL J.T. Boyd (33 games) and ILB Cam White (10) own the program's longest starting streaks on their respective side of the ball entering the Navy game ... FS Travon Simmons has his streak of 22-straight starts snapped when he came off the bench vs. SMU ... WR Zay Jones has caught multiple passes in 47 of 48 career games (none vs. VT in 2013) ... Of his 380 career receptions, 165 have gone for 10 or more yards (45 for 20-plus) ... His career-high 206 receiving yards at Tulsa on Nov. 5 marked the fourth time in school history a Pirate pass catcher had surpassed 200-plus yards (230/Justin Hardy vs. Tulane in 2013, 224/Cam Worthy vs. Virginia Tech in 2014 and 218/Terry Gallaher vs. Appalachian State in 1975) ... In addition to serving as an ECU single-season record, his 139 receptions also represents an AAC standard ... After making 13 catches for 200 yards in back-to-back weeks vs. Cincinnati and UConn, WR Jimmy Williams has caught a collective four balls for 41 yards vs. Tulsa and SMU ... In his last five games (starts against USF, Cincinnati, UConn, Tulsa and SMU), RB James Summers has rushed for a combined 438 yards (87.6 ypg) on 83 carries (18-114/USF, 21-95/CIN, 19-84/UCONN, 13 54/TLS, 12-89/SMU) ... He's scored a rushing TD in three consecutive contests (and in four of the last five) ... Summers has also accounted for 20 career TDs (14/rushing, 6/passing) and became the first Pirate in the modern era to score via a pass, catch and run in the same game (vs. UConn) ... QB Gardner Minshew has completed 47-of-79 (59.5%) passes for 506 yards and two TDs in his last two extended relief appearances vs. Tulsa and SMU ... He set career-highs in completions (29), attempts (49) and passing yards (336) against the Golden Hurricane ... OLB Yiannis Bowden (12) and FS DaShawn Benton (7) each registered career-high tackle totals vs. SMU ... Bowden also contributed a pair of TFLS (-9 yards) against the Mustangs ... PK Davis Plowman was perfect in his only FG try vs. SMU (27-yarder) and has now made seven in a row and nine of his last 10 attempts (3-4/USF, 2-2/CIN, 2-2/UCONN, 1-1/TLS, 1-1/SMU) along with 17-straight PAT conversions (since a first-quarter miss vs. NCSU back on Sept. 10) ... He's booked seven career multi-FG games and 143 total points.
TEAM NOTES: The Pirates have thrown at least one TD strike in 61 of their last 67 games ... The Pirates tallied a season-high three rushing TDs vs. SMU (after scoring just a combined four in their seven previous games) ... After turning in back-to-back turnover-free performances vs. UConn and Tulsa, ECU matched a season-high (UCF) with five against SMU ... After standing as the eighth-least penalized team in the country prior to the Tulsa game, the Pirates have been flagged a combined 22 times for 201 yards in their last two outings (season-high 13 times for 117 yards against the Golden Hurricane) ... ECU has recorded seven sacks in its last three contests (0 in previous five games) ... ECU will enter the Navy contest with an active streak of 241 games of not suffering a shutout - a school record ... The last time the Pirates were blanked was on Oct. 4, 1997 (56-0 at Syracuse) ... A total of nine (9) players have had their redshirts removed in 2016 - OLB Kendall Futrell, CB Colby Gore, OG Cortez Herrin, RB Hussein Howe, QB Gardner Minshew, DE Jalen Price, DS Anthony Ratliff , OT D'Ante Smith and DE Alex Turner ... A total of seven (DB DaShaun Amos, OL J.T. Boyd, WR Jeff rey Coprich, OL Will Dancy, ILB Drayvon Fairley, P Worth Gregory, ILB Terrell Richardson) Pirates are competing as ECU graduates this season, which ranks in the top 20 nationally.
