East Carolina University
UCF
Gameday: ECU Returns Home To Host UCF
September 29, 2016 | Football
| East Carolina Game 5: UCF | |
| Date | Saturday, Oct. 1 |
| Time | 12 noon (EDT) |
| 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: CBS Sports Network |
| Internet Options | Live Stats |
| Official Web Sites | East Carolina | UCF | American Athletic Conference |
| Game Notes | East Carolina (PDF) | UCF (PDF) | The American (PDF) |
| 2016 Football Statistics | East Carolina | UCF |
| ECU Football Central | Roster | Fact Book (PDF) | The American | NCAA Football | College Scoreboard |
| Official Social Media Sites | |
| East Carolina | UCF | The American | |
| East Carolina | ECUScoreboard (In-Game Updates) l UCF | The American | |
| Twitter Hashtags | #ECUPirates | #ECUGameday | #ECUndaunted | #ECUFootball #UCFFootball | #AmericanRising | #UCFvsECU |
| East Carolina | The American | |
GREENVILLE, N.C. – East Carolina will officially open its 2016 American Athletic Conference schedule when it hosts UCF at 12 noon Saturday at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium. The Pirates, who return home for the first time since Sept. 10, recently completed a non-conference slate that featured three-straight battles against Power Five opponents. ECU will look to push its league home opener win streak to eight straight when it welcomes the Knights to Greenville. On the flipside, the Pirates will also try bounce back after dropping successive AAC home contests to Temple, USF and Cincinnati to close out 2015.
EAST CAROLINA RECORDS AND STREAKS
- Qualified for 10 bowl appearances since 2000 (three of the last four years) ...
- Has won 29 of the last 34 games when scoring 30 or more points ...
- Has lost 20-straight games when scoring 20 or less points (19-14 vs. UCF in '09/last win) ...
- Has won 19 of the last 21 games when gaining 200 or more rushing yards ...
- Has won 28 of the last 30 games when leading at the half ...
- Has won 13 of the last 17, 17 of the last 22 (and 21 of the last 27) home games ...
- Has lost four of the last five conference games ...
- Has won seven straight conference home openers (41-24 vs. Houston in '08/last loss) ...
- Has won 12 of the last 13 conference home contests played in the month of October ...
THE SERIES
East Carolina leads 10-4 ... The Pirates have enjoyed a pair of four-game winning streaks against the Knights, the latest from 2006 to 2009 ... UCF posted its first victory in the series during the two teams' initial Conference USA matchup in 2005 ... ECU has won six of eight (6-2) tilts played in Greenville, but UCF has captured two of the last three in Orlando.
'CANES, 'NOLES, GATORS, BULLS, KNIGHTS, OWLS AND PANTHERS
The Pirates have dropped 28 of 43 all-time matchups (15-28) against FBS (formerly Division I-A) programs from the state of Florida ... ECU is 10-4 against UCF, 2-9 vs. Miami, 1-0 vs. Florida Atlantic, 1-0 vs. Florida International, 1-5 vs. USF, 0-3 vs. Florida and 0-7 vs. Florida State ... East Carolina has lost four of the last five matchups against schools from Florida (posting its only win against UCF in last year's road finale).
LEAGUE, NON-LEAGUE STATISTICAL COMPARISONS
In their eight (3-5) American Athletic Conference contests a year ago, the Pirates booked 25.5 ppg, 138.2 rypg, 272.6 pypg and 410.9 ypg averages ... In comparison, ECU averaged 31.3 points, 123.5 rushing yards, 298.5 passing yards and 422.0 total yards per game in its four (2-2) regular season non-conference contests in 2015.
BACK-TO-BACK-TO-BACK POWER FIVE CHALLENGES
By facing NC State (Sept. 10), South Carolina (Sept. 17) and Virginia Tech (last week/Sept. 24), ECU battled against members of the Power Five (formerly known as automatic-qualifying BCS opponents) in successive games for the 11th time since 2005 - 1-2 in 2005 (Duke/WFU/WVU), 1-1 twice in 2006 (WVU/UVA and NCSU/USF), 1-1 in 2007 (VT/UNC), 2-0 in 2008 (VT/WVU), 0-2 in 2009 (WVU/UNC), 0-2 in 2010 (VT/UNC), 0-2 in 2011 (SC/VT), 1-1 in 2013 (VT/UNC), 2-1 in 2014 (SC/VT/UNC) and 1-2 in 2016 (NCSU/SC/VT) ... Looking ahead to the 2017 season, the Pirates will play at West Virginia (Sept. 9) and host Virginia Tech (Sept. 16) in back-to-back weeks, while also welcoming BYU to Greenville on Oct. 21.
AT DOWDY-FICKLEN STADIUM - 2-0 IN 2016, 20-6 SINCE 2012
East Carolina's all-time record at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium is 182-90-1 (.668) ... 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, 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 13 of the last 17 games and 17 of the last 22.
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 "Group of Five" attendance leader on a near annual basis ... In all, a total of 8,038,566 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 1,767,280 fans.
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 - Virginia Tech (RV), Navy (RV) and USF (RV). Collectively, the Pirates' opponents this season are a combined 28-17 (.622) after the first four weeks of action.
INTRODUCING THIS YEAR'S FIRST-TIME STARTERS
There have been a combined 13 first-time starters in East Carolina's lineup so far this season – six on the offensive side of the ball with TE Stephen Baggett, WR Terrell Green, G Garrett McGhin, T Messiah Rice, T Justin Sandifer and RB Anthony Scott, and seven on defense as OLB Kiante Anderson, DE Justin Brown, SS Bobby Fulp, OLB Kendall Futrell, CB Colby Gore, OLB Pat Green and CB Corey Seargent each made their respective starting debuts ... While OG Will Dancy (2/North Carolina) and QB Philip Nelson (16/Minnesota) have also made their inaugural Pirate appearances, both did own previous collegiate starting experience before transferring into the ECU program.
TRIPLE-DIGIT LOCATERS
ECU's Philip Nelson is one of just seven FBS quarterbacks to have completed 100 or more passes already this season: 1) California's Davis Webb/138, 2) Nelson/122, 3) TCU's Kenny Hill/119), 4) Syracuse's Eric Dungey/117, 4) Washington State's Luke Falk/117, 6) Middle Tennessee's Brent Stockstill/113, 7) North Carolina's Mitch Trubisky/102.
ZAY'S STREAK
Senior WR Zay Jones has caught at least one pass in 39-straight games heading into the UCF contest ... The streak, which began with a two-catch, 27-yard effort vs. North Carolina on Sept. 28, 2013, currently ranks fourth among all active receivers (Robert Davis/GSU, Corey Davis/WMU and Zach Pascal/ODU all have a 40-game run) ... His 10-catch, 115-yard eff ort vs. Virginia Tech last week represented the 11th double-digit reception outing and 13th triple-digit yard total of his ECU career … In his last six games (UCF/Cincinnati in '15, WCU/NCSU/SC/VT in '16), Jones has made 75 receptions for 863 yards - an average of 12.5 grabs and 144 yards per game.
SLOW STARTS = SECOND HALF ADJUSTMENTS
East Carolina has been outscored 55-6 in the first half of its last two contests, but countered with a combined 26-19 edge in the second half against South Carolina and Virginia Tech ... Overall, the Pirates have owned the third quarter with a 42-12 ledger through the first four outings this year, surrendering only one TD (at Virginia Tech).
LIGHTNING STRIKES
Although ECU averages 6.4 plays per touchdown drive so far in 2016, it has only taken 2:33 to reach the endzone ... In fact, only one drive has exceeded the 4:00 mark (game-winner vs. NC State) - 13 of the 14 successful possessions have been under 3:59 ... The Pirates' pair of TDs at Virginia Tech came on one and three-play drives.
FIRST DOWN PRODUCTION
ECU has enjoyed early notable production on first down, averaging 6.6 yards per snap in 2016 ... The Pirates have had 140 first down plays, gained 927 yards, moved the chains on 35 occasions and reached the endzone four times.
LOOKING FOR LOST LOOT
East Carolina has not forced a turnover in back-to-back games - a first since the 2011 season ... The last time the Pirates were unable to hawk a takeaway in three-straight contests was in 2005 ... In terms of margin, ECU's current -6 clip (2-8) trails only a -8 (9-17) reading after the initial four games of the 2011 campaign.
THIS AND THAT
INDIVIDUAL NOTES: OL J.T. Boyd (27 games) and FS Travon Simmons (17) own the program's longest starting streaks on their respective side of the ball entering the UCF game ... WR Zay Jones has caught multiple passes in 41 of 42 career games (none vs. VT in 2013) ... Of his 290 career receptions, 123 have gone for 10 or more yards (37 for 20-plus) ... He's also hauled down at least one pass in 15 of 16 quarters this season (none vs. WCU in the fourth quarter) ... QB Philip Nelson has directly accounted for 10 of ECU's 14 TDs this season (nine TD passes, one TD rush) ... His 75-yard scoring strike to Jimmy Williams vs. VT marked a personal long (surpassing a 63-yarder against Purdue while a freshman at Minnesota) ... RB Anthony Scott is on pace to break the ECU single-season records for receptions and TD catches by a RB ... Scott has 18 receptions in four games, an average of 4.5 rpg (record is 52/4.0 by Jonathan Williams in 2010) ... In regards to TD grabs, Scott already has three in 2016 - just three shy of the current standard of six set by Jerris McPhail (1993) and Chris Johnson (2007) ... WR Quay Johnson had a combined 22 grabs for 178 yards against the three Power Five opponents on ECU's schedule this year ... He opened the slate with personal bests in receptions (13) and receiving yards (75) vs. NCSU ... WR Jimmy Williams caught three passes for a personal-best 179 yards vs. Hokies, which also served as his first career 100-yard receiving game ... DE Demage Bailey (seven tackles) OLB Kendall Futrell (five) teamed up on a two-yard TFL in the fi rst quarter vs. VT and each recorded career-high tackle totals ... Simmons logged a team-best eight tackles against the Hokies - one shy of matching his personal high ... KOS Caleb Pratt has drilled nine touchbacks in 24 kickoff s this year, pushing his career TB total to 40 (31/2015, 9/2016) ... He has logged at least one touchback in 13 of 16 career games.
TEAM NOTES: ECU will play 11-straight weeks to open the 2016 campaign (after playing 10-straight weeks to start the 2015 season) ... The Pirates have thrown at least one TD strike in 55 of their last 61 games ... ECU's 400 passing yards vs. South Carolina ranked as the 10th-highest road game air performance in school history ... The Pirates featured a pair of 100-yard receivers (Zay Jones/115, Jimmy Williams/179) at VT - a first in the same game since Jan. 3, 2015 (Justin Hardy/160, Cam Worthy/130 vs. Florida in the Birmingham Bowl) ... In 50 offensive possessions so far, East Carolina has been limited to a "three-and-out" on only eight occasions ... The Pirates have netted just one sack in 2016 - their fewest in a four-game span since 2010 (one in six contests) ... ECU has been held "sackless" in two-straight outings, a first since 2012 (longest drought was a four-game stretch in 2010) ... A total of eight (8) players have had their redshirts removed and experienced action as true freshmen so far - OLB Kendall Futrell, CB Colby Gore, OG Cortez Herrin, RB Hussein Howe, DE Jalen Price, DS Anthony Ratliff , OT D'Ante Smith and DE Alex Turner ... ECU will enter the UCF contest with an active streak of 235 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).
