East Carolina University
BYU
Gameday: ECU Hosts BYU On Homecoming
October 19, 2017 | Football
| Game 8: ECU vs. BYU | |
| Date: | Saturday, Oct. 21 |
| Time: | 7 p.m. (EDT) |
| Location: | Greenville, N.C. (Bagwell Field at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium) |
| Tickets & Parking: | Game Tickets | Parking Information | Things To Look For On Gameday |
| Live Game Coverage: | Radio: WNCT 107.9FM | WDRU 1030 AM (Raleigh) | TuneIn Radio Online Television: CBSSN |
| Internet Options: | Live Stats |
| Official Web Sites: | ECU | BYU | American Athletic Conference |
| Game Notes: | ECU (PDF) | BYU (PDF) | The American (PDF) |
| 2017 Football Statistics: | ECU | BYU |
| ECU Football Central: | Roster | Fact Book (PDF) | The American | NCAA Football | College Scoreboard |
| Official Social Media Sites | |
| Facebook: | ECU | BYU | The American |
| Twitter: | ECU | ECUScoreboard (In-Game Updates) l BYU | The American |
| Twitter Hashtags: | #ECUPirates | #ECUGameday | #ECUndaunted | #ECUFootball | #AmericanFB |
| Instagram: | ECU | The American |
GREENVILLE, N.C. – It's Homecoming on the ECU campus as the Pirates officially close out their 2017 non-conference schedule by welcoming BYU to Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium Saturday beginning at 7 p.m. ECU will try to extend its streak of compiling at least one non-league victory per season to 13 consecutive years after dropping earlier tilts to James Madison, West Virginia and Virginia Tech. The Pirates will also be looking to post their 12th-straight Homecoming victory when they battle the Cougars for the second time in three seasons (and even the series slate after a 45-38 road setback in 2015).
EAST CAROLINA RECORDS AND STREAKS
- Qualified for 10 bowl appearances since 2000 (three of the last five years) ...
- Has won 31 of the last 39 games when scoring 30 or more points ...
- Has won 19 of the last 22 games when gaining 200 or more rushing yards ...
- Has accounted for 400 or more yards of total offense in 14 of the last 19 games ...
- Has forced at least one turnover in four-straight games ...
- Has won 30 of the last 32 games when leading at the half ...
- Has won 10 of the last 19 regular season non-conference games ...
- Has won four of the last seven (and seven of 11) home games in October ...
- Has won eight of the last 11 home night games (6 p.m. or later) ...
THE SERIES
BYU leads 1-0 ... The Cougars used running back Algernon Brown's fourth touchdown of the contest, a nine-yard run with 19 seconds remaining, to break a 38-38 tie and open the series with a win in Provo two years ago (see full recap below) ... Prior to the first football meeting, softball represented the only "team" sport which the Pirates and Cougars had squared off in ... BYU owns a 4-0 record against ECU in the circle, posting wins in a pair of regular season tournaments (2008 and 2014) and handing the Pirates 1-0 and 8-3 setbacks at the 2010 NCAA Regional in Austin, Texas.
EAST CAROLINA AGAINST THE INDEPENDENTS
ECU has compiled an all-time record of 8-1 (only loss was at BYU in 2015) against FBS programs which currently compete as an independent ... The near-perfect mark is admittedly a little bit of a misnomer in the fact all eight victories have come against Army ... ECU was 1-3 vs. Navy when the Midshipmen were an independent (before beginning American Athletic Conference play in 2015).
BYU AGAINST THE AMERICAN
BYU has posted a 22-5 (.815) all-time mark against current members of the American Athletic Conference ... The Cougars have squared off against Tulsa (6-1), SMU (3-0), Houston (2-0), Temple (2-0), Tulane (2-1), Connecticut (2-0), Cincinnati (2-0), ECU (1-0), Navy (1-1), UCF (1-1) and Memphis (0-1) ... The only AAC school BYU has never faced to date is USF ... The Cougars' last meeting against a member of The American resulted in a 20-3 road win against Cincinnati at Nippert Stadium last year (Nov. 5).
LONG DISTANCE VISITORS
When BYU travels to Greenville to battle the Pirates on Saturday, the Cougars will officially have made the longest voyage by a current FBS member to play a game at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium ... Its 1,886 mile (as "the crow flies") journey will surpass the previous longest trek of 1,691 miles turned in by UTEP on two occasions (2008, 2012) ... BYU and the Miners are also the only two FBS schools from the Mountain Time Zone to play at ECU.
LOOKING FOR NO. 25?
ECU will seek its first-ever win against an FBS-playing school from the state of Utah when it meets BYU on Saturday ... The Pirates own victories against FBS members from a total of 24 states so far - Alabama, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia ... In addition to Utah, ECU is winless against Washington, and has never played FBS teams from 13 other states - Arizona, Colorado, Hawaii, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Wisconsin or Wyoming.
AGAINST NON-CONFERENCE OPPONENTS
Since accepting membership in a conference, the Pirates have produced a 32-52 (.381) regular season nonleague record ... ECU claimed its first winning non-conference mark since 1999 (a program-best 5-0 clip) with 3-1 ledgers in 2013 and 2014 before following with 2-2 marks in 2015 and 2016 ... The Pirates will attempt to extend its streak of compiling at least one non-league victory per season to 13 consecutive years with a win vs. BYU (after dropping earlier tilts to James Madison, West Virginia and Virginia Tech).
THE AMERICAN - YEAR FOUR
ECU has posted an 80-57 (.584) all-time mark against current members of the American Conference ... The Pirates currently sport series records against Memphis (15-6), Cincinnati (12-8), Tulane (11-3), UCF (10-6), Temple (8-7), Tulsa (8-6), Houston (7-5), SMU (4-3) Connecticut (3-1), Navy (1-5) and USF (1-7).
THE EAST HAS BEEN A BEAST
ECU owns a 3-11 mark (1-6/home, 2-5/road) against American Athletic Conference opponents in its own East Division since the league began divisional play in 2015 ... The Pirates' 44-7 win against UCF in their '15 road finale and a pair of wins vs. Connecticut (41-3 in 2016, 41-38 in 2017) represents the only trio of triumphs ... In all, ECU is 2-1 vs. Connecticut, 1-2 vs. UCF, 0-2 vs. Cincinnati, 0-3 vs. Temple and 0-3 vs. USF while competing as division mates ... On the flipside, ECU is 2-4 against foes in the West Division so far (1-1 vs. SMU, 1-1 vs. Tulsa and 0-2 vs. Navy), but will switch cross-over opponents this year (Houston, Memphis and Tulane).
NON-CONFERENCE SCHEDULING ... ANYTIME, ANYWHERE
ECU is the only program in the nation to play at least three non-conference games against P6 (including Notre Dame & BYU) opponents in each of the last five years, including the 2017 campaign ... Moving forward, the Pirates currently have two P6 tilts scheduled in 2018 (North Carolina, Virginia Tech), two in 2019 (NC State, Virginia Tech) and three in 2020 (West Virginia, Virginia Tech, South Carolina).
COMPARING 10-YEAR, SEVEN-GAME RESULTS
ECU's 63-31 loss at UCF marks the first time since 2003 the Pirates have reached the seven-game mark with a 1-6 record ... A win over BYU would give ECU a 2-6 ledger through eight games for the first time since the 2004 campaign, a year in which the Pirates finished with a 2-9 record under coach John Thompson.
AT DOWDY-FICKLEN STADIUM
ECU's all-time record at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium is 183-97-1 (.653) ... 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 back-to-back 3-3 marks in 2015 and 2016, ECU recorded consecutive 5-1 ledgers 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, ECU was in search of its 40th winning campaign at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium this fall.
THE PIRATE NATION - 8 MILLION STRONG
ECU 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 attendance leader on a near annual basis ... In all, a total of 8,358,520 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, 2016) ... Since the completion of a 7,000-seat expansion project in 2010 (to push capacity to 50,000), the Pirates have drawn 2,087,234 fans ... ECU surpassed the 2 million post-expansion "milestone" on Sept. 16 when 43,776 watched the Pirates battle Virginia Tech.
ATTENDANCE LEADERS
ECU topped all American Athletic Conference members in attendance in 2014 and 2016, and currently lead the league again in 2017 ... Overall, ECU ranks 56th nationally in average attendance (37,539) and 80th in capacity percentage (75.08) this season ... A closer look at Top 5 AAC leaders: 1. ECU (37,539), 2. UCF (37,457), 3. Houston (35,479), 4. Memphis (34,579), 5. Navy (34,115) ... ECU has drawn at least 40,000 fans to Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium in 22 of its last 26 home games dating back to 2013, which includes this year's season opener vs. James Madison (40,169) and the Sept. 16 clash vs. Virginia Tech (43,776).
ANALYZING THE 2017 OVERALL SCHEDULE
Overall, the Pirates '17 schedule features contests against eight teams which advanced to bowl games a year ago - West Virginia (Russell Athletic), Virginia Tech (Belk), BYU (Poinsettia), USF (Birmingham), UCF (AutoNation Cure), Temple (Military), Memphis (Boca Raton) and Houston (Las Vegas) ... Of ECU's five road games, four will be against 2016 bowl qualifiers ... ECU's four non-conference opponents were a combined 43-12 (.782) a year ago, while the Pirates' eight American Conference foes posted a collective 55-47 (.539) record ... The Pirates' 2017 non conference slate, which includes FCS national champion JMU, was ranked as the toughest nationally by USA Today ... ECU's six losses this year have come to teams with a combined 29-7 record thus far and five (VT, WVU, USF, UCF, MEM) are currently ranked or receiving votes in both FBS Top 25 polls.
LEAGUE, NON-LEAGUE STATISTICAL COMPARISONS
In its four American Athletic Conference contests (1-3) this year, ECU has averaged 25.8 points, 124.8 rushing yards, 286.2 passing yards and 411.0 total yards per game ... By comparison, the Pirates booked 17.0 ppg, 84.0 rypg, 287.0 pypg and 371.0 ypg averages in their three non conference tilts so far in 2017 (James Madison, West Virginia and Virginia Tech).
SHUTOUT-FREE ... 249 AND COUNTING
ECU will enter the BYU contest with an active streak of 249 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).
CHARTING THE PIRATES MONTH-BY-MONTH
In all, ECU is 3-2-0 in August, 124-116-2 in September, 161-155-4 in October, 137-121-5 in November, 9-9-0 in December and 1-4-0 in January ... The Pirates will try to regain their October productivity, a month in which ECU has now dropped eights of its last 14 games ... The Pirates have also lost six of the last eight in non-conference play (last October non-conference game was against BYU in 2015), but have captured four of the last seven overall home contests in the year's 10th month since 2014.
LOSING THEIR (RED) SHIRTS
A total of 34 players have had their redshirts removed and experienced action as true freshmen in the last five-plus years - 2012 (1), 2013 (5), 2014 (9), 2015 (4), 2016 (9) and 2017 (6) ... This year, TE Ben Norris, RB Darius Pinnix, OL John Spellacy and WR Mydreon Vines all experienced action vs. James Madison in the opener, while ILB Bruce Bivens made his college debut vs. WVU (six tackles, five solo) and DB Davondre "Tank" Robinson made his initial collegiate appearance vs. Virginia Tech (two stops).
FIRST-TIME STARTERS
ECU has had a combined 21 "fi rst-time" starters in its lineup against JMU, WVU, Virginia Tech, UConn, USF, Temple and UCF - nine on the off ensive side of the ball (LT D'Ante Smith, LG Cortez Herrin, LG Des Barmore, C John Spellacy, RG Austin Lee, RG Dqmarcus Shaw, RB Derrell Scott, RB Tyshon Dye, RB Darius Pinnix) and 12 on defense (DT Tyree Owens, DT Raequan Purvis, DT Jalen Price, DT Alex Turner, DE Shaun James, DE Chandon Hickerson, ILB Ray Tillman, ILB Cannon Gibbs, ILB Aaron Ramseur, CB Travis Phillips, CB Marcus Holton Jr., SS Davondre Robinson).
TOP PASSING UNIT IN AMERICAN HISTORY
Since joining the AAC in 2014, the Pirates lead the league in passing yards per game over a combined three-plus-year period despite utilizing five starting quarterbacks, three offensive coordinators and two head coaches: 1. ECU (323.5), 2. Cincinnati (294.4), 3. Memphis (286.5) ... In addition, the Pirates also top the league in completions (1,230) and attempts (1,950) since competing in the AAC over the last three-plus seasons ... Despite missing the AAC's inaugural season (2013), ECU has still accounted for a conference-high 12 400-yard passing games (Cincinnati is second with nine).
LONG RANGE STRIKES
ECU has turned in three passing plays of 70 yards or more (95/Trevon Brown vs. WVU, 76/Brown vs. VT, 75/Davon Grayson vs. UConn), which ranks third nationally behind Baylor (6) and Ole Miss (4) ... Although they didn't ring up a 70-yarder vs. Temple & UCF, the Pirates did rack up six receptions that went for 20 or more yards (four for 30-plus).
RECEIVER U: PAST
ECU has the top two receivers in the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision history by career receptions in Zay Jones (399 from 2013-16) and Justin Hardy (387 from 2011-2014) ... In terms of FBS single season reception leaders, the Pirates are just one of two programs (Nevada) to have three entries in the Top 25 listings - 1. Jones (158/2016), 20. Hardy (121/2014), 25. Hardy (114/2013) ... ECU is also the only program in the nation to have a receiver with at least 90 catches in the last four years and a Pirate receiver has led the conference in receptions each of those seasons (3/AAC, 1/C-USA).
RECEIVER U: PRESENT
The Pirates are one of only four FBS teams to have three active receivers with at least 100 catches - Davon Grayson (113), Quay Johnson (108) and Jimmy Williams (105) ... Colorado tops the nation with four, while Oklahoma State and Washington State each match ECU with three ... The Pirates also boast three active receivers who have amassed over 1,000 reception yards - Williams (1,569), Grayson (1,512) and Trevon Brown (1,144).
TRIPLE-DIGITS IN FIVE OF LAST SIX GAMES
Three ECU pass catchers have turned in a combined fi ve 100-yard receiving outings in the Pirates' last six games - Trevon Brown (2-103 vs. WVU, 4-107 vs. VT), Davon Grayson (11-223 vs. UConn, 5-101 vs. USF) and Jimmy Williams (110 vs. TEM) ... Brown's 95-yarder for a TD at WVU on Sept. 9 is currently tied for the longest FBS pass play in 2017, while Grayson's 223-yard receiving day at UConn on Sept. 29 ranks seventh among all FBS players this season ... Speaking of Grayson, he came just four yards shy (6-96) at UCF to extend ECU's streak of 100-yard receivers to six-straight contests.
AMONG TOP FBS TOP RUSHING QBs (CAREER) ...
Graduate transfer Thomas Sirk ranks among the nation's top active rushing quarterbacks ... After rushing for 1,041 yards and 16 touchdowns at Duke during the 2014 and 2015 seasons, Sirk transferred to ECU during the summer and has already contributed 137 ground yards for the Pirates in six games.
AMONG TOP FBS PASSING QBs (LAST FOUR WEEKS)
Since reassuming ECU's starting quarterback role, Sirk has completed a collective 79-of-141 (56.0 percent) passes for 1,072 yards and eight TDs in contests vs. UConn, USF, Temple and UCF ... He followed a 426-yard aerial performance against the Huskies (9th-highest single-game total in ECU history) with a 302-yard outing vs. the Bulls and a 253-yard day vs. the Owls before struggling to reach 91 yards at UCF ... In terms of four-week passing ranks, his 1,072 yards is 13th nationally, while his eight TDs currently stand 17th among all FBS signal-callers.
RUSHING TO A RARE OCCASION
ECU racked up more rushing yards (187) than passing yards (160) against UCF last week - a first since Oct. 30, 2015 (203/137) during a 31-13 loss at UConn ... Over the last 10 years, the Pirates have turned in better ground numbers (than pass) on just seven occasions in 123 games - 5.7 percent ... Including last week's UCF contest, others include Tulsa '08 (156/122), Appalachian State '09 (189/131), Marshall '09 (155/131), Memphis '09 (275/222), SMU '15 (306/249) and the aformentioned meeting vs. the Huskies.
NEW COACHES, SAME LEAGUE
Defensive coordinator Robert Prunty (Cincinnati) and receivers coach Keith Gaither (Temple), who both joined the Pirates' staff this year, are two of 22 coaches nationally at the FBS level this year to switch schools but stay in the same league.
NFL PLAYER & COACH TO COLLEGE HEAD COACH
ECU's Scottie Montgomery is just one of three FBS head coaches to have played and been a full time coach in the NFL (along with Michigan's Jim Harbaugh and Minnesota's P.J. Fleck) ... His 2005 stint with the Georgia Force makes him the only current FBS head coach to have played & coached in the NFL and played in the Arena Football League.
THE (GRAD TRANSFER) "QB WHISPERER"
Offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Tony Petersen has the unique distinction of directly working with graduate transfer signal-callers in each of the last four years ... At Louisiana Tech, he coached Cody Sokol and Jeff Driskel as the pair helped the Bulldogs to back-to-back bowl wins, while with the Pirates, he's steered Philip Nelson and Thomas Sirk to notable performances.
P6 .... #AMERICANPOW6R
Similar to the 2016 campaign, ECU 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.
THIS AND THAT
INDIVIDUAL NOTES: OT Brandon Smith (30 games) and ILB Cannon Gibbs/NB Devon Sutton (5) own the program's longest starting streaks on their respective side of the ball entering the BYU contest ... DE Kiante Anderson had his run snapped at 11 games (DNP-INJ at UCF) ... Sticking with defense, that side of the ball has had 25 different players start at least one game this year ... Five of QB Thomas Sirk's nine TD tosses have been for 17-plus yards, including a 75 yarder vs. UConn ... He's thrown for 200 yards or more in a game four times this year (three as a starter) ... WR Davon Grayson, who turned in career bests with 11 receptions for 223 yards and three TDs at UConn before following with 101 yards vs. USF, 40 vs. Temple and 96 at UCF, has now caught at least one pass in 32 of 38 career games ... He also hauled in his team-leading sixth TD reception of the year against the Knights ... WR Jimmy Williams had his consecutive game reception streak snapped at 18 when he was held "catchless" at UCF (was targeted four times) ... WR Trevon Brown has netted at least one reception in 21 of 24 career games (multiple 18 times) ... Forty-five of his 78 career grabs have gone for 10 or more yards ... In his second career start, RB Darius Pinnix rushed for a career-high 93 yards on 13 carries at UCF, which included a personal best run of 57-yards in the first quarter (ECU's longest rush from scrimmage this season) ... His 93 yard effort was the highest single-game rushing total for a Pirate true freshman since Chris Johnson racked up 158 vs. Tulane on Oct. 9, 2004 (and second-highest by a true frosh in the AAC this year - 107 by UConn's Kevin Mensah vs. ECU) ... In his first two career starts (TEM, UCF), ILB Aaron Ramseur has booked 20 tackles (11/TEM, 9/UCF were both team-bests) and picked off a pass (31-yard return vs. the Owls) ... SS Davondre "Tank" Robinson made his first collegiate start vs. UCF and responded with a personal-high eight stops, a half TFL and a fumble recovery ... KOS Caleb Pratt has recorded 11-straight touchbacks (dating back to the USF game) and has delivered at least one TB in 23 of 27 contests (multiple 16 times) ... PK Jake Verity successfully converted all three of his PAT tries vs. UCF to remain perfect during his career (24-of-24) ... He's also drilled at least one FG in five of the last six games ... P Austin Barnes matched a career-long with a 65-yard boot vs. Temple and then averaged 49.9 ypp (eight punts) at UCF ... Eleven of his 38 punts in 2017 have traveled 50 or more yards (at least one in each game) and he's placed 11 inside opponents' 20-yard line (72 during career) ... Barnes has never had a punt blocked in 218 attempts (38/ECU, 180/EMU).
TEAM NOTES: ECU has recorded a scoring throw in 69 of their last 76 games (run of six-straight) ... ECU has tallied a combined 85 first-half points in its last five games, but has been collectively outscored 126-35 in the final 30 minutes against the Hokies, Huskies, Bulls, Owls and Knights ... The Pirates have only tallied three TDs in the fourth quarter this year and been outscored 37-7 in the final 15 minutes of AAC play (four games) ... Under Scottie Montgomery (2016-17), ECU ranks 6th nationally in most 4th down conversions (29) and 5th in most 4th down conversions attempts (50) ... The Pirates have dropped 26-straight games when scoring 20 or less points (19-14 vs. UCF in '09/last win) ... ECU has not had a punt return for a TD in 4,718 days (sixth-longest drought in FBS).
