East Carolina University
Memphis
Gameday: ECU Travels To Memphis For Season Finale
November 22, 2017 | Football
| Game 12: ECU at No. 17 Memphis | |
| Date | Saturday, Nov. 25 |
| Time | 12 Noon (EST) |
| Location | Memphis, Tenn. (Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium) |
| Tickets | Game Tickets |
| Live Game Coverage | Radio: WNCT 107.9FM | WCLY 1550 AM (Raleigh)| TuneIn Radio Online Television: ESPNU |
| Internet Options | Live Stats |
| Official Web Sites | ECU | Memphis | American Athletic Conference |
| Game Notes | ECU (PDF) | Memphis (PDF) | The American (PDF) |
| 2017 Football Statistics | ECU | Memphis |
| ECU Football Central | Roster | Fact Book (PDF) | The American | NCAA Football | College Scoreboard |
| Official Social Media Sites | |
| ECU | Memphis | The American | |
| ECU | ECUScoreboard (In-Game Updates) l Memphis | The American | |
| Twitter Hashtags | #ECUPirates | #ECUndaunted | #ECUFootball | #AmericanFB |
| ECU | The American | |
MEMPHIS, Tenn. – ECU will officially close out the 2017 season when it faces Memphis in an American Athletic Conference contest at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium on Saturday. The Pirates will try to finish league play in the same manner it started (win at UConn) when they square off against the West Division champion Tigers. Memphis has won six straight, including a 66-45 decision over SMU last week. ECU, which posted a 48-20 triumph over Cincinnati in its last outing, will also look to capture back-to-back victories for the second time in the Scottie Montgomery era.
EAST CAROLINA RECORDS AND STREAKS
- Qualified for 10 bowl appearances since 2000 (three of the last six years) ...
- Has won 33 of the last 41 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 17 of the last 23 games ...
- Has thrown at least two touchdown passes in eight of the last 10 games ...
- Has forced at least one turnover in seven of the last eight games ...
- Has won 31 of the last 33 games when leading at the half ...
- Has won seven-straight games against Memphis (since 2006) ...
- Has won three-straight games against Memphis at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium ...
THE SERIES
ECU leads Memphis 15-6 in the all-time series which dates back to 1990 ... The Pirates, who have won the last seven consecutive contests, hold a 7-4 edge in games played at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium while winning eight of 10 battles in Greenville.
LIBERTY BOWL MEMORIES
In addition to 11 contests against the Tigers, ECU has visited Memphis on four other occasions for participation in the annual Liberty Bowl ... A closer look at those appearances:
1994 St. Jude Liberty Bowl; Illinois 30, ECU 0 (Dec. 31, 1994) - Illinois' ninth-ranked defense was complemented by quarterback Johnny Johnson, who threw for 250 yards and tied a then-Liberty Bowl record with four touchdown passes to win both the MVP and Off ensive MVP trophies.
1995 St. Jude Liberty Bowl; ECU 19, Stanford 13 (Dec. 30, 1995) - Four Chad Holcomb field goals and a stiff ECU defense made the Pirates' return trip to the St. Jude Liberty Bowl a more enjoyable one.
2009 AutoZone Liberty Bowl; Kentucky 25, ECU 19 (Jan. 2, 2009) - Defensive end Ventrell Jenkins returned a Pirate fumble 54 yards for a game-winning touchdown with 3:02 remaining to rally Kentucky past ECU ... The score completed a comeback that erased a 16-3 East Carolina halftime lead and a 19-16 deficit in the opening minute of the fourth quarter.
2010 AutoZone Liberty Bowl; Arkansas 20, ECU 17/OT (Jan. 2, 2010) - Alex Tejada drilled a game-winning 37-yard field goal in overtime to lift Arkansas to a victory ... The Razorbacks hung on for the improbable win after recording just 10 first downs, an 0-of-13 third down conversion rate and a 15:50 time of possession deficit, but benefitted from three missed Pirate field goal attempts in the final 1:03 of regulation play and overtime.
THE AMERICAN - YEAR FOUR
ECU has posted an 81-59 (.579) all-time mark against current members of the American Conference ... The Pirates currently sport series records against Memphis (15-6), Cincinnati (13-8), Tulane (11-4), UCF (10-6), Temple (8-7), Tulsa (8-6), Houston (7-6), SMU (4-3) Connecticut (3-1), Navy (1-5) and USF (1-7).
AGAINST THE WILD WEST
ECU owns a 2-6 regular season mark (1-3/home, 1-3/road) against the American Athletic Conference's "other side" since the league began divisional play in 2015 - splitting with SMU and Tulsa, dropping a pair to Navy and falling to Houston & Tulane ... ECU has switched cross-over opponents this year with contests against UH, Tulane and Memphis ... On the flipside, the Pirates own a 4-11 mark (2-6/home, 2-5/road) against AAC opponents in its own East Division ... ECU's 44-7 victory against UCF in their '15 road finale, a pair of wins vs. Connecticut (41-3 in 2016, 41-38 in 2017) and last week's 48-20 triumph vs. Cincinnati represents the quartet of triumphs ... In all, ECU is 2-1 vs. Connecticut, 1-2 vs. UCF, 1-2 vs. Cincinnati, 0-3 vs. Temple and 0-3 vs. USF.
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, 11-GAME RESULTS
ECU's 48-20 victory over Cincinnati last week marks back-to-back years the Pirates have owned a 3-8 record through 11 games - matching Scottie Montgomery's first Pirate squad ... A win over Memphis would give ECU a 4-8 ledger for the first time since 2002, Steve Logan's final season as the Pirates' head coach ... A setback against the Tigers would again equal the 2016 edition (at 3-9).
ON THE ROAD
Since becoming a conference member in 1997, ECU is 55-81 (.404) when playing away from Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium ... Prior to dropping three of four this year (win at UConn, losses at WVU, UCF & Houston), the Pirates were a combined 5-14 (2014-2016) ... ECU snapped a seven-game road losing skid and handed head coach Scottie Montgomery his first "away" win when it downed UConn 41-38 in East Hartford earlier this year (Sept. 24).
THE PIRATE NATION - 8.4 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 8,465,456 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 2,194,170 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 57th nationally in average attendance (36,727) and 77th in capacity percentage (73.45) this season ... A closer look at Top 5 AAC leaders: 1. ECU (36,727), 2. Navy (34,756), 3. UCF (33,872), 4. Houston (33,249), 5. Memphis (31,939) ... ECU has drawn at least 40,000 fans to Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium in 22 of its last 29 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 eight losses this year have come to teams with a combined 61-24 (.718) record thus far and five opponents (UCF, MEM, USF, VT, WVU) are currently ranked or received votes in both FBS Top 25 polls.
LEAGUE, NON-LEAGUE STATISTICAL COMPARISONS
In its seven American Athletic Conference contests (2-5) this year, ECU has averaged 28.9 points, 115.7 rushing yards, 329.3 passing yards and 445.0 total yards per game ... By comparison, the Pirates booked 21.0 ppg, 91.8 rypg, 289.8 pypg and 381.5 ypg averages in their four non conference tilts during the 2017 campaign (James Madison, West Virginia, Virginia Tech and BYU) ... Of its 18 turnovers this year, 10 (nearly 60 percent) have come against non-league opponents - nine in the first three outings vs. the Dukes, Mountaineers and Hokies alone.
A "WHO'S WHO" LIST OF INFLUENCERS
Scottie Montgomery has benefi tted from a "who's who" list of mentors during his playing and coaching career:
As a player at Duke: Joe DeLamielleure, George Edwards, Clay Helton, Les Koenning Jr.
As a player in the NFL: Karl Dorrell, Gary Kubiak, Anthony Lynn, Mike McCoy, George Seifert, Mike Shanahan
As a coach: Bruce Arians (Steelers), David Cutcliff e (Duke), Todd Haley (Steelers), Dick LeBeau (Steelers), Mike MacIntyre (Duke), Bill O'Brien (Duke), Ted Roof (Duke), Kurt Roper (Duke), Mike Tomlin (Steelers).
SHUTOUT-FREE ... 253 AND COUNTING
ECU will enter the Memphis contest with an active streak of 253 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, 162-155-4 in October, 138-123-5 in November, 9-9-0 in December and 1-4-0 in January ... The Pirates will continue play in November vs. Memphis on Saturday, a month in which ECU has split its last 22 contests (11-11) ... On the road however, ECU has dropped six of the last eight – posting its last win two years ago (44-7 at UCF on Nov. 19, 2015).
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 have all experienced action on the offensive side of the ball, while ILB Bruce Bivens and DB Davondre "Tank" Robinson made their debuts on defense.
FIRST-TIME STARTERS
ECU has had a combined 24 "first-time" starters in its lineup so far this season - 11 on offense (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, WR Tahj Deans, RB Hussein Howe) and 13 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, CB Keyshawn Canady).
THE ULTIMATE COLLEGE GOAL
A total of 11 Pirates are competing as graduates this season, a number which ranks in the Top 10 nationally among all FBS programs … DE Randall Anderson (communications), WR Davon Grayson (communications), DB Tre Hicks (recreation & park management), OL Brandon Smith (marketing), DB Xavier Smith (elementary education) and DB Austin Teague (biology) earned their degrees from ECU, while P Austin Barnes (Eastern Michigan), RB Tyshon Dye (Clemson), DE Gaelin Elmore (Minnesota), QB Thomas Sirk (Duke) and DB Korrin Wiggins (Clemson) are graduate transfers.
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 (326.9), 2. Memphis (292.4), 3. Cincinnati (287.7) ... In addition, the Pirates also top the league in completions (1,361) and attempts (2,153) 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 14 400-yard passing games (Cincinnati is second with nine).
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 three FBS teams (joining Colorado and Washington State) to have four active receivers with at least 100 career catches - Davon Grayson (133), Quay Johnson (130), Jimmy Williams (118) and Trevon Brown (108) ... The Pirates also boast four active receivers who have amassed over 1,000 all-time reception yards - Grayson (1,757), Brown (1,701), Williams (1,689) and Johnson (1,218) – joining Colorado, Texas Tech, Miami (Ohio) and Washington State as teams with a quartet of 1K pass catchers.
TRIPLE-DIGITS O'PLENTY
Four ECU pass catchers have turned in a combined nine 100-yard receiving outings this season - Trevon Brown (2-103 vs. WVU, 4-107 vs. VT, 11-141 vs. UH, 9-270 vs. CIN), Davon Grayson (11 223 vs. UConn, 5-101 vs. USF, 10-164 vs. BYU), Jimmy Williams (110 vs. TEM) and Quay Johnson (14-115 vs. UH) ... Brown's pair of 95-yarders vs. WVU & Cincinnati are currently tied for the longest FBS pass plays in 2017.
A COLLEGIATE SUNSET
ECU's game at Memphis will mark the end of collegiate playing careers for 27 Pirates: Kiante Anderson (DE), Randall Anderson (DE), Stephen Baggett (TE), Demage Bailey (DT), Des Barmore (OL), Austin Barnes (P), Devin Carlos (TE), Joe Carter (ILB), Gaelin Elmore (DE), Bobby Fulp (DB), Davon Grayson (WR), Anthony Gutierrez (ILB), Tre Hicks (DB), Quay Johnson (WR), Erik Lenzen (OL), Chris Love (DB), Mike Myers (DT), Colton Oliver (DS), Travis Phillips, (DB),Justin Sandifer (OL), Thomas Sirk (QB), Brandon Smith (OL), Xavier Smith (DB), Austin Teague (DB), Korrin Wiggins (DB), Jimmy Williams (WR) and Jordan Williams (ILB).
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.
ECU OF NOTE
The Pirates have recorded a scoring throw in 73 of their last 80 games (run of 10-straight) ... ECU is only one of two (UCLA) FBS teams in the nation to feature two different 200-yard receivers in a game this year (Grayson/UConn, Brown/Cincinati) ... ECU and Washington State are the only schools at the FBS level to have two different 400-yard passers in a game this year (Sirk/UConn, Minshew/UH & CIN) ... A total of 26 different players have made at least one start on defense this year (23 on offense) ... Under Scottie Montgomery (2016-17), ECU ranks 5th nationally in most 4th down conversions (36) and 6th in most 4th down conversion attempts (60) ... 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 PR for a TD in 166 games (4,769 days) - the sixth-longest current drought in FBS.
