East Carolina University
USF
Gameday: ECU Plays Host To No. 18 USF
September 28, 2017 | Football
| Game 5: No. 18 USF at ECU | |
| Date: | Saturday, Sept. 30 |
| Time: | 12 Noon (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 | WDNC 620 AM (Raleigh) | TuneIn Radio Online Television: CBSSN |
| Internet Options: | Live Stats |
| Official Web Sites: | ECU | USF | American Athletic Conference |
| Game Notes: | ECU (PDF) | USF (PDF) | The American (PDF) |
| 2017 Football Statistics: | ECU | USF l The American |
| ECU Football Central: | Roster | Fact Book (PDF) | The American | NCAA Football | College Scoreboard |
| Official Social Media Sites | |
| Facebook: | ECU | USF | The American |
| Twitter: | ECU | ECUScoreboard (In-Game Updates) l USF | The American |
| Twitter Hashtags: | #ECUPirates | #ECUGameday | #ECUndaunted | #ECUFootball | #AmericanFB |
| Instagram: | ECU | The American |
GREENVILLE, N.C. – ECU will attempt to capture its eighth victory in the last nine conference home openers when it welcomes No. 18 USF to Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium for an American Athletic Conference battle. After knocking off Connecticut 41-38 last week, the Pirates will look to open league play 2-0 for the sixth time in the last nine years when they battle the undefeated Bulls. Additionally, the 2017 squad will try to become only the third ECU team in modern-day school history to finish its September slate with a pair of conference wins (2010, 2012).
EAST CAROLINA RECORDS AND STREAKS
- Qualified for 10 bowl appearances since 2000 (three of the last five years) ...
- Has won 31 of the last 38 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 13 of the last 16 games ...
- Has won 30 of the last 32 games when leading at the half ...
- Has won seven of its last eight conference home openers ...
- Has won eight of its last nine conference games in September ...
- Has lost 25-straight games when scoring 20 or less points (19-14 vs. UCF in '09/last win) ...
THE SERIES
USF leads ECU 6-1 all-time in a series, which dates back to 2002 ... The 2003 and 2004 meetings were league contests while both programs were members of Conference USA, while the last three matchups (2014, 2015 & 2016) have served as the Bulls' and Pirates' initial trio of American Athletic Conference encounters ... The Papajohns.com Bowl matchup in Birmingham was ECU's first against then Big East member USF at a neutral site ... The Pirates are 1-2 against the Bulls in Tampa, but winless (0-3) in Greenville.
AN ECU & USF COACHING CONNECTION
ECU and USF each feature Skip Holtz on its all-time head coach roster page ... Holtz was 16-21 (.432) while guiding the Bulls for three seasons (2010-12) after leading the Pirates to a 38-27 (.585) mark, two Conference USA titles and an unprecedented run of four-straight bowl appearances from 2005 to 2009.
BULLS, CANES, GATORS, KNIGHTS, 'NOLES, OWLS AND PANTHERS
The Pirates have dropped 30 of 45 all-time matchups (15-30) against FBS (formerly Division I-A) programs from the state of Florida ... ECU is 1-6 against USF, 10-5 vs. UCF, 2-9 vs. Miami, 1-0 vs. Florida Atlantic, 1-0 vs. Florida International, 0-3 vs. Florida and 0-7 vs. Florida State ... ECU has lost six of the last seven matchups against schools from Florida (posting its only win against UCF in the 2015 road finale).
THE AMERICAN - YEAR FOUR
ECU has posted an 80-54 (.597) 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 (10-5), Temple (8-6), Tulsa (8-6), Houston (7-5), SMU (4-3) Connecticut (3-1), Navy (1-5) and USF (1-6).
THE EAST HAS BEEN A BEAST
ECU owns a 3-8 mark (1-4/home, 2-4/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, 1-1 vs. UCF, 0-2 vs. USF, 0-2 vs. Cincinnati and 0-2 vs. Temple 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, FOUR-GAME RESULTS
ECU's 41-38 win at Connecticut last week marks the first time since 2011 that the Pirates have opened their slate with a 1-3 record (also were 1-3 in 2005, 2006 and 2007 during Skip Holtz' first three seasons as head coach) ... The latter two Pirate squads bounced back from dropping three of their first four games to earn a bowl invitation - 2006 (7-6/PapaJohns.com) and 2007 (8-5/Sheraton Hawai'i Bowl) ... A victory over USF would give ECU a 2-3 ledger for the second-straight campaign.
AT DOWDY-FICKLEN STADIUM
ECU's all-time record at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium is 183-95-1 (.658) ... 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 will be looking for 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 8,292,311 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 2,021,025 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 53rd nationally in average attendance (41,973) and 61st in capacity percentage (83.95) this season ... A closer look at Top 5 AAC leaders: 1. ECU (41,973), 2. UCF (38,063), 3. Houston (37,642), 4. Memphis (32,713), 5. Navy (31,777) ... ECU has drawn at least 40,000 fans to Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium in 22 of its last 24 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) ... The only "exceptions" were a Thursday night matchup against Temple on October 22, 2015 (39,417) and the 2016 home finale against Navy (39,480).
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 ... Six of the Pirates' FBS opponents this year were either ranked or received votes in college football's two major polls (Associated Press, Coaches) to end the 2016 season - Virginia Tech (16/16), West Virginia (18/17) and USF (19/19) were among the Top 25, while BYU, Temple and Houston each received votes ... 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 three losses this year have come to teams with a combined 11-1 record thus far (JMU, WVU, VT).
LEAGUE, NON-LEAGUE STATISTICAL COMPARISONS
In its only AAC contest (1-0) this year, ECU produced 41 points, 170 rushing yards, 426 passing yards and 596 total yards ... 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) ... Also of comparable interest are ECU's defensive numbers vs. UConn (38 points, 190 rush yards, 406 pass yards, 596 total yards) after surrendering an average of 51.3, 302.7, 331.7, 634.3 in its first three non-league outings this year.
CHARTING THE PIRATES MONTH-BY-MONTH
In all, ECU is 3-2-0 in August, 124-115-2 in September, 161-153-4 in October, 137-121-5 in November, 9-9-0 in December and 1-4-0 in January ... Although the Pirates were 2-2 last season (and "only" 15-14 in their last 29 overall September games), ECU has captured eight of the last nine (8-1) games against conference foes in the ninth month (only loss was a 45-21 setback at Navy in 2015).
SHUTOUT-FREE ... 246 AND COUNTING
ECU will enter the USF contest with an active streak of 246 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).
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 16 "first-time" starters in its lineup against James Madison, West Virginia, Virginia Tech and Connecticut - seven on the off ensive side of the ball (LT D'Ante Smith, LG Cortez Herrin, C John Spellacy, RG Austin Lee, RG Dqmarcus Shaw, RB Derrell Scott, RB Tyshon Dye), nine more on defense (DT Tyree Owens, DT Raequan Purvis, DT Jalen Price, DT Alex Turner, DE Shaun James, ILB Ray Tillman, ILB Cannon Gibbs, CB Travis Phillips, CB Marcus Holton Jr.) ... It is worth noting however that Dye (Clemson) and Scott (Tennessee) are FBS transfers.
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 fi ve starting quarterbacks, three offensive coordinators and two head coaches: 1. ECU (329.6), 2. Cincinnati (299.6), 3. Memphis (281.3) ... In addition, the Pirates also top the league in completions (1,174) and attempts (1,833) since competing in the AAC over the last three-plus seasons.
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) ... Marshall and Nevada are the only other schools with multiple Top 20 all-time FBS pass catchers ... 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).
RECEIVER U: PRESENT
The Pirates are one of only four FBS teams to have three active receivers with at least 95 catches - Davon Grayson (100), Jimmy Williams (98) and Quay Johnson (97) ... Colorado tops the nation with four, while Oklahoma and Washington State each match ECU with three ... The Pirates also boast three active receivers who have amassed over 1,000 reception yards - Williams (1,411), Grayson (1,275) and Trevon Brown (1,105).
TRIPLE DIGIT TRIO & LONG-RANGE STRIKES
Two ECU pass catchers have turned in a combined three-straight 100-yard receiving outings - Trevon Brown (2-103 vs. West Virginia, 4-107 vs. Virginia Tech) and Davon Grayson (11-223 vs. Connecticut) ... Brown's 95-yarder for a TD at WVU is currently tied for the second-longest FBS play from scrimmage in 2017, while Grayson's 223-yard receiving day at UConn ranks fourth among all FBS players this season ... Grayson's numbers vs. the Huskies also stands as the third highest single-game reception yard total in ECU history behind Justin Hardy's 230-yard effort at Tulane in 2013 and Cam Worthy's 224-yard performance at Virginia Tech in 2014.
SIRK RANKS AMONG FBS TOP RUSHING QBs …
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 72 ground yards for the Pirates in three games.
... BUT PASSING GAME MAKES RECENT HEADLINES
Sirk completed 30-of-39 passes (76.9 percent) for 426 yards and three TDs to help guide ECU past UConn last week (and earn AAC Offensive Player-of-the-Week honors) ... The 426-yard effort was the ninth-highest single-game passing output in program history and tops in the Scottie Montgomery era ... His 194.1 rating Sunday trails only Memphis' Riley Ferguson's 195.3 clip (vs. UCLA) among all AAC signal-callers in a game this year.
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) ... Montgomery's last active year as a player in the NFL was in 2003, so only Fleck (2005) and Texas Tech's Kliff Kingsbury (2005) were active in the league more recently among FBS head coaches.
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 (27 games) and DE Kiante Anderson/ILB Jordan Williams (9) own the program's longest starting streaks on their respective side of the ball entering the USF contest ... With 426 aerial yards at UConn, QB Thomas Sirk became the seventh ECU signal-caller to pass for 400 or more yards in a game – joining Shane Carden (8 times), Dominique Davis (2), David Garrard, Blake Kemp, Philip Nelson and Patrick Pinkney ... Nelson was the last Pirate to reach 400 air yards (at South Carolina in 2016) .... In his only other ECU start this year, Sirk was 16-of-34 for 191 yards and 1 TD at West Virginia (sat out Virginia Tech tilt for precautionary reasons/concussion) ... WR Davon Grayson, who turned in career bests with 11 receptions for 223 yards and three TDs at UConn, has now caught at least one pass in 29 of 35 career games ... The triple-digit performance vs. the Huskies was a first in his career ... After sitting out the UConn game (illness), WR Jimmy Williams will try to extend his consecutive games with a reception streak to 17 (did not have a catch against USF on Nov. 7, 2015) ... WR Trevon Brown has netted at least one reception in 19 of 21 career games (multiple 16 times) ... Forty-three of his 74 career grabs have gone for 10 or more yards ... ILB Jordan Williams, who led ECU in tackles last year and was included on SI.com's Freak List (nation's top 40 workout warriors in college football), has posted three or more stops in 19 of his last 20 contests ... He matched a career best with 14 stops in the opener vs. JMU before logging 11 at West Virginia, adding 10 vs. Virginia Tech and eight more at UConn last week ... He currently ranks 13th nationally in total tackles per game (43/10.8) ... ILB Cannon Gibbs tallied a career-high 14 tackles (eight solo) at UConn, his first career double-digit game at ECU ... FS Korrin Wiggins racked up a career-high 10 tackles (nine in the first half) vs. VT and added 10 more and his first Pirate interception (had four with Clemson) vs. the Hukies ... He's recorded at least one tackle in 30 of 36 career games (multiple 23 times) ... Ninety-seven of KOS Caleb Pratt's 119 kickoff s have traveled 60 or more yards and he's registered at least one touchback in 20 of 24 career games (six at UConn) ... PK Jake Verity successfully converted all five PATs vs. UConn to remain perfect during his career (16-of-16) ... He also posted a career-long 46-yard fi eld goal vs. the Huskies.
TEAM NOTES: The Pirates' streak of throwing at least one TD pass was snapped at 14 games against James Madison, but with two each vs. WVU and VT, and three at UConn, ECU has now recorded a scoring throw in 66 of their last 73 games ... ECU's offensive line has allowed only four sacks this year (1.0 spg), ranking second in the AAC and 16th nationally ... The Pirates have enjoyed two sack-free performances in their last six outings ... ECU has already recorded three pass plays of 70+ yards, only Baylor (5) and Mississippi State (4) have more nationally ... The Pirates have opened its last two games scoring a TD on their first possession (and both were capped by Davon Grayson scoring receptions) ... ECU has tallied a combined 44 first half points in its last two games, but has been collectively outscored 65-14 in the final 30 minutes against the Hokies and Huskies ...The Pirates recorded their first turnover-free performance of the year at UConn (had two "perfect" contests in 2016, four in 2015).
