East Carolina University
Temple
Gameday: ECU Travels To Temple For AAC Clash
October 04, 2018 | Football
| ECU Game 5: Temple | |
| Date: | Saturday, Oct. 6 |
| Time: | 12 Noon (EDT) |
| Location: | Philadelphia, Pa. (Lincoln Financial Field) |
| Tickets & Parking: | Game Tickets | Parking Information |
| Live Game Coverage: | Radio: WNCT 107.9FM | TuneIn Radio Online Television: ESPNews |
| Internet Options: | Live Stats |
| Official Web Sites: | ECU | Temple | American Athletic Conference |
| Game Notes: | ECU (PDF) | Temple (PDF) | The American (PDF) |
| 2018 Statistics: | ECU (PDF) | Temple (PDF) |
| ECU Football Central: | Roster | Fact Book (PDF) | The American | NCAA Football | College Scoreboard |
| Official Social Media Sites | |
| Facebook: | ECU | Temple | The American |
| Twitter: | ECU | Temple | The American |
| Twitter Hashtags: | #ECUPirates | #ECUGameday | #ECUFootball | #AmericanFB |
| Instagram: | ECU | The American |
GREENVILLE, N.C. – After closing out its 2018 non-league schedule with a 37-35 victory over Old Dominion last week, ECU will return to American Athletic Conference action when it travels to Philadelphia to battle Temple at Lincoln Financial Field in a 12 noon matchup Saturday. The meeting against the Owls will also wrap up a two-contest AAC roadswing for the Pirates, who return to Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium next week to open a three-game league homestand vs. Houston (Oct. 13) before following with matchups against 2017 division champions UCF (Oct. 20) and Memphis (Nov. 3), respectively.
ECU RECORDS AND STREAKS
- Qualified for 10 bowl appearances since 2000 (three of the last six, eight of the last 12 years) ...
- Has won 20 of the last 23 games when gaining 200 or more rushing yards ...
- Has accounted for 400 or more total yards in 21 of the last 28 games (three straight) ...
- Has thrown at least one touchdown pass in 14 of the last 15 games ...
- Has won 33 of the last 36 games when leading at the half ...
- Has tallied seven or more TFLs in four-straight games (a first since 2009) ...
- Has recorded a combined 15 sacks in the last two games ...
- Has allowed only one sack or less in eight of the last 10 games ...
THE SERIES
Officially, ECU leads the series 8-7 ... On the field, Temple has captured wins in eight of the 15 matchups, but the Owls' 45-28 victory in 1986 was later forfeited to the Pirates because of the utilization of an ineligible player ... ECU has triumphs in five of eight meetings in Philadelphia, but are just 3-4 in Greenville.
SCOTTIE MONTGOMERY AGAINST THE OWLS
Setbacks in 2016 (37-10) and 2017 (34-10) represent Scottie Montgomery's only meetings against Temple ... He did not face the Owls during his seven-year tenure (2006-09, 2013-15) as a collegiate assistant coach at Duke.
GEOFF COLLINS AGAINST THE PIRATES
While Saturday's contest will be Geoff Collins' second against ECU as a head coach, he has also faced the Pirates on three previous occasions as an assistant ... As Florida's defensive coordinator in 2015, the Gators thwarted an ECU comeback attempt with a takeaway at the UF 30-yard line with 12 seconds left to hang on to a 31-24 win ... As linebackers coach at UCF, the Pirates recorded a pair of low-scoring victories over the Knights on the way to back-to-back C-USA titles ... In the previous four meetings, Collins has "held" ECU to 16.5 ppg.
DEFENSE & SPECIAL TEAMS SPARK OWLS' SERIES RESURGENCE
During its current four-game win streak against the Pirates, Temple has forced a total of nine turnovers (2.3 tpg) and penetrated the ECU backfield on a consistent basis as evidenced by a total of 38.0 tackles for lost yardage and 16.0 sacks ... The Owls initiated their takeaway frenzy in the first American Conference meeting between the two programs in 2014 with five fumble recoveries before adding a combined four in 2015, 2016 and 2017 ... Additionally, Temple's special teams units have recorded three blocks - two punts and a FG try.
A TEMPLE & ECU COACHING CONNECTION
ECU receivers coach Keith Gaither had a brief tenure on Geoff Collins' first staff (hired Jan. 23, 2017) before accepting the Pirates' position on March 7 ... Gaither's unit stood 12th nationally in receiving yards per game in '17.
NITTANY LIONS, PANTHERS AND OWLS
ECU is 10-11 against FBS programs from the state of Pennsylvania (Temple/8-7, Pitt/2-2 and Penn State/0-2).
THE AMERICAN - YEAR FIVE
ECU has posted an 81-61 (.570) all-time mark against current members of the American Conference ... The Pirates currently sport series records against Memphis (15-7), 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 (1-8).
THE EAST HAS BEEN A BEAST
ECU owns a 4-12 mark (2-6/home, 2-6/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, a pair of victories vs. Connecticut (41-3 in 2016, 41-38 in 2017) and a 48-20 triumph against Cincinnati on Senior Day in 2017 represents the only quartet of triumphs ... In all, ECU is 2-1 vs. UConn, 1-2 vs. UCF, 1-2 vs. Cincinnati, 0-3 vs. Temple and 0-4 vs. USF while competing as division mates ... On the flipside, ECU is 2-7 against the West Division (1-1 vs. SMU, 1-1 vs. Tulsa, 0-1 vs. Houston, 0-1 vs. Tulane, 0-1 vs. Memphis and 0-2 vs. Navy).
LEAGUE, NON-LEAGUE STATISTICAL COMPARISONS
The Pirates booked 13 points, 156 rushing yards, 256 passing yards and 412 total yards against USF on Sept. 22 in their only American Athletic Conference game of the 2018 season thus far ... By comparison, ECU averaged 33.7 points, 155.7 rushing yards, 305.7 passing yards and 461.3 total yards per game in its three regular season non-conference contests this year ... The Pirates followed a 1-3 non-league ledger in 2017 with a 2-1 mark this fall and hope to improve their AAC record to 1-1 (2-6 last season) when they square off against Temple.
COMPARING 10-YEAR, FOUR-GAME RESULTS
ECU's 37-35 win against Old Dominion marks the second time in the Scottie Montgomery era (and thrice in the last four years) the Pirates have opened the season with a 2-2 record ... A victory over Temple would give the Pirates a 3-2 ledger for the first time since 2015 (and on five occasions in the last 10 years, three leading to bowl appearances - 2009, 2010 and 2012)
ON THE ROAD
Since becoming a conference member in 1997, ECU is 55-83 (.399) when playing away from Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium ... Before their 0-1 mark in 2018 and prior to dropping four of five last year (win at UConn; losses at WVU, UCF, Houston & Memphis), the Pirates were a combined 5-14 (2014-2016).
BACK-TO-BACK CONFERENCE ROAD TILTS
ECU will play successive conference road contests for only the second time since 2001 when it meets Temple Saturday ... The Pirates opened their 2015 AAC slate at Navy and at SMU before finally hosting Tulsa on Oct. 17.
THE PIRATE NATION - OVER 8.5 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 attendance leader on a near annual basis ... In all, a total of 8,578,441 fans have seen the Pirates in action since 1963 ... Since the completion of a 7,000-seat expansion project in 2010 (to push capacity to 50,000), the Pirates have drawn 2,307,155 fans.
ATTENDANCE LEADERS
ECU topped all American Athletic Conference members in regular season attendance in 2014, 2016 and 2017, and currently stands second in 2018 ... Overall, ECU ranks 56th nationally in average attendance (37,662) and 73rd in capacity percentage (75.32) this season ... A closer look at Top 5 AAC leaders: 1. UCF (44,143), 2. ECU (37,662), 3. USF (33,320), 4. Cincinnati (32,027), 5. Houston (31,252) ... ECU has drawn at least 40,000 fans to Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium in 22 of its last 31 home games dating back to 2013 ... The Pirates missed hitting the 40K mark by less than 5,000 during their first three home dates of the 2018 season, drawing 38,640 vs. N.C. A&T (following a weather-related postponement) for the opener, 39,298 against North Carolina on Sept. 8 before attracting 35,047 fans to watch the ODU matchup last weekend.
ANALYZING THE 2018 OVERALL SCHEDULE
ECU's 2018 opponents posted a combined 88-60 (.595) record in 2017, which ranks as the toughest schedule in the American Conference and 11th in FBS (based on win percentage) ... Four programs had 10 or more wins, including UCF (13), North Carolina A&T (12), USF (10) and Memphis (10) ... Some other notables:
SEVEN BOWL TEAMS ... in addition to North Carolina A&T (Celebration) and Virginia Tech (Camping World), AAC programs USF (Birmingham), Temple (Bad Boy Mowers Gasparilla), Houston (Hawai'i), UCF (Chick-fi l-A Peach) and Memphis (AutoZone Liberty) each made FBS postseason appearances last season.
HOSTING CHAMPIONS ... the Pirates host two defending conference champions who enjoyed undefeated seasons - A&T (MEAC) and UCF (AAC) ... The Aggies also captured the HBCU nat'l championship by downing Grambling State 21-14 at Mercedes Benz Stadium in Atlanta, while UCF capped its perfect campaign with a 34-27 victory over Auburn in the Chick-fi l-A Peach Bowl, which was played at the same Atlanta facility.
IN THE FINAL POLLS ... four of ECU's 2018 FBS opponents were ranked in college football's two major polls (Associated Press/Amway Coaches) to end the 2017 season - UCF (6/7), USF (21/21), Virginia Tech (24/25) and Memphis (25/24) ... The Knights (12th), Tigers (20th) and Hokies (22nd) were also included on the last CFP rankings.
PLAYER(S)-OF-THE-YEAR VISITS ... all four 2017 American Athletic Conference Player-of-the-Year selections are on the docket to play in Greenville this season - UCF QB McKenzie Milton (offense), Houston DE Ed Oliver (defense), Memphis RB/KR Tony Pollard (special teams) and Memphis DB T.J. Carter (rookie).
SHUTOUT-FREE ... 258 AND COUNTING
ECU will enter the Temple contest with an active streak of 258 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) ... On the flipside, ECU has not recorded a defensive shutout since blanking Duke 38-0 on Sept. 2, 2000 in Durham, N.C. - a span of 227 games.
CHARTING THE PIRATES MONTH-BY-MONTH
In all, ECU is 3-2-0 in August, 127-118-1 in September, 162-155-4 in October, 138-124-5 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 eight of its last 15 games ... Yet, in American Conference play alone, the Pirates have taken six of the last 13 ... On the road, ECU has won four of the last nine (and five of the last 11) conference tilts.
LOOKING TOWARD THE FUTURE
The Pirates returned only 53.9 percent of its lettermen from a year ago, which ranked as the lowest percentage among all FBS programs ... Additionally, ECU's season-opening depth chart included only four senior returning starters (WR Trevon Brown, OT Garrett McGhin, RB Anthony Scott and CB Corey Seargent), which stood as the second-fewest nationally (LSU and Western Michigan each only had three).
FIRST-TIME STARTERS
ECU has already utilized nine (9) first-time starters this season in its first four games against N.C. A&T, North Carolina, USF and Old Dominion - five on the offensive side of the ball (RG Branden Pena, QB Reid Herring, TE D'Angelo McKinnie, TE Johnny Bogle, WR Blake Proehl) and four on defense (DE Nate Harvey, LB Bruce Bivens, FS Nolan Johnson, CB Mike Witherspoon).
LOSING THEIR (RED) SHIRTS
A total of 15 players have had their redshirts removed and experienced action as true freshmen during the Scottie Montgomery era at ECU- nine in 2016 and six in 2017 ... The count will likely rise significantly with the NCAA's new redshirt rule implemented earlier this year (i.e. allowance of four game appearances) ... QB Holton Ahlers, DB Myles Berry, TE Johnny Bogle, DB Daniel Charles, DE Dorian Hardy, FS Nolan Johnson, TE D'Angelo McKinnie, WR Juwan Moody and LB Xavier Smith - nine (9) players – all have experienced action in at least one of the Pirates' first four contests in 2018.
A GOOD, EVEN-NUMBERED SIGN
ECU has advanced to postseason play (i.e. bowl appearance) in five of the last six even-numbered years - 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012 and 2014.
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 four-plus-year period despite utilizing seven starting quarterbacks, three offensive coordinators and two head coaches: 1. ECU (324.8), 2. Memphis (294.1), 3. Cincinnati (279.9), 4. Houston (266.1) and 5. Tulsa (254.8) ... In addition, the Pirates also top the league in completions (1,493) and attempts (2,401), while standing third in TD passes (110) since beginning competition in The American ... 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 10).
1K RECEIVER IN SIX-STRAIGHT YEARS: NO. 1 IN FBS
ECU has featured at least one 1,000-yard receiver in six-straight seasons, which is tops nationally at the FBS level ... Boise State, Houston, Oklahoma State and Texas Tech all stand second with a 1K pass catcher in three-straight years … ECU 1,000-yard receivers include: 2012 Justin Hardy (1,105), 2013 Hardy (1,284), 2014 Hardy (1,494) and 2014 Cam Worthy (1,016), 2015 Zay Jones (1,099), 2016 Jones (1,746) and 2017 Trevon Brown (1,069) ... Brown is just one of eleven 1,000 yard receivers nationally who return this year (and the only one in the American Conference).
DECADE RECEIVING LEADERS
In the last decade (since 2008), ECU has produced nine 1,000-yard receivers, which also leads the FBS level along with SMU … NOTE - 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).
TOP (TRUE) FRESHMEN QUARTERBACK RUSHERS
True freshman Holton Ahlers has made an immediate impact during his first three collegiate appearances (UNC, USF, ODU) with a combined 147 rushing yards, four touchdowns on 28 carries ... In his debut against the Tar Heels on Sept. 8, he picked up 36 yards and two TDs on eight attempts before topping that with back-to-back team-highs vs. USF (12-48) and ODU (8-63) ... Among all true FBS rookies, Ahlers currently stands first in rushing TDs and third in rushing yardage … Ahler's 49-yard TD run vs. ODU also currently stands as the longest single rush turned in by a true freshman quarterback this season, while his overall 63-yard effort against the Monarchs ranks as the 6th-best single-game rushing performance (yardage) posted by a true rookie in 2018.
SACK PARADE
The Pirates recorded nine (9) sacks against ODU last week, which matched a modern day school single-game record … DE Nate Harvey (6.5) is currently on pace for 18 sacks in '18 (record is 15 by Rod Coleman in 1997); after ranking 124th of 129 programs in 2017, ECU is second nationally this week with 4.25 (17.0) sacks per contest, trailing only Oklahoma State (4.80/24.0 sacks in five games).
A STARTERS' LOG
NB Devon Sutton (14 games) and OT Garrett McGhin (12) own the program's longest starting streaks on their respective side of the ball entering the Temple contest.
A P6 .... #AMERICANPOW6R
Similar to the 2016 and 2017 campaigns, 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.
A ECU OF NOTE
The Pirates have engineered nine scoring (5 TD/4 FG) drives of 10 plays or longer, which ranks tied for seventh nationally (Army leads FBS with 12) ... Under Scottie Montgomery (2016-18), ECU ranks 4th nationally in both 4th down conversions (46) and most 4th down conversion attempts (77) ... The Pirates have dropped 28-straight games when scoring 20 or less points (19-14 vs. UCF in '09/last win) ... ECU already has 7 rush TDs (10 all of last year).
