East Carolina University
Memphis
Gameday: ECU Hosts Memphis On Saturday
November 01, 2018 | Football
| ECU Game 8: Memphis | |
| Date: | Saturday, Nov. 3 |
| 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 | 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) |
| 2018 Statistics: | ECU (PDF) | Memphis (PDF) |
| ECU Football Central: | Roster | Fact Book (PDF) | The American | NCAA Football | College Scoreboard |
| Official Social Media Sites | |
| Facebook: | ECU | Memphis | The American |
| Twitter: | ECU | Memphis | The American |
| Twitter Hashtags: | #ECUPirates | #ECUGameday | #ECUFootball | #AmericanFB |
| Instagram: | ECU | The American |
GREENVILLE, N.C. – It's Military Appreciation Day as ECU will open the month of November by welcoming defending American Athletic Conference West Division champion Memphis to Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium on Saturday. The clash against the Tigers also closes a three game homestand for the Pirates, who travel to Tulane next week for their first road contest in nearly a month (Oct. 6). ECU will also try to post successive November home wins for the first time as an AAC member (2014-2018).
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 nine of the last 12 games (five of the last six) ...
- Has thrown at least one touchdown pass in 16 of the last 18 games ...
- Has won 33 of the last 36 games when leading at the half ...
- Has tallied 10 or more TFLs in four-straight games (and in five of last seven contests) ...
- Has recorded a combined 23 sacks in the last five games (4.6 spg) ...
- Has won seven of the last eight overall meetings against Memphis ...
- Has won four-straight games against Memphis at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium (last loss in 2004) ...
THE SERIES
ECU leads Memphis 15-7 in the all-time series which dates back to 1990 ... The Pirates, who have won seven of the last eight consecutive contests, also hold an 8-2 edge in games played in Greenville.
RUSHING TO GREATNESS
In the mid-2000s, the Memphis-ECU series was highlighted by notable rushing performances from a pair of first-round NFL Draft picks ... DeAngelo Williams' pair of 200-yard-plus outings vs. the Pirates stands among UM's Top 10 single-game list, while Chris Johnson's 301-yard eff ort ranks second in ECU's single-game annals.
(STATE OF) TENNESSEE COACHING "CONNECTIONS"
While no members of ECU's current full-time coaching staff spent time working directly with the Memphis program, there are two individuals who spent time coaching in the state of Tennessee ... Offensive line coach Don Mahoney served in the same capacity at Southeastern Conference member Tennessee (Knoxville) from 2013 to 2016, while receivers coach Keith Gaither's second collegiate position was as an assistant coach at Tusculum College (Greeneville) during the 1998 and 1999 campaigns.
THE AMERICAN - YEAR FIVE
ECU has posted an 81-64 (.559) 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 (10-7), Temple (8-8), Tulsa (8-6), Houston (7-7), SMU (4-3) Connecticut (3-1), Navy (1-5) and USF (1-8).
AGAINST THE WILD WEST
ECU owns a 2-8 regular season mark (1-4/home, 1-4/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 Houston and falling once to Tulane and Memphis ... On the flipside, the Pirates own a 4-14 mark (2-7/home, 2-7/road) against AAC opponents in its own East Division ... ECU's 44-7 victory against UCF in its '15 road finale, a pair of wins vs. Connecticut (41-3 in 2016, 41-38 in 2017) and a 48-20 triumph vs. Cincinnati on Senior Day in 2017 represents the quartet of successful outings.
LEAGUE, NON-LEAGUE STATISTICAL COMPARISONS
The Pirates have averaged 12.3 points, 90.8 rushing yards, 289.0 passing yards and 379.8 total yards in their four (USF, Temple, Houston, UCF) American Athletic Conference games of the 2018 season so 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 posted a 2-1 non-league ledger this fall (1-3 in '17) and hope to improve their AAC record to 1-4 (2-6 last season) when they square off against Memphis.
COMPARING 10-YEAR, SEVEN-GAME RESULTS
ECU's 37-10 loss to UCF on Oct. 20 marks the second time in the Scottie Montgomery era (2016) the Pirates have "opened" the season with a 2-5 record ... A victory over Memphis would give ECU a 3-5 ledger, which would also match Montgomery's initial season in Greenville ... The Pirates have enjoyed recent success during Week 8 of their schedule, winning two straight and five of the last seven.
MILITARY APPRECIATION DAY
ECU has split (6-6) its last 12 contests on Military Appreciation Day dating back to 2006, but will try to snap a recent three-game skid when it meets Memphis on Saturday.
AT DOWDY-FICKLEN STADIUM - 2-3 IN 2018
ECU's all-time record at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium is 187-101 (.6499) ... 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 2-5 record last year and 3-3 marks in both 2015 and 2016, ECU was 5-1 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 is in search of its 40th winning campaign at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium this fall.
THE PIRATE NATION - OVER 8.6 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 8,639,451 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 2,368,165 fans.
PROUD HISTORY OF ATTENDANCE LEADERS
ECU topped all American Athletic Conference members in regular season attendance in 2014, 2016 and 2017, and currently stands third in 2018 ... Overall, ECU ranks 62nd nationally in average attendance (34,799) and 80th in capacity percentage (69.60) this season ... A closer look at Top 5 AAC leaders: 1. UCF (43,322), 2. USF (35,522), 3. ECU (34,799), 4. Cincinnati (32,085), 5. Navy (31,451) ... Before drawing a season-lows in back-to-back weeks (29,851/Houston on Oct. 13 and 31,159/UCF on Oct. 20), the Pirates missed hitting the 40K mark by less than 5,000 during their first three home dates of the 2018 season ... ECU drew 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 to close out September ... The 29,851 total vs. Houston marked ECU's first announced sub-30,000 attendance figure at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium since 2005.
ANALYZING THE 2018 OVERALL SCHEDULE
ECU's 2018 scheduled 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 ... 261 AND COUNTING
ECU will enter the Memphis contest with an active streak of 261 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 230 games.
CHARTING THE PIRATES MONTH-BY-MONTH
In all, ECU is 3-2-0 in August, 127-118-1 in September, 162-158-4 in October, 138-124-5 in November, 9-9-0 in December and 1-4-0 in January ... The Pirates will open play in November vs. Memphis on Saturday, a month in which ECU has lost eight of its last 10 contests (and 11 of 15 since the 2013 campaign) ... At home, ECU snapped a five-game skid dating back to 2015 by routing Cincinnati 48-20 last Nov. 18 and will be vying to post back-to-back home November triumphs for the first time in AAC action.
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 McGhinn, RB Anthony Scott and CB Corey Seargent) - the second-fewest nationally.
FIRST-TIME STARTERS
ECU has already utilized 15 first-time starters this season in its fi rst seven games – 10 on the offensive side of the ball (QB Holton Ahlers, TE Johnny Bogle, RG Fernando Frye, QB Reid Herring, TE D'Angelo McKinnie, WR Leroy Henley, RG Branden Pena, WR Blake Proehl, TE Anthony Watley, C Peyton Winstead) and five on defense (LB Bruce Bivens, SS Daniel Charles, DE Nate Harvey, FS Nolan Johnson, CB Mike Witherspoon).
LOSING THEIR (RED) SHIRTS
A total of 22 players have had their redshirts removed and experienced action as true freshmen during the Scottie Montgomery era at ECU- nine in '16, six in '17 and seven in '18 so far ... In all, a total of 13 true freshmen have played in 2018 and seven (italics) have surpassed the four-game "limit" mandated by the NCAA: QB Holton Ahlers (6 games played), DB Myles Berry (7), TE Johnny Bogle (6), DB Daniel Charles (7), WR Maceo Donald (1), DE Dorian Hardy (2), DB Damel Hickman (1), FS Nolan Johnson (7), TE D'Angelo McKinnie (6), WR Juwan Moody (2), LB Xavier Smith (6), LB Gerard Stringer (3) and OL Peyton Winstead (4).
ALL (EVEN-YEAR) SIGNS POINT TO ...
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 eight starting quarterbacks, three offensive coordinators and two head coaches: 1. ECU (323.5), 2. Memphis (290.6), 3. Cincinnati (276.4), 4. Houston (269.1) and 5. Tulsa (247.8) ... In addition, the Pirates also top the league in completions (1,578), attempts (2,559) and total air yards (18,114) ... ECU has also accounted for a conference-high 15 400-yard passing games.
SNAPS O'PLENTY
The Pirates have snapped 611 offensive plays from scrimmage so far in 2018 - an average of 87.3 per contest, which currently stands first among all FBS programs … ECU also averages 19.2 more plays per game than its opponent, which ranks third nationally (Army/+23.6, Texas A&M/+21.4, ECU/+19.2, Ohio State/+15.8. Texas Tech/+13.8).
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).
TREVON BROWN ... AMONG ACTIVE WR LEADERS
Trevon Brown currently stands seventh among all active FBS receivers in reception yards per game (68.7 ypg), while also ranking 8th in yards (2,474), 13th in TD grabs (19) and 20th in catches (161) ... Additionally, his 2,474 receiving yards tops all American Athletic Conference pass catchers heading into the Memphis tilt.
NOTEBOOKING BROWN (UH & UCF)
Brown made a combined 23 receptions for 298 yards in his last two outings vs. Houston (13-153) and UCF (10-145) ... The 23 grabs was a FBS-best for the two-week period, while his 298 yards stood third nationally ... Additionally, Brown's 13 catches vs. the Cougars remains a single-game high for an AAC receiver this season (and third-highest in FBS).
TOP (TRUE) FRESHMEN QBs ... RUSHING
True freshman Holton Ahlers has made an immediate impact during his first six collegiate appearances with a team-best 317 rushing yards, five touchdowns on 65 carries ... After picking up 36 yards and two TDs in his debut against UNC, he posted five-straight team-high rushing outings - USF (12-48), ODU (8-63), Temple (5-56), Houston (5-45) and UCF (27-69) ... Among all true FBS rookies, Ahlers currently stands first in rushing TDs and second in rushing yardage … Ahler's 53-yard run vs. Temple also currently stands as the second-longest single rush turned in by a true freshman quarterback this season, while his overall 69-yard effort against UCF ranks as the 9th-best single-game rushing performance (yardage) posted by a true rookie in 2018.
A STARTERS' LOG ...
NB Devon Sutton (17 games) and OT Garrett McGhin (15) own the program's longest starting streaks on their respective side of the ball entering the Memphis contest.
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.
ECU OF NOTE ...
ECU's five losses this year have come to teams with a combined 32-7 record thus far and three (UCF, UH, USF) are currently ranked or receiving votes in both FBS Top 25 polls (and two future opponents - Cincinnati and NC State - also received votes in this week's polls) ... The Pirates have engineered 12 scoring (6 TD/6 FG) drives of 10 plays or longer, which ranks tied for 18th nationally (Army leads FBS with 15) ... Under Montgomery (2016-18), ECU ranks 4th nationally in 4th down conversions (47) and 6th in most 4th down conversion attempts (80) ... The Pirates have lost 31 straight games when scoring 20 or less points (19-14 vs. UCF in '09/last win) ... ECU has 8 rush TDs (10 all of last year) ... ECU's nine (9) sacks vs. Old Dominion on Sept. 29 matched a school single-game standard (9 vs. FIU in 2013) ... Holton Ahlers and Reid Herring are ECU's fi rst high school signees to start at QB since 2014 ... Ahlers' 406-yard passing eff ort vs. UCF on Oct. 20 currently ranks as the third-highest single-game total among all true freshman QBs in 2018.
