East Carolina University
North Carolina
Gameday: ECU Hosts UNC Saturday Afternoon
September 06, 2018 | Football
| ECU Game 2: North Carolina | |
| Date: | Saturday, Sept. 8 |
| Time: | 3:30 PM (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 | North Carolina | American Athletic Conference |
| Game Notes: | ECU (PDF) | North Carolina (PDF) | The American (PDF) |
| 2018 Statistics: | ECU (PDF) | North Carolina (PDF) |
| ECU Football Central: | Roster | Fact Book (PDF) | The American | NCAA Football | College Scoreboard |
| Official Social Media Sites | |
| Facebook: | ECU | North Carolina | The American |
| Twitter: | ECU | North Carolina | The American |
| Twitter Hashtags: | #ECUPirates | #ECUGameday | #ECUFootball | #AmericanFB |
| Instagram: | ECU | The American |
GREENVILLE, N.C. – ECU will continue its season-opening two-game homestand when the Pirates welcome North Carolina to Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium for a 3:30 p.m. kickoff Saturday. The tilt against the Tar Heels will also represent the second of four non-league games on ECU's slate, following a 28-23 setback against North Carolina A&T last week and preceding a road matchup at Virginia Tech (Sept. 15) and another home clash vs. Old Dominion (Sept. 29). The Pirates will also try to improve to 1-1 for the first time in the three-year Scottie Montgomery era (2016-2018).
ECU RECORDS AND STREAKS
- Qualified for 10 bowl appearances since 2000 (three of the last six, eight of the last 12 years) ...
- Has won 19 of the last 22 games when gaining 200 or more rushing yards ...
- Has accounted for 400 or more yards of total offense in 18 of the last 25 games …
- Has thrown at least two touchdown passes in 10 of the last 12 games ...
- Has featured a 100-yard receiver in nine of the last 12 games ...
- Has won 31 of the last 34 games when leading at the half ...
- Has won seven of the last 10 non-conference home games ...
- Has won four-straight against ACC members from the North Carolina (UNC, NCSU) ...
- Has won six of the last eight games against ACC opponents (dating back to Sept. 28, 2013) ...
AGAINST NON-CONFERENCE OPPONENTS
Since accepting membership in a conference, the Pirates have produced a 33-53 (.384) regular season non-league 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, and a 1-3 standing in 2017 ... With a win over UNC, the Pirates will have posted at least one non-league victory in 14-straight seasons.
THE SERIES
North Carolina leads 12-4-1 ... While the Pirates and Tar Heels have battled in Chapel Hill on 13 occasions, the 2018 clash between the Pirates and Tar Heels will mark only the fifth meeting at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium.
ECU AGAINST THE ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE
ECU has compiled an all-time record of 44-85-1 (.342) against current members of the Atlantic Coast Conference ... In addition to a 4-12-1 mark against North Carolina, the Pirates own a 13-16 ledger against NC State, 7-15 vs. Virginia Tech, 5-5 vs. Duke, 4-6 vs. Louisville, 3-6 vs. Syracuse, 2-1 vs. Virginia, 2-2 vs. Pittsburgh, 2-6 vs. Wake Forest, 2-9 vs. Miami and 0-7 vs. Florida State ... As previously mentioned (page 1), ECU has enjoyed a recent run of success against the ACC, winning six of the last eight matchups (dating back to Sept. 28, 2013).
NORTH CAROLINA AGAINST THE AMERICAN
North Carolina has posted a 29-16-3 (.635) all-time mark against current members of the American Athletic Conference ... In addition to their 17-game series against ECU (12-4-1), the Tar Heels have also squared off against Tulane (5-9-2), Cincinnati (3-0), Connecticut (3-0), Memphis (2-0), SMU (2-0), Tulsa (1-0), Houston (1-1) and USF (0-2) ... UNC has not yet faced Temple or UCF on the gridiron, but do face the latter next week as the defending league champion Knights visit Chapel Hill for the first time.
PLAYING IN-STATE FOES
The Pirates face in-state opponents during the first two weeks of the 2018 season, following the A&T tilt with a matchup vs. the Tar Heels ... In all, ECU is 55-62-1 (.470) when playing programs from the state of North Carolina (in order of victories): 18-3 vs. Western Carolina, 13-6 vs. NC State, 12-19 vs. Appalachian State, 5-5 vs. Duke, 4-12-1 vs. UNC, 2-6 vs. Wake Forest, 1-0 vs. North Carolina Central and 0-1 vs. North Carolina A&T ... The Pirates have never faced in-state Division I (FBS or FCS) members Campbell, Charlotte, Elon or Gardner-Webb in the sport of football ... Through the 2028, ECU has current contracts in place to square off against at least one state of North Carolina program each year with the exception of 2020.
NON-LEAGUE STATISTICAL COMPARISONS
In its four regular season non-conference contests last year, ECU averaged 21.0 points, 91.8 rushing yards,289.8 passing yards and 381.5 total yards per game ... By comparison, the Pirates booked 26.9 ppg, 115.6 rypg, 332.0 pypg and 447.6 ypg averages in their eight conference tilts in 2017.
WHAT'S BACK ... STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
Offensively, the Pirates return 55 percent of their rushing yards (704 of 1,292), but just 0.5 percent of their passing yards (20 of 3,815) from a year ago ... On defense, ECU welcomes back over 52 percent of its tackles (457 of 877), but a more impressive 64 percent of its turnover production (seven of 11; 4/7 interceptions and 3/4 fumble recoveries) … From a scoring standpoint, players who accounted for 185 of ECU's 299 points last season are on the 2018 active roster (62 percent).
AT DOWDY-FICKLEN STADIUM
ECU's all-time record at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium is 186-99 (.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 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 8.5 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 8,504,096 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 2,232,810 fans ... ECU surpassed the 2 million post-expansion "milestone" last Sept. 16 when 43,776 watched the Pirates battle Virginia Tech.
ATTENDANCE LEADERS
ECU topped all American Athletic Conference members in regular season attendance in 2014, 2016 and 2017 ... Overall, ECU ranked 58th nationally in average attendance (36,727) and 76th in capacity percentage (73.45) in 2017 ... A closer look at Top 5 AAC draws in 2017 (regular season): 1. ECU (36,727), 2. UCF (36,082), 3. Navy (34,756), 4. Memphis (33,307), 5. Houston (32,583) ... ECU has drawn at least 40,000 fans to Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium in 22 of its last 30 home games dating back to 2013, which included the 2017 matchups vs. James Madison (40,169) and vs. Virginia Tech (43,776) ... The Pirates missed hitting the 40K mark by less than 1,500 during their opening weekend vs. North Carolina A&T despite the postponement (from Saturday/Sept. 1 to Sunday/Sept. 2) because of inclement weather, which included excessive lightning (two stadium evacuations) ... ECU also had the highest draw among all American Conference teams during the 2018 opener, currently leading Memphis (33,697), Temple (32,357), USF (31,217), Connecticut (23,081), Tulsa (18,356) and Tulane (15,478).
THE AMERICAN - YEAR FIVE
ECU has posted an 81-60 (.574) 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 (1-7).
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) ... The Pirates four non-conference foes were 29-20 (.592), while the eight AAC squads tallied a collective 59-40 (.596 mark) ... 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-fil-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 College Football Playoff rankings ... North Carolina A&T stood sixth and seventh in the final two major FCS polls.
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 ... 255 AND COUNTING
ECU will enter the UNC contest with an active streak of 255 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 224 games.
CHARTING THE PIRATES MONTH-BY-MONTH
In all, ECU is 3-2-0 in August, 125-117-1 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 are 0-1 this season, were 1-4 last year and have posted a recent 8-15 record against non-conference foes in the ninth month.
LOOKING TOWARD THE FUTURE
The Pirates return only 53.9 percent of its lettermen from a year ago, which ranks 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 stands as the second-fewest nationally (LSU and Western Michigan each only have three).
FIRST-TIME STARTERS
There were eight (8) first-time ECU starters in the Pirates' lineup against North Carolina A&T Sunday - 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 three more on defense (DE Nate Harvey, LB Bruce Bivens, FS Nolan Johnson) ... ECU stood fifth nationally among all FBS programs in 2017 with 24 first-time starters.
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 (DE Kendall Futrell, CB Colby Gore, OG Cortez Herrin, RB Hussein Howe, QB Gardner Minshew, DE Jalen Price, DS Anthony Ratliff , OT D'Ante Smith and DE Alex Turner) and six in 2017 (TE Ben Norris, RB Darius Pinnix, OL John Spellacy, WR Mydreon Vines, LB Bruce Bivens, DB Davondre "Tank" Robinson) ... The count will likely rise significantly with the NCAA's new redshirt rule implemented earlier this year (i.e. allowance of four game appearances) ... DB Myles Berry, TE Johnny Bogle, DB Daniel Charles, DE Dorian Hardy, FS Nolan Johnson, TE D'Angelo McKinnie and WR Juwan Moody – seven (7) players - all experienced action in the Pirates' season-opener vs. N.C. A&T.
FALL CAMP SCRIMMAGE RECAPS
Scrimmage 1 (Aug. 11) – ECU's offense compiled 704 yards of total offense and accounted for five touchdowns ... Defensively, the Pirate defense forced three turnovers and racked up 12 tackles for lost yardage ... Reid Herring completed 16-of-26 passes for a game-high 265 yards and three scores (Terrell Green/16-yarder, Trevon Brown/12 and Deondre Farrier/55) ... Hussein Howe led all rushers with 23 yards on eight carries, while Green topped all pass catchers with three grabs for 101 yards ... Aaron Ramseur was ECU's top tackler with eight stops (and a forced fumble), Nolan Johnson added six tackles and Nate Harvey contributed four sacks.
Scrimmage 2 (Aug. 18) – The situational contest featured 353 yards (272 passing, 81 rushing) ... Herring was 10-of-22 for 190 yards and two TDs - finding Blake Proehl and Farrier on 25 and nine-yard tosses, respectively, during the redzone drill ... Kingsley Ifedi, who also completed six-of-11 passes for 67 yards, led all Pirates in rushing with 26 yards on three totes ... Ray Tillman and Michael Witherspoon tallied four stops each to guide the ECU defense.
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.
NEW ROLE FOR TONY PETERSEN
Starting ECU quarterback Reid Herring is offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Tony Petersen's first "intra-developed" signal-caller in the last four years ... Peterson had the unique distinction of directly working with graduate transfer QBs in the previous seasons, both at Louisiana Tech (Cody Sokol, Jeff Driskel) and with the Pirates (Philip Nelson, Thomas Sirk).
RECENT DEFENSIVE DOMINANCE FOR BLACKWELL
First-year ECU Defensive Coordinator David Blackwell built quite a formidable unit during his recent tenure in the same role at Jacksonville (Ala.) State ... During a four-year span from 2014 to 2017, JSU collectively ranked first nationally at the FCS level in defensive completion percentage (50.2), second in pass efficiency defense (105.5) and rushing yards allowed per carry (3.0), third in total defense (284.1 ypg) and yards per pass attempt (5.93), sixth in rushing defense (104.4 ypg), eighth in scoring defense (18.8 ppg) and ninth in sacks (133) during a time frame covering 51 total games ... Blackwell was a finalist for FCS Defensive Coordinator-of-the-Year honors in both 2015 and 2016.
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-year period despite utilizing five starting quarterbacks, three offensive coordinators and two head coaches: 1. ECU (327.1), 2. Memphis (298.4), 3. Cincinnati (282.4), 4. Houston (260.3) and 5. Tulsa (259.4) ... In addition, the Pirates also top the league in completions (1,427) and attempts (2,273), while standing second in TD passes (106) since competing in the AAC over the last four 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).
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/B> (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).
TRIPLE-DIGITS O'PLENTY - NINE OF LAST 12 GAMES
ECU has had at least one 100-yard receiver in nine of the last 12 games – Trevon Brown (2-103 vs. WVU, 4-107 vs. VT, 11-141 vs. UH, 9-270 vs. CIN, 7-128 vs. MEM), 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 tied for the longest FBS pass plays in 2017.
TAR HEELS & PIRATES = ANOTHER WR NAMED PROEHL
For the second-straight meeting, there will be a wide receiver named Proehl catching passes when the Tar Heels and Pirates clash on Saturday - albeit for different teams ... In 2014, Austin Proehl had one catch for 3 yards during UNC's 70-41 loss to ECU, while in 2018, Austin's younger brother Blake could make his second career start – wearing Purple & Gold against the Tar Heels ... Blake enjoyed an impressive collegiate debut last week with nine receptions for 65 yards and a TD vs. N.C. A&T.
SIMILAR TIMELINE FOR REID HERRING & SHANE CARDEN
By opening the N.C. A&T contest, Reid Herring became the first "homegrown" or "developed" ECU quarterback to make his first career start since school record-holder Shane Carden took the initial snap at Southern Miss contest on Sept. 15, 2012 (a 24-14 Pirate victory) ... Herring, like Carden, is a sophomore who did not earn a letter as a redshirt freshman ... Following Carden's successful tenure as ECU's field general, the Pirates utilized all transfers at the QB position - Blake Kemp (2015), James Summers (2015), Philip Nelson (2016), Gardner Minshew (2016, 2017) and Thomas Sirk (2017) – a three-year span that unfortunately produced an overall record of 11-25 and the program's longest bowl drought since 2002-2005.
A STARTERS' LOG ...
NB Devon Sutton (11 games) and OT Garrett McGhin (9) own the program's longest starting streaks on their respective side of the ball entering the N.C. A&T 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 ...
The Pirates have recorded a scoring throw in 75 of their last 82 games (run of 12-straight) ... Under Scottie Montgomery (2016-18), ECU ranks 5th nationally in most 4th down conversions (41) and 4th in most 4th down conversion attempts (69) ... The Pirates have dropped 27-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 168 games (5,040 days or since Nov. 20, 2004 vs. Memphis) - the sixth-longest current drought in FBS (only Rice, UNLV, New Mexico, Kent State and Tulane have gone longer without a "successful" punt return).
