East Carolina University
Temple
Gameday: ECU Hosts Temple In Thursday Night Matchup
October 02, 2019 | Football
| Temple at ECU (Game 6) | |
| Date | Thursday, Oct. 3 |
| Time | 8:00 P.M. (EDT) |
| Location | Greenville, N.C. (Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium) |
| Tickets & Parking | Tickets | Parking |
| Live Game Coverage | Radio: WNCT 107.9FM | TuneIn Radio Online Television: ESPN |
| Internet Options | Live Stats |
| Official Web Sites | ECU | Temple | American Athletic Conference |
| Game Notes | ECU | Temple | The American |
| 2019 Statistics | ECU | Temple |
| ECU Football Central | ECU Media Hub | Roster | The American | NCAA Football | College Scoreboard |
| Official Social Media Sites | |
| ECU | The American | |
| ECU | ECU Football (in-game updates) | The American | |
| Twitter Hashtags | #ECUGameday | #PirateNation | #AmericanFB |
| ECU | The American | |
GREENVILLE, N.C. – East Carolina will attempt to capture its eighth victory in the last 11 conference home openers when it welcomes Temple to Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium for a primetime American Athletic Conference tilt. After knocking off Old Dominion 24-21 last week, the Pirates will look to push their record to 4-2 for the first time since 2013 when they battle the Owls. Additionally, ECU will be vying to capture its third-straight victory (a first since 2014), extend its home winning streak to four in a row and post its second consecutive league triumph in Greenville (dating back to '18).
ECU RECORDS AND STREAKS
- Qualified for 10 bowl appearances since 2000 (eight in the last 13 years) ...
- Has thrown at least one touchdown pass in nine of the last 12 games (16 TD throws) ...
- Has made at least one field goal (when attempted) in 16-straight games ...
- Has booked 56 tackles for lost yardage in the last eight games (7.0 pg) ...
- Has allowed just two (2) TD passes in last 4 games (0.5 pg) ...
- Has won 37 of the last 40 games when leading at the half ...
- Has won three straight (and five of the last eight) home games ...
- Has won seven of its last 10 conference home openers ...
THE SERIES
Officially, the series is tied 8-8 ... On the field however, Temple has captured wins in nine of the 16 matchups, but the Owls' 45-28 victory in 1986 was later forfeited to the Pirates because of the utilization of an ineligible player ... ECU only has triumphs in three of seven meetings in Greenville, but is 5-4 against Temple in Philadelphia ... In American Athletic Conference play since 2014, the Owls have never lost to the Pirates (5-0).
MIKE HOUSTON AGAINST THE OWLS
Including Mike Houston's prior eight-year tenure as a collegiate head coach at Lenoir-Rhyne, The Citadel and James Madison, Thursday's game will mark his first-ever meeting against Temple.
ROD CAREY AGAINST THE PIRATES
Thursday will also mark Rod Carey's first-ever matchup against the Pirates ... East Carolina has never faced Minnesota, Wisconsin-Stout and North Dakota in its history or competed against Illinois State (2007) and Northern Illinois (2011-2018) while Carey was a member of those two staffs as an assistant or head coach.
DEFENSE, SPECIAL TEAMS SPARK OWLS' SERIES RESURGENCE
During its current five-game win streak against the Pirates, Temple has forced a total of nine turnovers and penetrated the East Carolina backfield on a consistent basis as evidenced by a total of 47.0 tackles for lost yardage and 19.0 sacks ... The Owls have also limited ECU's rushing attack to just 91.6 yards per game.
DEGREE(S) OF SEPARATION - TEMPLE & ECU
While at Northern Illinois, current Temple head man Rod Carey was promoted to the Huskies' top football position on Dec. 2, 2012 (following the departure of Dave Doeren and prior to an Orange Bowl appearance) by then-NIU Director of Athletics Jeff Compher ... Compher served as ECU's AD from March 6, 2013 to May 1, 2018.
THE AMERICAN - YEAR SIX
East Carolina has posted an 82-68 (.547) all-time mark against current members of the American Conference ... The Pirates currently sport series records against Memphis (15-8), Cincinnati (13-9), Tulane (11-5), UCF (10-7), Temple (8-8), Tulsa (8-6), Houston (7-7), Connecticut (4-1), SMU (4-3), Navy (1-6) and USF (1-8).
THE EAST HAS BEEN A BEAST
ECU owns a 5-15 mark (3-7/home, 2-8/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 trio of victories vs. Connecticut (41-3/'16, 41-38/'17, 55-21/'18) and a 48-20 triumph against Cincinnati on Senior Day in 2017 represents the only quartet of triumphs ... In all, ECU is 3-1 vs. UConn, 1-3 vs. UCF, 1-3 vs. Cincinnati, 0-4 vs. Temple and 0-4 vs. USF while competing as division mates ... On the flipside, ECU is 2-11 against the West (1-1 vs. SMU, 1-1 vs. Tulsa, 0-2 vs. Houston, 0-2 vs. Memphis, 0-2 vs. Tulane, 0-3 vs. Navy).
2019 East Opponents: Temple (Oct. 3), @UCF (Oct. 19), USF (Oct. 26), Cincinnati (Nov. 2), @UConn (Nov. 23)
2019 West Opponents: @Navy/L 42-10 (Sept. 14), @SMU (Nov. 9), Tulsa (Nov. 30)
LEAGUE, NON-LEAGUE STATISTICAL COMPARISONS
The Pirates booked 10 points, 84 rushing yards, 138 passing yards and just 222 total yards against Navy on Sept. 14 in their only American Athletic Conference game of the 2019 season thus far ... By comparison, ECU averaged 24.3 points, 195.8 rushing yards, 212.2 passing yards and 408.0 total yards per game in its four regular season non-conference contests this year ... The Pirates followed a 2-2 non-league ledger in 2018 with a 3-1 mark this fall and hope to improve their AAC record to 1-1 (1-7 last season) when they square off against Temple.
COMPARING 10-YEAR, FIVE-GAME RESULTS
ECU's 24-21 victory at Old Dominion marks the first time since 2015 (and fourth time in the last 10 seasons) the Pirates have "opened" the season with a 3-2 record ... A win over Temple would give the Pirates a 4-2 ledger for the first time since 2013 (and on three occasions in a 10-year span ... Additionally, the 4-2 record would match ECU's second-best six-game mark since 2010 (5-1 in 2014).
AT DOWDY-FICKLEN STADIUM - 2-0 IN 2019
ECU's all-time record at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium is 191-102 (.652) ... 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 3-4 record last year and an 8-11 combined mark in 2015, 2016 & 2017, 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 has posted 39 winning campaigns at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium since 1963.
THE PIRATE NATION - OVER 8.7 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 among conference attendance leaders on a near annual basis ... In all, a total of 8,768,024 fans have seen the Pirates in action since 1963, and since the completion of a 7,000-seat expansion project in 2010 (to push capacity to 50,000), the Pirates have drawn 2,496,738 fans (43,047 per game).
AMERICAN ATTENDANCE LEADERS (2014-2019)
Since becoming a member of the American Athletic Conference in 2014, East Carolina leads the league in attendance average over a collective five-plus-year period.
ANYTIME, ANYWHERE
The Pirates have faced off against 16 regular season opponents from the "Autonomy Five" conferences in the last six-plus years ... Since 2013, East Carolina has captured wins in nearly half of those.
AGAINST NON-CONFERENCE OPPONENTS
Since accepting membership in a conference, the Pirates have produced a 38-55 (.409) regular season nonleague record ... ECU claimed its first winning non-conference mark since 2014 with a 3-1 ledger this year.
SHUTOUT-FREE ... 271 AND COUNTING
ECU will enter the Temple contest with an active streak of 271 games of not suffering a shutout – a school record (previous mark was 110 set from '71-'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, East Carolina is 3-3-0 in August, 130-119-1 in September, 162-158-4 in October, 139-127-5 in November, 9-10-0 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 10 of its last 12 games (and 10 of the last 11 American Athletic Conference battles) dating back to 2015 ... At home however, ECU has won 13 of the last 18 (13-5) conference contests in October dating back to 2006, falling only to Temple (2015, 2017), UCF (2016, 2018) and Houston (2018) ... In fact, Temple snapped East Carolina's 12-game home league October winning streak (which began in '06) on Oct. 22, 2015 with a 24-14 setback ... Including that loss, the Pirates are just 1-5 in those "type" games since.
NON-SATURDAY MAYHEM
East Carolina will head into its meeting with Temple at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium having split (4-4) its last eight Thursday contests since 2010, which includes an earlier 24-14 setback to the Owls at home in 2015 ... However, the Pirates will try to make it two in row after knocking off UCF 44-7 in its last Thursday night encounter later during the 2015 season ... Overall, ECU is 20-25 in non-Saturday games since 2000 and oddly have fared better on the road (14-12) than at home (6-13).
ANALYZING THE 2019 OVERALL SCHEDULE
ECU's 2019 opponents posted a combined 70-77 (.476) record in 2018 ... The Pirates' four non-conference foes were 20-26 (.435), while the eight AAC squads tallied a 50-51 (.495) mark ... Two programs had 10 or more wins, including UCF (12) and Cincinnati (11):
WHO WENT BOWLING ... In all, ECU's slate features contests against fi ve teams which advanced to bowl games a year ago ... In addition to NC State (TaxSlayer Gator), USF (Bad Boy Mowers Gasparilla), Temple (Walk-On's Independence), Cincinnati (Military) and UCF (PlayStation Fiesta) each made postseason appearances last season ... Half of ECU's six home games will be against 2018 bowl qualifiers.
IN THE FINAL POLLS ... Three of ECU's opponents were ranked or received votes in college football's two major polls (Associated Press/Amway Coaches) to end the 2018 season - UCF (11/12), Cincinnati (24/23) and NC State (RV/RV) ... The Knights (8th) were also included on the last CFP ranking prior to falling to LSU in the Fiesta Bowl.
BEEN THROUGH THE WARS
ECU's (10) assistant coaches bring an impressive 181 combined years of full-time Division I coaching experience to the Pirate program ... In addition, members of Mike Houston's staff have also turned in 33 combined seasons as a coordinator at college football's top level (FBS) ...ECU's staff also has two former collegiate head coaches - Donnie Kirkpatrick (Chattanooga/2000-02) and Byron Thweatt (Virginia State/2015).
MUCH IS BACK ... STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
Offensively, the Pirates returned 74 percent of their rushing yards (1,156 of 1,556) and an even more impressive 99 percent of their passing yards (3,396 of 3,417) from a year ago ... On defense, ECU welcomed back over 60 percent of its tackles (539 of 888) and nearly 64 percent of its turnover production (seven of 11; 3/5 interceptions and 4/6 fumble recoveries) … From a scoring standpoint, players who accounted for 192 of East Carolina's 273 points last season are on the 2019 active roster (70 percent).
LOOKING TOWARD THE FUTURE
The Pirates return 63.8 percent of their lettermen from a year ago, yet features a lineup which includes 49 freshmen (32 true, 17 redshirt) - which represents 46.7 percent of East Carolina's 2019 roster (and stands among the Top 20 "youngest" teams nationally).
2019 REDSHIRT TRACKER
The Pirates have utilized eight (8) true rookies so far in 2019 - four on offense and four on defense - and six (italics) have surpassed the four-game "limit" mandated by the NCAA: DL Rick D'Abreu (4 games played), CB Malik Fleming (5), IR Jsi Hatfield (5), DL Immanuel Hickman (1), OR C.J. Johnson (5), TE Jeremy Lewis (5), RB Demetrius Mauney (5) and CB Ja'Quan McMillian (5).
FIRST-TIME STARTERS
East Carolina has featured only eight (8) first-time starters in its first five games so far this year - six on the offensive side of the ball (RG Sean Bailey, TE Zech Byrd, RB Trace Christian, OR C.J. Johnson, RT Matt Morgan, OR Mydreon Vines) and two more on defense (CB Ja'Quan McMillian, OLB Gerard Stringer) ... The Pirates had 19 first-time starters in '18 after "introducing" a program record 25 first-timers a year earlier in 2017.
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 five-plus-year period despite utilizing eight starting quarterbacks, four offensive coordinators and three head coaches: 1. ECU (309.7), 2. Memphis (282.5), 3. Cincinnati (269.1), 4. Houston (258.4) and 5. UCF (251.8) ... In addition, the Pirates also top the league in completions (1,758), attempts (2,929) and total air yards (20,440) ... ECU has also accounted for a conference-high 16 400-yard passing games.
1K RECEIVER = LOOKING FOR EIGHT-STRAIGHT YEARS
ECU has featured at least one 1,000-yard receiver in seven-straight seasons heading into the 2019 campaign, which ranks first at the FBS level … ECU 1,000-yard receivers include: 2012 Justin Hardy (1,105), 2013 Hardy (1,284), 2014 Hardy (1,494) and Cam Worthy (1,016), 2015 Zay Jones (1,099), 2016 Jones (1,746), 2017 Trevon Brown (1,069) and 2018 Brown (1,123) ... ECU also has the top two receivers in the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision history by career receptions in Jones (399 from 2013-16) and Hardy (387 from 2011-2014) and have produced 10 1,000-yard pass catchers over the last decade - which ranks first nationally (with SMU).
DEFENSIVE FCS DOMINANCE FOR TROTT
First-year ECU Defensive Coordinator Bob Trott built quite a formidable unit during his recent tenure in the same role at James Madison ... During a three-year span from 2016 to 2018, JMU collectively ranked first nationally at the FCS level in turnovers forced (97), interceptions (66) and defensive pass efficiency (99.8), while standing second in scoring defense (15.7), third in completion percentage (50.4) and yards per pass attempt (5.91), fourth in sacks (111) and sixth in total defense (296.9) ... In all, he tutored seven FCS All-America selections, a national and CAA Defensive Player-of-the-Year.
DEFENDING DIFFERENTLY ... X3-PLUS
From a clean record-keeping standpoint it's perhaps easier to say that East Carolina is one of 11 FBS programs to employ three different defensive coordinators in the last three seasons - Alabama, Akron, Bowling Green, Coastal Carolina, East Carolina, Georgia Tech, Kentucky, Louisville, Temple, Tennessee and Texas State ... However, it would be more accurate to state the Pirates are the only team to have used 3-plus DCs since opening the 2017 campaign.
NO PASSING ZONE?
ECU's defense has allowed only three TD passes so far, which stands as the fewest in a season opening five-game span over the last 10 years ... Additionally, the Pirates have netted five picks - the second-highest total in the same time frame.
VERITY AMONG NATIONAL ACTIVE CAREER LEADERS
Junior Jake Verity, who earned AAC Specialist-of-the-Week honors following the William & Mary game, currently stands fourth in career FGs made per game (FBS).
NON-OFFENSIVE SCORING ... IT'S BEEN AWHILE
When Warren Saba blocked an Old Dominion punt attempt and returned it for a touchdown on Saturday, it marked the first time since 2015 that East Carolina scored via its special teams unit (Yiannis Bowden vs. BYU on Oct. 15) - a span of 47 games ... Defensively, the Pirates haven't been responsible for a touchdown since Oct. 30, 2015 when DaShawn Benton returned an interception 32 yards to paydirt - a span of 45 contests.
THIS & THAT ...
IR Deondre Farrier has an active streak of recording at least one reception in 17-straight contests heading into the Temple tilt (last five in '17, all seven games played in '18 and all five outings in '19) ... NT Alex Turner has booked at least one TFL in each contest this season (6.0 for -29 yards) ... OR Blake Proehl, who currently leads ECU with 20 catches, has averaged 25.2 yards per reception in his two games (4-51/William & Mary, 2-100/Old Dominion) ... DE Kendall Futrell posted career-bests in sacks (3.0) and TFLs (3.5) at ODU, and has now booked four more stops in all five contests this year ... At 5-foot-7, RS/IR Tyler Snead is the third-shortest (by height) returner at the FBS level in 2019, towering above Oregon State's Champ Flemings (5-5), New Mexico's Chad Alexander (5-6) and Arizona's J.J. Taylor (5-6) ... East Carolina has held opponents to a combined 2 points in the second half of their last three home games (i.e. no points surrendered by the defense) - 0 vs. UConn, 2 vs. GWU, 0 vs. W&M ... The Pirates have received the opening kickoff in all five contests in 2019 (2-3 on coin tosses) ... ECU's has dropped 35 in a row when trailing after the 3rd QTR - last win vs. USF (14-17, won 28-17) in 2014.
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