East Carolina University
Navy
Gameday: ECU Travels To Navy For AAC Opener
September 11, 2019 | Football
| ECU at Navy (Game 3) | |
| Date | Saturday, Sept. 14 |
| Time | 3:30 P.M. (EDT) |
| Location | Annapolis, Md. (Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium) |
| Tickets & Parking | Tickets | Parking |
| Live Game Coverage | Radio: WNCT 107.9FM | TuneIn Radio Online Television: CBSSN |
| Internet Options | Live Stats |
| Official Web Sites | ECU | Navy | American Athletic Conference |
| Game Notes | ECU | Navy | The American |
| 2019 Statistics | ECU | Navy |
| 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 officially open its 2019 American Athletic Conference schedule by traveling to Annapolis for a 3:30 p.m. (ET) matchup against Navy on Saturday. The contest against the Midshipmen will mark the third-straight year (and fourth time in the last five seasons) that the Pirates will begin league play on the road. ECU will be vying to post its first 2-1 mark since 2016 when it faces Navy before returning to non-conference action for the remainder of September with a home contest against William & Mary and road tilt at Old Dominion to follow.
ECU RECORDS AND STREAKS
- Qualified for 10 bowl appearances since 2000 (eight in the last 13 years) ...
- Has accounted for 400 or more total yards in nine of the last 13 games ...
- Has thrown at least one touchdown pass in seven of the last nine games (13 TD throws) ...
- Has made at least one field goal (when attempted) in 13-straight games ...
- Has booked 31 tackles for lost yardage in the last five games (6.2 pg) ...
- Has won 35 of the last 38 games when leading at the half ...
- Has won eight of its last 11 conference games played in September ...
- Has won four of its last six conference road games played in September ...
THE SERIES
Navy leads 5-1 ... The Midshipmen posted 28-23 and 76-35 victories to open the series in 2006 and 2010, respectively, before ECU used Dominique Davis' record-setting 40-of-45 passing effort to post its first (and only) win in 2011 ... Navy triumphs in 2015 and 2016 marked the first AAC matchups between the two programs.
HOUSTON AGAINST THE MIDSHIPMEN
Mike Houston has never faced Navy during his eight-year head coaching career.
PIRATE COACHING LEAGUE DEBUTS
First-year East Carolina head football coaches have compiled a modern era record of 1-3 when making their conference debut ... Only Ruffin McNeill captured his league opener, using a 33-yard "Hail Mary" pass from Dominique Davis to Justin Jones with no time remaining to lift the Pirates past Tulsa on Sept. 5, 2010.
NIUMATALOLO AGAINST THE PIRATES
Ken Niumatalolo will face East Carolina as a head coach for the sixth (4-1) time Saturday ... He was on the Navy staff as an assistant head coach during the series opener, but did not square off against the Pirates during his earlier tenures at Hawai'i or UNLV.
PIRATES AGAINST THE ARMED FORCES (9-5)
The Pirates' eight wins against Army (8-0 series record) and the six contests versus Navy represent the only meetings East Carolina has had against the nation's military academies who annually compete for the C-I-C Trophy ... ECU has never faced Air Force since beginning its football program in 1932.
THE AMERICAN - YEAR SIX
East Carolina has posted an 82-67 (.550) 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 (1-5) and USF (1-8).
AGAINST THE WILD "WEST"
ECU owns a 2-10 regular season mark (1-5/home, 1-5/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, Houston, Memphis and Tulane ... On the flipside, the Pirates own a 5-15 mark (3-7/home, 2-8/road) against AAC opponents in its own East Division ... ECU's 44-7 victory against UCF in its '15 road finale, a trio of wins vs. Connecticut (41-3 in 2016, 41-38 in 2017 and 55-21 in 2018) and a 48-20 triumph vs. Cincinnati on Senior Day in 2017 represents the five successful outings.
FINALLY MOVING OUT OF STATE
Saturday's matchup at Navy will represent the first time since Nov. 23, 2018 (at Cincinnati; span of three games) that East Carolina will face an out-of-state opponent after closing the '18 campaign and opening the '19 season at NC State, and following with a contest against Gardner-Webb ... In all, ECU is 57-64-1 (.471) when playing programs from the state of North Carolina (in order of victories): 18-3 vs. Western Carolina, 13-18 vs. NC State, 12-19 vs. Appalachian State, 5-5 vs. Duke, 5-12-1 vs. UNC, 2-6 vs. Wake Forest, 1-0 vs. Gardner-Webb, 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 or Elon in the modern era ... Through 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:
Appalachian State - 2021, 2023, 2024, 2026
NC State - 2022, 2025, 2028
Charlotte - 2024, 2025
Wake Forest - 2027, 2028
ON THE ROAD
Since becoming a conference member in 1997, ECU is 55-88 (.385) when playing away from Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium ... The Pirates will try to halt a current nine-game road losing streak when they face Navy on Saturday and try to improve an 1-16 mark since 2016 (only win at Connecticut in 2017).
AMERICAN ATTENDANCE LEADERS (2014-2019)
Since becoming a member of the American Athletic Conference in 2014, East Carolina leads the league in overall attendance and average over a collective five-plus-year period ... The Pirates have led the AAC in regular season attendance average three times - 2014, 2016 and 2017 ... Overall on the FBS level, ECU currently ranks 65th nationally in average (34,118) and 94th in capacity percentage (68.24). In all, a total of 8,729,930 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 2,458,644 fans (43,134 per game).
LEAGUE, NON-LEAGUE STATISTICAL COMPARISONS IN '18
In its four regular season non-conference contests (2-2) last year, ECU averaged 26.0 points, 124.5 rushing yards, 247.5 passing yards and 372.0 total yards per game ... By comparison, the Pirates averaged 21.1 points, 132.2 rushing yards, 303.4 passing yards and 435.6 total yards in their eight (USF, Temple, Houston, UCF, Memphis, Tulane, UConn, Cincinnati) American Conference games of the 2018 season that produced an 1-7 record.
AGAINST NON-CONFERENCE OPPONENTS
Since accepting membership in a conference, the Pirates have produced a 36-55 (.396) regular season nonleague record ... ECU claimed its fi rst winning non-conference mark since 1999 with 3-1 ledgers in 2013 and 2014 before following with 2-2 marks in 2015 & 2016, a 1-3 standing in 2017 and another 2-2 clip in 2018.
COMPARING 10-YEAR, TWO-GAME RESULTS
ECU's 48-9 win against Gardner-Webb evened the Pirates' record at 1-1 for the fifth time in the last eight years (since 2012), two of which resulted in bowl appearances (2012 and 2014) ... A victory over Navy would give ECU a 2-1 ledger for the fifth time in the last 10 seasons, but a loss against the Midshipmen would be the Pirates' second-straight 1-2 mark (and third since 2015).
SHUTOUT-FREE ... 268 AND COUNTING
ECU will enter the Navy contest with an active streak of 268 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, 128-118-1 in September, 162-158-4 in October, 139-127-5 in November, 9-10-0 in December and 1-4-0 in January ... Overall, the Pirates are 1-0 this season and were 2-2 last year, but have captured eight of the last 11 (8-3) games against conference foes in the ninth month (only losses were to Navy in 2015, USF in 2017 and 2018) ... On the road, ECU has won four of its last six (4-2) September league matchups dating back to 2007 while a member of Conference USA and the American Athletic Conference - posting victories at Connecticut (2017), Southern Miss (2012), Tulane (2008) and Houston (2007), while falling at USF (2018) and Navy (2015).
ANALYZING THE 2019 OVERALL SCHEDULE
ECU's 2019 scheduled 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 collective 50-51 (.495) mark ... Two programs had 10 or more wins, including UCF (12) and Cincinnati (11) ... Some other notables:
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.
THURSDAY NIGHT LIGHTS ... ECU will head into its Oct. 3 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.
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 (UTChattanooga/2000-02) and Byron Thweatt (Virginia State/2015).
MUCH IS BACK ... STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
Offensively, the Pirates return 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 welcomes 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).
"EXPERIENCED" FRESHMEN - 2018 TO 2019
While 18 true freshman experienced action in 2018, only nine surpassed the four-game limit mandated by the NCAA ... That said, the other nine return as "experienced" redshirt freshmen: IR Maceo Donald (3 games played), DL Damir Faison (2), DL Dorian Hardy (2), DB Damel Hickman (4), OR Andre Pegues (1), DB Jaren Rainey (1), IR Tyler Snead (4) and DB Jireh Wilson (2) ... Pegues, Rainey, Snead and Wilson have "returned to action" in 2019, earning reps against NC State and/or Gardner-Webb.
"INEXPERIENCED" FRESHMEN - 2019 TO 2020
In addition to the four redshirt freshman mentioned above, the Pirates have utilized eight (8) true rookies so far in 2019 - four on offense and four on defense ... Those who have experience action include DL Rick D'Abreu (1 game played), CB Malik Fleming (2), IR Jsi Hatfield (2), DL Immanuel Hickman (1), OR C.J. Johnson (2), TE Jeremy Lewis (2), RB Demetrius Mauney (2) and DB Ja'Quan McMillian (2)... McMillian has earned starts in the first two contests and has logged five tackles, two pass breakups and an interception, while Mauney turned in his first career 100-yard rushing outing (13-107) against Gardner-Webb last week.
FIRST-TIME STARTERS
East Carolina has featured five (5) first-time starters in its first two games so far this year – three on the offensive side of the ball (RG Sean Bailey, RT Matt Morgan, OR Mydreon Vines) and two more on defense (CB Ja'Quan McMillian, OLB Gerard Stringer) ... The Pirates had 19 (13/offense, 6/defense) first-time starters in 2018 after "introducing" a program-record 25 first-timers a year earlier in 2017
NINE OF 10 ISN'T BAD
In each of last nine seasons (since 2010), ECU has logged Top 10 entries in the school's single season passing yards list ... The top three units - 2014 (4,835), 2013 (4,265) and 2010 (4,143) - had a common coaching denominator of sorts as current offensive coordinator Donnie Kirkpatrick served on Ruffin McNeill's staff as the Pirates' inside receivers mentor ... By the way, the 1991 Peach Bowl squad is the lone "outlier" at No. 9.
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 (315.8), 2. Memphis (283.1), 3. Cincinnati (268.9), 4. Houston (264.3) and 5. UCF (253.2) ... In addition, the Pirates also top the league in completions (1,719), attempts (2,851) and total air yards (19,895) ... 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 ... Trevon Brown helped the Pirates extend the streak in 2018 by surpassing the 1K mark (for the second consecutive year) vs. UConn … 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).
DECADE-PLUS RECEIVING LEADERS
In the last decade (since 2008), ECU has produced 10 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).
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 choice and 18 all-league picks while guiding the Dukes' "D" ... Trott was named FCS Defensive Coordinator-of-the-Year by FootballScoop.com in 2017.
TEACHING A NEW WAY TO TACKLE ... AGAIN
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.
2X100 - A RUNNING (BACK) RARITY
When Darius Pinnix (134) and Demetrius Mauney (107) each turned in 100-yard rushing performances against Gardner-Webb, it marked the first time since 2003 that multiple East Carolina running backs eclipsed the century mark in the same contest (and only the sixth time in the last 40 years) … Quarterbacks Leander Green (1979), Carlton Nelson (1980, 1982), Jeff Blake (1990) and Holton Ahlers (2018) also teamed with one running back for five other Pirate double-triples.
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