East Carolina University
William & Mary
Gameday: ECU Returns Home To Host William & Mary
September 19, 2019 | Football
| William & Mary at ECU (Game 4) | |
| Date | Saturday, Sept. 21 |
| Time | 6:00 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: ESPN3/Watch ESPN |
| Internet Options | Live Stats |
| Official Web Sites | ECU | William & Mary | American Athletic Conference |
| Game Notes | ECU | William & Mary | The American |
| 2019 Statistics | ECU | William & Mary |
| 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 close out its 2019 home non-conference schedule by welcoming William & Mary to Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium Saturday for a 6:00 p.m. contest. The Pirates will try to even their record at 2-2 after suffering a 42-10 setback against Navy in the American Athletic Conference opener last week in Annapolis. The battle against the Tribe also represents the final (of two) matchups against Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) members in '19 for ECU, which used 365 rushing yards to down Gardner-Webb 48-9 on Sept. 7 in Greenville.
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 seven of the last 10 games (13 TD throws) ...
- Has made at least one field goal (when attempted) in 14-straight games ...
- Has booked 38 tackles for lost yardage in the last six games (6.3 pg) ...
- Has won 35 of the last 38 games when leading at the half ...
- Has won four of the last five (and eight of the last 11) non-conference home games ...
- Has averaged 42.0 ppg in the last three non-conference home games (126 total points) ...
- Has won 26 of 29 games against FCS opponents ...
THE SERIES
East Carolina leads 12-4-1 ... The Pirates have captured six of the last seven (and 11 of the last 13) meetings between the two programs ... ECU and William & Mary played each other for 13-straight seasons (1971 to 1983) before observing a 17-year hiatus prior to a 2001 matchup at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium ... The Pirates have won six of nine in Greenville, but have never lost a contest to the Tribe in Williamsburg (6-0-1).
HOUSTON AGAINST THE TRIBE (3-0)
Mike Houston has faced William & Mary three times during his eight-year head coaching career, all Colonial Athletic Association battles which occurred during his tenure at James Madison.
LONDON AGAINST THE PIRATES (0-1)
While Mike London has never faced East Carolina as a head coach (until Saturday), he has compiled an 0-1 mark against the Pirates as an assistant during his overall 30-year full-time coaching career.
ECU COACHING TIES TO THE COMMONWEALTH
East Carolina's current staff , including head man Mike Houston, has a spent a combined 79 "full-time" years coaching at the collegiate level in the state of Virginia at six different institutions.
ECU COACHING TIES TO MIKE LONDON
Three Pirate coaches worked or played in programs with current William & Mary HC Mike London when the latter either served as a head coach or assistant at Richmond and Virginia ... Additionally, ECU defensive coordinator Bob Trott was on the UVA staff in 2009, one year prior to London's top appointment in Charlottesville:
Jeff Hanson (under London) - associate head coach, DL coach & recruiting coordinator at Richmond (2008-09); assistant head coach, DL coach & recruiting coordinator at Virginia (2010-12) ...
Jeff Hanson (with London) - DB coach at Richmond (1989-90, 1996-96) while London was OLB coach ... Interestingly, Hanson was also the Spiders' LB coach when London was a rostered freshman in 1979 ...
Fontel Mines (under London) - was a WR at Virginia when London served as the Cavaliers' defensive coordinator (2006) and when he was UVA's DL coach and recruiting coordinator (2003-04) ...
Byron Thweatt (under London) - was a defensive graduate assistant at Virginia when London was defensive coordinator (2006); assistant DL coach (2008) and TE coach/special teams coordinator at Richmond (2009).
ECU AGAINST THE STATE OF VIRGINIA
The Pirates are 43-33-1 (.565) all-time in matchups against current Division I (FBS/FCS) programs from the state of Virginia ... In addition to its 12-4-1 mark against William & Mary, ECU is 13-11 vs. Richmond, 7-1 vs. VMI, 7-15 vs. Virginia Tech, 2-1 vs. Virginia, 2-0 vs. Old Dominion and 0-1 vs. James Madison.
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).
AGAINST NON-CONFERENCE OPPONENTS
Since accepting membership in a conference, the Pirates have produced a 36-55 (.396) regular season non-league 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.
AGAINST THE FCS
The Pirates currently own an all-time 26-3 record against programs that currently compete or competed on the Football Championship Subdivision (formerly NCAA Division I-AA) level when the game was played ... Among all of the Pirates' previous FCS opponents, Appalachian State (2-0), Georgia Southern (3-0), UCF (2-0), Southwest Texas State (1-0, now referred to as Texas State), have since made the transition to the FBS level.
AT DOWDY-FICKLEN STADIUM - 1-0 IN 2019
ECU's all-time record at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium is 190-102 (.651) ... 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 - NEARLY 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 8,729,930 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).
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 … 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 69th nationally in average (34,118) and 89th in capacity percentage (68.24).
NON-LEAGUE, LEAGUE STATISTICAL COMPARISONS IN '18 & '19
Prior to opening AAC play at Navy last week, the Pirates scored 54 points (27.0 ppg), rushed for 406 yards (203.0 ypg), passed for 437 yards (218.5) and accounted for 843 total yards (421.5), while surrendering 21.5 points, 115.0 (rush), 230.5 (pass) and 345.5 (total) yards per contests in their two non-conference games so far this year to compile a 1-1 record (following a loss to NC State and a victory over Gardner-Webb) ... In four regular season non-conference contests (2-2) in 2018, 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.
COMPARING 10-YEAR, THREE-GAME RESULTS
East Carolina's 42-10 loss at Navy last week dropped the Pirates' record to 1-2 for the second straight year (and third time in the last five seasons) ... A victory over William & Mary would give ECU a 2-2 mark in back-to-back campaigns and for the sixth time in the last 10 seasons, but a loss against the Tribe would be the Pirates' second 1-3 ledger in the previous three years (and third since 2010).
SHUTOUT-FREE ... 269 AND COUNTING
ECU will enter the William & Mary contest with an active streak of 269 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, 128-119-1 in September, 162-158-4 in October, 139-127-5 in November, 9-10-0 in December and 1-4-0 in January ... At Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium, ECU has rolled to a 13-5 mark when playing in September since 2012 - 1-0 so far in 2019, 2-1 in 2018, 0-3 in 2017, 2-0 in 2016, 2-0 in 2015, 2-0 in 2014, 2-1 in 2013 and 2-0 in 2012 ... Strangely, East Carolina has the exact same amount of victories over Power 5 opponents (4; 2 vs. North Carolina, 1 vs. NC State, 1 vs. Virginia Tech) as FCS foes (4) in September home contests since 2014 ... Lastly, the Pirates will be vying for their fourth-straight home September triumph when they meet William & Mary this Saturday.
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 five 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 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 ... Those who have experience action include DL Rick D'Abreu (2 games played), CB Malik Fleming (3), IR Jsi Hatfi eld (3), DL Immanuel Hickman (1), OR C.J. Johnson (3), TE Jeremy Lewis (3), RB Demetrius Mauney (3) and CB Ja'Quan McMillian (3)... McMillian has earned starts in the first three contests and has logged eight tackles, one TFL, two pass breakups and an interception, while Mauney turned in his first career 100-yard rushing outing (13-107) against GWU on Sept. 7 and Hatfield is currently the Pirates' second-leading receiver with seven catches (for 45 yards).
FIRST-TIME STARTERS
East Carolina has featured five (5) first-time starters in its first three 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 (313.0), 2. Memphis (281.7), 3. Cincinnati (265.3), 4. Houston (258.1) and 5. UCF (257.4) ... In addition, the Pirates also top the league in completions (1,730), attempts (2,874) and total air yards (20,033) ... 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 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.
RUSHING TO PAYDIRT ... A 15-YEAR SNAPSHOT
East Carolina's six (6) rushing touchdowns so far ranks as the program's second-highest total in the first three games of a season since 2004 - a span of 15 years.
EFFECTIVE DAMAGE CONTROL
After NC State converted East Carolina's first turnover of the year into a touchdown, the Pirate defense has done some impressive damage control since.
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.
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.
DOUBLE-TRIPLE ... A RUNNING RARITY
When Darius Pinnix (134) and Demetrius Mauney (107) each turned in 100-yard rushing performances against Gardner-Webb in the Pirates' last home game, 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.
THIS & THAT ...
IR Deondre Farrier has an active streak of recording at least one reception in 15-straight contests heading into the William & Mary tilt (last fi ve in '17, all seven games played in '18 and all three outings in '19) ... NT Alex Turner has booked at least one TFL in each contest this season (5.0 for 27 yards), while netting a combined 3.0 sacks (-21 yards) against Gardner-Webb and Navy ... SS Daniel Charles and OLB Gerard Stringer each turned in career-high tackle performances (9) at Navy last week ... Stringer has now been credited with at least one stop in 10 of 11 career games ... ILB Xavier Smith is the only Pirate defender to have posted six more tackles in every contest this season (and currently leads ECU with 23 total stops) ... ECU has outscored its opponents 20-10 in fourth-quarter action so far this season ... The Pirates have scored 40 or more points (48.0 ppg) in its last three home contests (48/GWU '19, 55/UCONN '18, 41/MEM '18).
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