East Carolina University
Temple
Gameday: ECU Travels To Temple
November 19, 2020 | Football
| East Carolina at Temple (Game 8) | |
| Date: | Saturday, Nov. 21 |
| Time: | 12 Noon (EST) |
| Location: | Philadelphia, Pa. (Lincoln Financial Field) |
| Game Program: | Temple Program |
| 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 |
| Statistics: | ECU | Temple |
| ECU Football Central: | ECU Media Hub | Roster | ECU Yearbook | NCAA Football | College Scoreboard |
| Official Social Media Sites | |
| Facebook: | ECU | The American |
| Twitter: | ECU | ECU Football (in-game updates) | The American |
| Twitter Hashtags: | #ECUGameday | #PirateNation | #AmericanFB |
| Instagram: | ECU | The American |
GREENVILLE, N.C. – East Carolina will close out its 2020 regular season road schedule when it travels to Philadelphia on Saturday for a 12 noon (ET) American Athletic Conference matchup against Temple at Lincoln Financial Field. The Pirates will try to post their first-ever league win against the Owls while also wrapping up a two-game road swing that opened with a 55-17 setback at No. 7 Cincinnati last Friday. ECU will attempt to capture multiple AAC road victories in the same season for the first time since 2015 after downing USF 44-24 in Tampa back on Oct. 10.
ECU RECORDS AND STREAKS
- Qualified for 10 bowl appearances since 2000 (eight in the last 14 years) ...
- Has averaged 400 total yards per game vs. AAC opponents this season ...
- Has scored on 38 of 43 redzone visits in its last 11 games (21-of-25 in 2020) ...
- Has kicked at least three field goals in four of the last six games ...
- Has forced at least one turnover in 17 of the last 18 games (12 total in the last six) ...
- Has tallied a total of 31.0 TLFs and 12.0 sacks in its last five games ...
- Has owned a combined 4:06 average edge in possession time so far in 2020 ...
- Has won 39 of the last 44 games when leading at the half (12-3 since 2015) ...
THE SERIES
Officially, Temple leads the series 9-8 ... On the field however, the Owls have captured wins in 10 of the 17 matchups, but their 45-28 victory in 1986 was later forfeited to the Pirates because of the utilization of an ineligible player ... ECU is 5-4 against Temple in Philadelphia, but only has triumphs in three of eight meetings in Greenville ... In American Athletic Conference play since 2014, the Owls have never lost to the Pirates (6-0).
MIKE HOUSTON AGAINST THE OWLS
East Carolina's 27-17 loss vs. Temple last year serves as Mike Houston's only prior meeting against the Owls.
ROD CAREY AGAINST THE PIRATES
Saturday's tilt will also mark Rod Carey's second matchup against the Pirates following last year's 27-17 victory at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium ... 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 staff s as an assistant or head coach.
TURNOVERS, TFLs & TOUGH TOTES TELLS TEMPLE TALE
During its current six-game win streak against the Pirates, Temple has forced a collective nine turnovers and penetrated the East Carolina backfield on a consistent basis as evidenced by a total of 55.0 tackles for lost yardage and 22.0 sacks ... Additionally, ECU has managed only a combined 69.0 rushing yards per game in its last five outings against the Owls, failing the crack triple-digits in each contest – 2015: 35-95, 1 TD; 2016: 27-42, 0 TD; 2017: 22-34, 0 TD; 2018: 28-76, 0 TD; 2019: 34-98, 0 TD ... On the other hand, Temple has averaged 183.4 ground yards per contest (13 TDs) during the same time frame ... The Owls' special teams squads have also caused some havoc with three blocked kicks (FG, two punts) and a punt return for a TD in 2018.
THE AMERICAN - YEAR SEVEN
East Carolina has posted a 79-78 (.503) all-time mark against current members of the American Conference ... The Pirates currently sport series records against Memphis (15-8), Cincinnati (13-11), Tulane (11-6), UCF (10-9), Tulsa (8-8), Temple (8-9), Houston (7-7), SMU (4-4), USF (2-9) and Navy (1-7) … Includes a 5-1 mark against former league member Connecticut.
AAC, NON-AAC STATISTICAL COMPARISONS
The Pirates have averaged 26.9 points, 134.9 rushing yards, 306.9 passing yards and 441.8 total yards in their 54 American Athletic Conference games since joining the league in 2014 ... By comparison, ECU averages 29.2 points, 144.2 rushing yards, 298.8 passing yards and 442.9 total yards per game in 25 non-conference contests.
ANALYZING THE 2020 OVERALL SCHEDULE
East Carolina's 2020 opponents posted a combined 72-44 (.621) record in 2019 ... The Pirates' only nonconference foe (Georgia State) was 7-6, while the eight AAC squads tallied a collective 65-38 (.631) mark ... Four programs had 10 or more wins - Cincinnati (11), Navy (11), Tulane (10) and UCF (10) ... Some other notables:
WHO WENT BOWLING ... In all, ECU's current slate features contests against seven teams that advanced to bowl games in 2019 - UCF (Bad Boy Mowers Gasparilla), Georgia State (Nova Home Loans Arizona), Navy (AutoZone Liberty), Tulane (Lockheed Martin Armed Forces), Cincinnati (TicketSmarter Birmingham), Temple (Military) and SMU (Cheribundi Boca Raton) ... All four of the Pirates' home games are against 2019 bowl qualifiers.
IN THE FINAL POLLS ... Four of ECU's 2020 opponents were ranked or received votes in college football's two major polls (Associated Press/USA Today Amway Coaches) to end the 2019 season - Navy (20/20), Cincinnati (21/21), UCF (24/24) and SMU (RV/RV).
ON THE ROAD
Since becoming a conference member in 1997, East Carolina is 58-94 (.382) when playing away from Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium ... The Pirates will now set their sights on improving their overall 2020 road slate to 2-3 when they meet Temple (win at USF, losses at Georgia State, Tulsa and Cincinnati) ... From an American Athletic Conference standpoint, ECU has dropped 11 of the last 14, but on the flipside, will try to post two "away" league triumphs in the same season for the first time since 2015 (49-23 and 44-7 wins at SMU and UCF, respectively).
THE PIRATE NATION - NEARLY 9 MILLION STRONG
East Carolina has usually been able to claim plenty of hometown support when playing at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium - establishing itself among conference attendance leaders on a near annual basis ... In all, a total of 8,901,966 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 2,630,680 fans.
CAUSE AND EFFECT (ECU's COVID-19 TIMELINE)
Like all programs across the country, East Carolina has also obviously been impacted by the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) throughout the 2020 season with practice pauses, game postponements and limited S-A availability (not to mention thrice weekly testing protocols, social distancing, limited travel parties, team bubble protection, etc...):
Practice Pause – August 20 to September 1 (12 days/preseason camp)
Game PPD's – Marshall (Aug. 29), South Carolina (Sept. 12), Norfolk State (Sept. 19)
Of Note – vs. Navy (Oct. 17); five two-deep players DNP, including QB Holton Ahlers
SHUTOUT-FREE ... 285 AND COUNTING
East Carolina will enter the Temple contest with an active streak of 285 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) ... ECU's 285-game run currently ranks among the Top 10 nationally (Florida leads all programs).
CHARTING THE PIRATES MONTH-BY-MONTH
In all, East Carolina is 3-3-0 in August, 130-120-1 in September, 163-164-4 in October, 140-132-5 in November, 9-10-0 in December and 1-4-0 in January ... The Pirates will continue November play at Temple, a month in which East Carolina has lost 16 of its last 20 contests (and 19 of 25 since the 2013 campaign) ... On the road, ECU has dropped 11 of the last 14, but will look to make two wins in its last three outings after downing Connecticut (2019) and falling to Cincinnati (last week) in its last pair of November "away" tilts ... Overall, the Pirates are 6-19 vs. the AAC in Month 11.
THE YOUTH MOVEMENT
East Carolina currently has 83 underclassmen in its program, which accounts for 72.2 percent of the Pirates' 2020 roster - the third-highest clip nationally … On the flipside, ECU has a combined 15 seniors/graduates on its roster, which is the 10th-lowest number nationally (Stanford has the fewest with 10, Colorado is second with 11).
GETTING THEIR FEET WET
The Pirates have utilized 19 true freshmen in their first seven games, 13 against UCF in the opener alone - nine offensive (TE Shane Calhoun, OL Isaiah Foote, QB Mason Garcia, RB Rahjai Harris, WR Taji Hudson, RB Keaton Mitchell, OL Jaquaez Powell, WR Tyler Savage, OL Walter Stribling), nine defensive (ILB Teylor Jackson, DB David Laney, DL Xavier McIver, DL Elijah Morris, DL Jason Romero, DL Jason Shuford, DL Kareem Stinson, DB Sean Tucker, DB Teagan Wilk) and one special teamer (P Luke Larsen) ... Harris has made the biggest impact on offense with a team-high 559 rushing yards on 115 carries, while Morris has recovered a unit-best two fumbles to go along with his 15 tackles ... Larsen has experienced punting action in four games (42.3 ypp).
FIRST-TIME STARTERS
Additionally, there have been a combined 19 first-time ECU starters in the Pirates' lineup so far this year – nine on the offensive side of the ball (TE Shane Calhoun, QB Mason Garcia, RB Rahjai Harris, LG Avery Jones, TE Jeremy Lewis, RT Bailey Malovic, RB Keaton Mitchell, OR Audi Omotosho, RG Nishad Strother) and 10 on defense (DT Rick D'Abreu, SAF Shawn Dourseau, CB Malik Fleming, DT Hozey Haji-Badri, DE Immanuel Hickman, DT Elijah Morris, SAF Warren Saba, DE Chad Stephens, DE Chris Willis, OLB Jireh Wilson), which currently ranks fourth nationally.
AMONG SELECT RUSHING COMPANY
Rahjai Harris' 559 rushing yards ranks as the fifth-highest ground total by an East Carolina running back through the first seven games of a season ... Among freshmen, Harris' current total stands first in program history.
HARRIS: LOOKING FOR A TRIPLE-DIGIT QUARTET
Rahjai Harris (USF/115, Navy/172, TLS/118) will enter the Temple contest looking to become the first Pirates' RB in seven years to post four 100-yard rushing contests in a single season ... Tay Cooper last accomplished the feat in 2013 after racking up 186 vs. North Carolina, 126 vs. UAB, 148 vs. NC State and 198 vs. Ohio in the Beef 'O' Brady's Bowl ... Dominique Lindsay posted five during ECU's C-USA championship season in 2009.
AMONG TOP PASSING UNITS IN AMERICAN HISTORY
Since joining the AAC in 2014, the Pirates stand second in passing yards over a combined seven year period despite utilizing eight starting quarterbacks, four offensive coordinators and three head coaches: 1. Memphis (25,095), 2. East Carolina (24,464), 3. UCF (22,590), 4. SMU (21,774) and 5. Houston (21,345) ... In addition, the Pirates top the league in completions (2,088) and attempts (3,467) ... ECU has also accounted for a conference-high 18 400-yard passing games and surpassed the 300-yard mark on 42 occasions during the 80-game span.
1K RECEIVER IN SEVEN OF LAST EIGHT YEARS
East Carolina has featured at least one 1,000-yard receiver in seven of the last eight seasons ... Its FBS-best run of seven-straight years came up just 92 yards short as freshman C.J. Johnson closed his rookie campaign with 908 reception yards in 2019 ... Pirate 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).
LIVING A PIRATES' LIFE
After having its 11-game streak with at least one takeaway (longest since '09) snapped during the season opener vs. UCF, East Carolina's defense has started a new run by generating at least one turnover in the last six-straight contests ... In all, the Pirates will enter the Temple clash having forced a TO in 17 of the last 18 games
MR. UTILITY & MR. RELIABILITY
Slot receiver/return specialist Tyler Snead has racked up 100-plus all-purpose yards in eight of his last 13 outings, while outside receiver Blake Proehl has caught at least one pass in 22 consecutive games (dating back to 2018) - tops on the unit.
STARTERS' LOG
C Fernando Frye (15 games) and ILB Xavier Smith (11) own the program's longest starting streaks on offense and defense entering the Temple contest.
Â
