Classic Rewind Preview: UNC at ECU (2007)

Classic Rewind Preview: UNC at ECU (2007)
Date:	Saturday, Sept. 8
Re-Air Time:	1:00 P.M. (EDT)
Location:	Greenville, N.C. (Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium)
Game Coverage:	Television: WNCT-9 (televised broadcast only)
In-Game Hashtag:	#ECURewind
Official Web Sites:	ECU \| UNC
2007 Game Notes:	ECU \| UNC
2007 Rosters:	ECU \| UNC
2007 Flip Card:	Complete Flip Card
2007 Media Guides:	ECU \| UNC

GREENVILLE, N.C. – The Pirates will begin their 2007 home schedule when they welcome North Carolina to Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium Saturday for a 6:00 p.m. non-conference contest. East Carolina will try to even its record at 1-1 after suffering a disappointing 17-7 season-opening setback at No. 9 Virginia Tech in Blacksburg last week. The battle against the Tar Heels also represents the second of four matchups against Bowl Championship Series (BCS) members in '07 for ECU, which later will visit the West Virginia Mountaineers in Morgantown (Sept. 22) and host the North Carolina State Wolfpack (Oct. 20) in Greenville.

ECU RECORDS AND STREAKS

Eight winning or .500 seasons in the last 13 years ...
Seven bowl appearances since 1990; three since 2000 ...
Four top three C-USA finishes in the last 10 years (since 1997) ...
Allowed less than 100 rushing yards in four of the last eight games ...
Have not allowed a single rush over 25 yards in the last six straight games ...
At least two forced TOs in 11 of the last 16 games (at least one in nine straight) ...
Scored at least one rushing TD in nine of the last 10 games ...

THE SERIES
North Carolina leads 8-1-1 .... The '07 meeting between the Pirates and Tar Heels will mark the second straight clash at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium after the series opened with nine consecutive matchups in Chapel Hill ... ECU's only win in the series came in 1975 ... The 24-24 deadlock in 1979 represents one of two all-time ties in ECU's history against current I-A members (La. Tech).

SKIP HOLTZ AGAINST THE TAR HEELS
Despite Skip Holtz' long and successful assistant coaching career at four I-A institutions and his five-year head coaching tenure at UConn, he has never faced North Carolina prior to Saturday.

DAVIS AGAINST THE PIRATES
Butch Davis has faced East Carolina on six prior occasions, four (4-0) as an assistant on the Miami (Fla.) staff and two (0-2) as head coach ... The Hurricanes handed the Pirates four consecutive setbacks in 1985, 1986, 1987 and 1988 while Davis served as UM's defensive line coach ... On the flipside, ECU posted a 31-6 victory over the 'Canes at the Orange Bowl on Oct. 19, 1996 and followed with a 27-23 triumph on Sept. 25, 1999 at Carter-Finley Stadium in Raleigh (moved from Greenville because of Hurricane Floyd) while Davis guided the UM program (1995-2000).

THE HOLTZ NAME AGAINST NORTH CAROLINA
While Saturday's matchup will be Skip Holtz' first-ever meeting against North Carolina as a college head coach, there have been six other games where a coach with the last name of Holtz has stood on the sideline opposite the Tar Heels ... Skip's father Lou recorded an all-time record of 2-4 against North Carolina, which includes meetings when he headed the William & Mary (0-1, 1971), North Carolina State (2-2, 1972-75) and Arkansas (0-1, Gator Bowl matchup in 1981) programs ... The elder Holtz never faced the Tar Heels while at Minnesota, Notre Dame and South Carolina.

AT DOWDY-FICKLEN STADIUM - LOOKING FOR NO. 33
East Carolina's all-time record at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium is 141-75-1 (.652) ... The Pirates opened the facility on Sept. 21, 1963 with a 20-10 win over Wake Forest in front of 17,000 fans ... ECU has posted 32 winning seasons at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium, including 13 "perfect" ledgers (5-0 in '95).

RECORD-BREAKING PURPLE PASSION
East Carolina has always been able to claim plenty of hometown support, even moreso when playing at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium on Saturday's during the fall - establishing itself as one of CUSA's attendance leaders on an annual basis ... In all, a total of 5,519,796 fans have seen the Pirates in action since 1963 - an average of 25,437 per contest ... So far in the Skip Holtz Era, ECU has averaged 35,294 (388,236/11 games) ... ECU opened its 2006 home schedule by drawing 37,431 fans to the Memphis game before following with 40,510 against WVU (seventh-highest total in stadium history); 35,541 against UVA; 34,011 vs. Tulsa; 34,141 vs. SMU and 41,372 vs. Marshall (fifth-highest total in stadium history) ... In all, the Pirates averaged 37,168 fans per game at home last season ... When it drew 41,372 fans to the Marshall game Nov. 11, ECU set a new single-season stadium total attendance record of 223,006 (previous best was 217,742 set in 2000) ... East Carolina has established back-to-back season ticket sales records, recently reaching the pinnacle in mid-August when it sold out of its entire 22,000 stock.

EAST CAROLINA AGAINST THE ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE
East Carolina has compiled an all-time record of 26-58-1 (.312) against current members of the Atlantic Coast Conference ... In addition to the Pirates' 1-8-1 mark against North Carolina, ECU also owns a 10-14 ledger against NC State, 5-5 against Duke, 4-9 vs. Virginia Tech, 2-0 vs. Virginia, 2-6 vs. Wake Forest, 2-9 vs. Miami and 0-7 vs. Florida State.

LOOKING FOR THREE STRAIGHT AGAINST THE ACC AT HOME
East Carolina will be looking to extend its home winning streak against ACC members to three-straight when it hosts the Tar Heels Saturday ... Since falling to Wake Forest 31-17 in 2004, the Pirates have knocked off Duke (24-21) and Virginia (31-21) in 2005 and 2006, respectively.

NORTH CAROLINA AGAINST CONFERENCE USA
North Carolina has posted a 21-12-3 (.625) all-time mark against current members of Conference USA ... In addition to their 10-game series against ECU (8-1-1), the Tar Heels have also squared off against Tulane (5-9-2), Memphis (2-0), SMU (2-0), Marshall (1-0), Tulsa (1-0), UTEP (1-0), Houston (1-1) and Rice (0-1) ... UNC has never faced Southern Miss, UAB, UCF on the gridiron.

THREE OUT OF THE LAST FOUR ISN'T BAD
Since accepting membership in Conference USA, the Pirates have produced a 16-29 (.356) nonleague record, which includes a program-high 5-1 mark in 1999 ... ECU split four non-Conference USA regular season clashes in '06 - falling to Navy (Sept. 2) and West Virginia (Sept. 23) before defeating Virginia (Oct. 7) and NC State (Nov. 25) to close the year with a modest two game non-conference winning streak ... In fact, the 21-16 victory over the Wolfpack also snapped a 13-game road regular season non-conference skid that began during the 2000 season ... In addition, the Pirates ended a 14-game overall non-league game slide in Skip Holtz' East Carolina's debut - defeating Duke 24-21 in 2005.

SEPTEMBER BOWLING
Four teams which participated in bowl contests a year ago highlight East Carolina's 2007 schedule - solely in September ... ECU opponents coming off bowl appearances last year include Virginia Tech (Chick-fil-A), Southern Miss (GMAC), West Virginia (Gator) and Houston (Liberty) ... Those teams went a combined 2-2 (pair of wins were recorded by Southern Miss over Ohio and West Virginia over Georgia Tech) in post-season play.

NOTEBOOKING SKIP HOLTZ' CAREER ... PRE-PIRATE
In addition to his success laying the foundation at Connecticut during his first head coaching position (1994-1998), third-year ECU Head Football Coach Skip Holtz has been associated with the best of college football during his assistant coaching tenures ... Prior to salvaging the South Carolina program while working under his father, the legendary Lou Holtz, the younger Holtz also picked up plenty of hardware in earlier stops at Notre Dame, Colorado State and Florida State – three programs which he helped to a combined record of 67-15-2 ... A closer look: At Notre Dame (1990-1993): Helped lead the Fighting Irish to a 21-2-1 record as a coordinator ... Unit was third nationally in total offense (470 ypg) in 1992 and ninth nationally in scoring offense (36.6 ppg) in 1993; At Colorado State (1989): Earned first full-time position as a WR coach on Earle Bruce's staff; At Florida State (1987-1988): Part of a Seminole program which racked up a 22-2 record, won Sugar and Fiesta Bowl titles and earned a No. 2 and No. 3 national rank.

NO ONE SAID IT WOULD BE EASY
East Carolina's 2007 schedule was ranked as the fourth-most difficult by Rivals.com ... The Pirates' slate stood behind Notre Dame, Utah and Troy but ahead of Rice, TCU, BYU, Southern Miss and Tulsa's.

A LITTLE LATER ON ... CONFERENCE USA
Since playing its first season in Conference USA (1997), East Carolina has produced an all-time 37-35 (.514) league record ... The Pirates matched a school record with five league wins in 2006 (5-3).

BIG PLAY PREVENT
The Pirate defense appears to have picked up where they left off last season in the big play prevent department ... ECU, which allowed just five (5) plays over 40 yards in 852 opponent snaps in 2006, limited Virginia Tech to a long gain of 37 yards (pass) last Saturday ... The Pirates have been even stingier against the run, not surrendering a rush over 25 yards in the last six-straight games ... The Hokies' longest ground gain was nine (9) a week ago.

MAKING "D" ADJUSTMENTS AT HALFTIME
East Carolina pitched its ninth (and third-straight) third-quarter shutout in the Skip Holtz Era Saturday against Virginia Tech ... Last season, the Pirates only surrendered 39 points in the third period - an average of 3.0 ppq ... In all, since defensive coordinator Greg Hudson arrived in 2005, ECU has allowed just 3.8 points per third quarter (95 points/3Q in 25 games).

SLOWING DOWN THE RUN
After ranking 114th (233.3rypg) of 117 NCAA Division I-A programs in rush defense during the 2004 season prior to Skip Holtz' arrival, the Pirates wasted no time attacking the glaring weakness with full vigor ... ECU surrendered 145.2 ground yards a game a year ago and have gotten off to a good start in 2007 - allowing Virginia Tech a paltry 33-yard total Saturday ... In fact, East Carolina has surrendered less than 100 rushing yards in four of its last eight games (33 vs. Va. Tech, 35 vs. Marshall, 58 vs. UCF and 89 to SMU).

PROTECTION UP FRONT
Despite having three first-time starters (C Fred Hicks, RG Doug Palmer, RT D.J. Scott) against the nation's top-ranked defense, ECU's offensive line was one of only 15 units that didn't allow a sack in its opener, joining Rutgers, Florida, Purdue, Navy, Miami (Fla.), Oklahoma, Hawaii, New Mexico, Louisville, Nebraska, North Carolina, La.-Lafayette, California and Washington.

SAME LAST NAME, BUT ...
Junior Patrick Pinkney has emerged on top of the Pirates' three-pronged quarterback rotation after his performance against Virginia Tech ... Head coach Skip Holtz announced Sunday that Pinkney, no relation to ECU former starter James Pinkney (2003-06), would open Saturday's tilt against North Carolina ... Despite playing in his first career game in arguably one of college football's toughest environments, Pinkney's calming presence and leadership resulted in the eventual starting nod ... Pinkney relieved Brett Clay beginning with ECU's fourth offensive possession of the game and finished with 115 passing yards (14-of-25) and 48 rushing yards (nine carries) - the most ground yards turned in by a Pirate quarterback in four years or since Desmond Robinson picked up 55 vs. Louisville on Oct. 25, 2003 ... Clay (4 pass yards, 3 rush yards), Dwayne Harris (0 pass yards, 16 rush yards) both experienced action as well while preseason projected starter Rob Kass was suspended for the opener because of a violation of team policy.

GETTING YOUR FEET WET
There were six first-time starters in East Carolina's lineup against Virginia Tech Saturday ... Offensively, OG Doug Palmer, OT D.J. Scott, WR Jamar Bryant and QB Brett Clay got their first starts against the Hokies ... In addition, for all practical purposes, C Fred Hicks should be included in that group but he had three prior starts (as a defensive tackle in '04 and '05) ... On the defensive side of the ball, FS Chris Mattocks and CB Jerek Hewett made their starting debut for the Pirates and contributed to the unit's stellar effort.

PLENTY OF DEPTH, INCLUDING TRUE ROOKIES
A total of 63 payers experienced action against the Hokies, including a pair of true freshmen – RB Jonathan Williams and DT Linval Joseph ... Williams made his debut on the game-opening kickoff return team while Joseph earned his college stripes on Virginia Tech's second offensive possession ... In addition, transfers Khalif Mitchell (DT) and Matt Dodge (P) made their first appearances in purple ... Mitchell (UNC) was credited with a tackle while Dodge (Appalachian State) set a career-high by averaging 44.0 yards in nine punts.

BUILDING A PROGRAM WITH YOUTH
Another testament to East Carolina's rebuilding process is the large number of underclassmen on the Pirates' roster ... Over 60 percent (60.7) of the Pirates' active roster consist of sophomores and freshmen - 68 of 112 total ... Naturally, the youth movement is also visible on the offensive and defensive depth chart for the North Carolina game with 20 underclassmen featured (10 of 22 on offense, 10 of 22 on defense) ... Looking at it a little closer - ECU's defensive backfield and offensive line are the two groups most impacted: DB - 0 senior starters (two juniors, two sophomores); OL - 2 senior starters (one junior, one sophomore and one freshman).

STAYING CLOSE TO HOME
Because of head coach Skip Holtz' vow to re-center East Carolina's recruiting efforts back in the state of North Carolina, the Pirates continue to work their way in offering more of a domestic look than in previous years ... Of ECU's 112-man preseason roster, 72.3 percent (81 total) joined the Pirate program after playing their prep careers in North Carolina ... Nationally, ECU ranks 16th of 118 teams in terms of featuring in-state players on its roster, trailing only San Jose State (97.0%), Florida Atlantic (94.2), Fresno State (92.4), Texas (92.3), North Texas (90.4), Florida Int'l (88.7), TCU (87.4), Houston (87.2), California (85.8), Texas A&M (85.7), Texas Tech (85.6), SMU (85.0), Baylor (83.3), UCLA (81.8) and USC (80.0), but standing ahead of Ohio State (69.4), Florida (68.6), Florida State (64.0), Cincinnati (68.2), Georgia (62.0) and Georgia Tech (60.0).

TALES FROM THE TREASURE CHEST
For the first time since Sept. 24, 2005, East Carolina lost a game in which it owned the time of possession ... ECU was 7-0 when it won the clock battle in 2006 (and 0-6 when it didn't) ... The Pirates were +3:06 against Virginia Tech (and were +3:46 during a 20-15 loss to the Mountaineers two years ago) ... ECU will enter the North Carolina contest with an active streak of 114 games of not suffering a shutout - a new school record (17 points at Rice in '06 surpassed the previous mark of 110 set from 1971 to 1981) ... The last time the Pirates were blanked was on Oct. 4, 1997 when Syracuse white-washed ECU in a 56-0 victory at the Carrier Dome ... Five Pirates extended their current starting streaks vs. Va. Tech: OG Matt Bulter (25), DT Mark Robinson (25), OT Josh Coffman (14), LB Fred Wilson (15) and LB Pierre Bell (12) ... Bell picked off his third career pass on VT's first offensive play from scrimmage (his first since snagging two against UAB 11/26/05) ... CB Jerek Hewett recovered his second career fumble in the first quarter ... PK Ben Hartman connected on his lone PAT in the second quarter and now has made ten consecutive PAT's ... DE Zack Slate picked up one of four ECU sacks in the game in the second quarter when he dropped Sean Glennon for a five-yard loss ... He finished the game with five total tackles, two coming for a loss ... In addition to setting a new personal best for average, P Matt Dodge also booted a career long 60-yarder in the second quarter (previous was 55, which he did while at ASU) ... LB Quentin Cotton led all defensive players with 14 tackles on his way to establishing a new career-high (previous was 10 vs. UAB in 2006) ... WR T.J. Lee recorded his first Pirate reception for 17 yards in the fourth quarter ... WR Jamar Bryant had four receptions, a career-high, for 20 yards ... ECU has allowed 10 or fewer first half points to the last three straight ACC opponents (10 vs. Va. Tech, 10 vs. NC State and 7 vs. Virginia ... East Carolina University is celebrating its Centennial in 2007, and to observe the milestone, all ECU student-athletes will wear Centennial patch on their uniforms during the 2007-08 school year ... Personality Odds & Ends - Defensive coordinator Greg Hudson made his baseball broadcast debut as an analyst March 17 on the Pirate ISP Sports Network when ECU squared off against Big 10 member Michigan at Clark-LeClair Stadium ... Hudson is also the only Pirate staffer to own and frequently ride his Harley-Davidson to and from work ... Assistant head coach and secondary boss Rick Smith is the proud grandfather of two ... Director of football operations Clifford Snow, who earned both bachelor and master's degrees in biology, is a noted horticulturist and botanist – earning designated as the department's "Shrub Guy" ... Two players have international locations of birth – junior LB Dalvon Mack (Ansbach, Germany) and sophomore DL Kwaku Danso (Kumasi, Ghana).

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