Classic Rewind Preview: ECU Hosts Southern Miss (2009)

Classic Rewind Preview: ECU vs. Southern Miss (2009)
Re-Air Date:	Saturday, July 4, 2020
Re-Air Time:	1 P.M. (EDT)
Game Location:	Greenville, N.C.
Game Coverage:	Internet: ECUPirates.com
In-Game Hashtag:	#ECURewind
Official Web Sites:	ECU \| Southern Miss
Rosters:	ECU \| Southern Miss \| Flip Card
Game Notes:	ECU

GREENVILLE, N.C. – The Conference USA East Division title will be at stake Saturday when East Carolina closes out regular season play by hosting Southern Miss in a 1:30 p.m. matchup at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium. The Pirates, who officially qualified for their fourth-straight bowl appearance for the first time in school history after a 37-21 win over UAB last week, will vie for its second consecutive divisional title when they meet the Golden Eagles. East Carolina will also look to extend its C-USA home winning streak to seven straight, try to run its intra-division home record to 3-0 in 2009 and 10-3 overall (since 2005), and snap a seven-game skid to USM in Greenville.

THE COACHES
SKIP HOLTZ (Notre Dame '86) is 36-26 (.581) in his fifth season at East Carolina, while overall, he is in his 10th year as a collegiate head coach with a 70-49 (.588) record. When he became ECU's 19th all-time head football coach Dec. 3, 2004, Holtz officially finished a six-year stint on the South Carolina staff.

Prior to leading the Pirates to three-straight bowl appearances and earning Conference USA Coach-of-the-Year honors in 2008, Holtz helped guide the Gamecocks to back-to-back Outback Bowl wins over Ohio State (2001-2002). From 1994 to 1998, Holtz steered the Connecticut program to unprecedented success as its head coach and layed the foundation for the school's move to the Division I-A (FBS) level. UConn was a consistent member of the I-AA (FCS) Top 25 polls during his last four seasons, which included a school-record 10-win, playoff campaign in 1998. Prior to his success at Connecticut, Holtz spent four seasons at alma mater Notre Dame and served as the Fighting Irish's offensive coordinator in 1992 and 1993 - a period which resulted in a 21-2-1 record and top-10 national rankings in total offense and scoring offense.

LARRY FEDORA (Austin College '85) is in his second season heading the football program at Southern Miss and sports a 14-10 (.583) record. Prior to his arrival in Hattiesburg prior to the 2008 campaign, Fedora spent three years on the Oklahoma State staff as the Cowboys' offensive coordinator. He has also served as an assistant at Florida, Middle Tennessee State, Air Force and Baylor.

THE SERIES
Southern Miss leads 26-8 ... ECU's 20-17 overtime win in 2006 snapped a five-game losing skid to the Golden Eagles, but USM has still captured 11 of the last 13 meetings ... ECU has posted a 2-15 mark against Southern Miss in Greenville, last winning in 1994

HOLTZ AGAINST THE GOLDEN EAGLES
While Southern Miss' victories in 2005 (33-7), 2007 (28-21) and 2008 (21-3), and the Pirates' 20-17 overtime triumph in 2007 serve as Skip Holtz' only meetings against the Golden Eagles as a head coach, he did face off against USM as an assistant on two other occasions - racking up 61-10 and 29-13 wins while he was a member of Bobby Bowden's staff at Florida State in 1987 and 1988.

FEDORA AGAINST THE PIRATES
Larry Fedora will see East Carolina on the opposite sideline for the second time Saturday, following the Golden Eagles' 21-3 victory a year ago in Hattiesburg ... The Pirates never competed against Baylor, Air Force, Middle Tennessee State, Florida and Oklahoma State while Fedora served on those respective staffs as an assistant coach.

HOLTZ AGAINST FEDORA
While Saturday's meeting will be the second for ECU's Skip Holtz and Southern Miss' Larry Fedora as head coaches, the two also faced off against each other on three previous occasions as assistant coaches on the offensive side of the ball ... While Fedora served on the Florida staff, the Gators rolled to 28-7 (11/16/02), 24-22 (11/15/03) and 48-14 (11/13/04) wins over South Carolina while Holtz was a member of his father's Gamecock staff.

BATTLING WITHIN THE EAST DIVISION - 4-0 IN '09
The Pirates are 17-7 (.708) against Conference USA East Division opponents since the league implemented division play in 2005 ... ECU is 9-3 at home and 8-4 on the road in games against Marshall, Memphis, Southern Miss, UAB and UCF ... Before taking their first four divisional matchups in 2009 (wins over the Knights, Herd, Tigers and Blazers), the Pirates posted a 4-1 record in 2008, a 3-2 slate in 2007, a 4-1 mark in 2006 and a 2-3 ledger in 2005 ... On the flipside, ECU is 10-5 all-time against West Division members (2-1 in '09).

LOOKING TO MAKE HISTORY
East Carolina has an opportunity to post its first-ever 7-1 Conference USA record in school history with a victory against Southern Miss Saturday (after booking consecutive 6-2 marks in 2007 and 2008)

WHEN THE BELL TOLLS ... THIRD DOWN DEFENSE
The Pirates have clamped down on third-and-long conversion attempts this year ... In fact, in third-down tries of more than two yards, East Carolina has held all 11 of its opponents to a paltry combined success rate of 28.8 percent (36-of-125) ... More impressively, ECU has held SMU, Rice, Memphis, Virginia Tech, Tulsa and UAB to a combined 5-of-43 (11.6 percent) ledger when facing longer than third-and-six in the last half-dozen games.

GETTING AT LEAST ONE IN 27-STRAIGHT
East Carolina has forced at least one turnover in 27 consecutive contests, dating back to a flawless Marshall performance on Nov. 10, 2007 ... The Pirate defense and special teams squad have only come up empty on seven occasions since Skip Holtz took over the ECU program - four alone in 2005 ... ECU, which has forced four or more TOs in four of 11 games this season, has netted 14 takeaways in its last five games (2.8 topg) ... The Pirates have also made opponents pay for the 14 miscues, converting those into 11 scores with eight touchdowns.

PILLAGE AND PLUNDER
Racking up take-aways has developed into a well-known trademark for Skip Holtz' program ... The Pirates enhanced their lore late during the '08 campaign by netting 11 turnovers in their last three games (including a season-high seven against Tulsa in the league title game) and have enjoyed a similar mindset lately with 14 in their last five games, including a combined six against the Golden Hurricane and Blazers during the last two weeks.

AERIAL PIRACY
Although it had a seven-game streak snapped at Southern Miss last November and a six-game string stopped against North Carolina Sept. 19, East Carolina has still picked off at least one pass in 19 of the last 23 games, which includes a season-high four interceptions vs. UCF on Sept. 26 ... The Pirates, who have also netted 12 picks in their last eight games, currently stand 20th nationally (14) after a No. 5 ranking in 2008 (22).

SIGNAL-CALLER SACKS
East Carolina has recorded at least one sack in its past eight matchups, including 17 in the last six contests (2.8 spg) ... C-USA Preseason Defensive Player-of-the-Year C.J. Wilson, who had tallied just 2.5 sacks in the first nine games, dropped Tulsa quarterback G.J. Kinne a career-high three times Nov. 15 to become the first Pirate to record three sacks in a contest since Ja'Waren Blair did it against TCU on Oct. 30, 2001 ... ECU six sacks vs. the Golden Hurricane (highest output since picking up seven against Southern Miss on Nov. 24, 2000) was followed with a four-sack outing vs. UAB a week later.

DOING DEFENSIVE DOUBLE DIGITS
Since Skip Holtz has taken over the ECU program, the Pirate defense has booked double-digit defensive totals to 23 opponents (17 rushing, six passing) ... East Carolina posted its first non-triple-digit statistical total of the 2009 season when it held UCF to just 70 rushing yards Sept. 26 before holding SMU to a Holtz era-best 28 ground yards Oct. 10 and following with a 78-yard effort against Rice Oct. 17, an 84-yard performance at Memphis Oct. 27 and a 30-yard stuffing at Tulsa Nov. 16 ... ECU has allowed just two rushes over 23 yards in the last eight games and none over 46 all season.

CASHING IN POINTS ON DEFENSE
The Pirate defense got into the scoring column for the first time in '09 with three TDs against Tulsa, using a pair of interception returns from Emanuel Davis and Levin Neal, and a fumble return by Jay Ross ... In all, Skip Holtz' defenses have tallied a total of 11 scores (3/'09, 4/'08, 1/'07, 3/'06, 0/'05) ... ECU nearly added No. 4 vs. UAB, but Van Eskridge's 89-yard pick return came up short.

SECOND-AND-THREE
ECU has averaged 7.1 yards and scored seven touchdowns on first down plays during its last five games against Rice, Memphis, Virginia Tech, Tulsa and UAB ... Despite getting off only 20 first-down plays against UAB, the Pirates turned in their two longest plays of the season on a pair of 59-yard touchdown receptions by Dwayne Harris and Darryl Freeney.

OFFENSE'S FIRST LINE OF DEFENSE
East Carolina's offensive line currently stands 6th nationally in fewest sacks allowed, surrendering only nine (0.82 sapg) this season ... The Pirates have really beefed up security lately, allowing just one quarterback drop in their last five games (two in seven) after giving up seven in the first four contests.

BIG PLAY SIGNIFICANCE
ECU made the most of its plays of over 20 yards against UAB, scoring on all three big gains (passes of 59, 59 and 23 yards) ... On the other hand, UAB posted an opponent-high eight 20+ yard plays against the Pirates, but did not score on any ... Heading into the game with the Blazers, East Carolina had surrendered only 12 plays of at least 20 yards in the past six contests.

KEEPING IT CLEAN
East Carolina's offense turned in its first turnover-free contest of the 2009 campaign against UAB, a first since doing the same vs. West Virginia in 2008 – a span of 24 games ... In all, the Pirates have avoided turnovers in 14 contests during the Holtz era (1/'09, 1/'08, 5/'07, 3/'06, 4/'05).

FINDING FREENEY
Sophomore wide receiver Darryl Freeney has made his presence felt in the ECU offense in the last four games ... After recording just six receptions for 56 yards in his first seven games, Freeney has broken out with 24 catches for 436 yards and three TDs in his last four outings ... He netted a career-high 152 yards on a personal-best eight receptions vs. Tulsa Nov. 15, becoming the first Pirate to surpass 150 receiving yards in a game since Aundrae Allison tallied 158 yards against Wake Forest on Sept. 17, 2005 .. As a freshman in '08, Freeney totaled 22 catches for 352 yards and two touchdowns.

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