East Carolina University
UCF
Gameday: ECU Hosts No. 13 UCF In Season Opener
September 24, 2020 | Football
| No. 13 UCF at East Carolina (Game 1) | |
| Date: | Saturday, Sept. 26 |
| Time: | 12 Noon (EDT) |
| Location: | Greenville, N.C. (Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium) |
| Program: | UCF Game Program |
| Live Game Coverage: | Radio: WNCT 107.9FM | TuneIn Radio Online Television: ABC (Suddenlink 112); Streamed: ESPN+ |
| Internet Options: | Live Stats |
| Official Web Sites: | ECU | UCF | American Athletic Conference |
| Game Notes: | ECU | UCF | The American |
| Statistics: | ECU | UCF |
| ECU Football Central: | ECU Media Hub | Roster | ECU Yearbook NCAA Football | College Scoreboard | Virtual Ticket |
| 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 finally open the 2020 campaign and the second year of the Mike Houston Era when the Pirates host UCF on Saturday for a 12 noon American Athletic Conference clash. The contest will mark the eighth time in the last nine years that ECU will begin a new season with a tilt (2012-2018) at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium. Additionally, the Pirates will start the year with a conference matchup for only the third time as an FBS league member - 2003 (Cincinnati/C-USA) and 2010 (Tulsa/C-USA) - and Sept. 26 represents ECU's "latest" kickoff since 1947 (Sept. 27).
ECU RECORDS AND STREAKS
- Qualified for 10 bowl appearances since 2000 (eight in the last 14 years) ...
- Has won eight of the last 12 season openers ...
- Has won six of the last eight home openers ...
- Has accounted for at least 30 points & 500 total yards in three of the last four games ...
- Has thrown at least one TD pass in nine-straight games (10 of the last 11 contests) ...
- Has scored on 17 of 18 redzone visits (10 TDs, 7 FGs) during its last fi ve games ...
- Has converted 14 of 15 field goal attempts in its last seven games ...
- Has forced at least one turnover in 11-straight games (most since 2009) ...
- Has won 38 of the last 42 games when leading at the half ...
THE SERIES
East Carolina leads 10-8 ... While the Knights have won the last four, the Pirates enjoyed a pair of earlier four-game winning streaks (1991-96, 2006-09) ... ECU has won six of 10 in Greenville.
MIKE HOUSTON AGAINST THE KNIGHTS
East Carolina's 41-28 setback at UCF last year serves as Mike Houston's only prior meeting against the Knights ... During his earlier eight-year tenure as a NCAA Division II and FCS collegiate head coach, the Lenoir-Rhyne Bears, The Citadel Bulldogs and James Madison Dukes never squared off against UCF.
JOSH HEUPEL AGAINST THE PIRATES
Saturday's clash will be Josh Heupel's third against the Pirates as a head coach ... He never faced off against East Carolina while an assistant during tenures at Arizona, Oklahoma, Utah State and Missouri.
KNIGHTS, BULLS, 'CANES, 'NOLES, GATORS, OWLS AND PANTHERS
The Pirates have dropped 36 of 51 all-time matchups (15-36) against FBS (formerly Division I-A) programs from the state of Florida ... ECU is 10-8 vs. UCF, 2-9 vs. Miami, 1-0 vs. Florida Atlantic, 1-0 vs. Florida International, 1-9 vs. USF, 0-3 vs. Florida and 0-7 vs. Florida State ... The Pirates have lost 11 of the last 12 contests against schools from Florida (posting its only win against UCF in the 2015 road finale).
PIRATES IN AMERICAN OPENERS
In six prior seasons as an American Athletic Conference member, East Carolina has opened its league schedule with a 1-0 mark on two occasions - 2014 (win over SMU) and 2017 (win at Connecticut).
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 will be 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).
THE AMERICAN - YEAR SEVEN
East Carolina has posted an 78-73 (.517) all-time mark against current members of the American Conference ... The Pirates currently sport series records against Memphis (15-8), Cincinnati (13-10), Tulane (11-5), UCF (10-8), Tulsa (8-7), Temple (8-9), Houston (7-7), SMU (4-4), Navy (1-6) and USF (1-9).
LEAGUE, NON-LEAGUE STATISTICAL COMPARISONS IN '19
The Pirates averaged 28.0 points, 114.1 rushing yards, 327.1 passing yards and 441.2 total yards in their eight (Navy, Temple, UCF, USF, Cincinnati, SMU, Connecticut, Tulsa) American Athletic Conference games during the 2019 season ... By comparison, East Carolina averaged 24.3 points, 195.8 rushing yards, 212.2 passing yards and 408.0 total yards per game in its four non-conference contests in 2019 ... The Pirates posted a 3-1 nonconference ledger last year before following with a 1-7 mark against AAC foes.
AT DOWDY-FICKLEN STADIUM - 2-4 IN 2019
ECU's all-time record at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium is 191-106 (.643) ... 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 2-4 record last year and an 11-15 combined mark in 2015, 2016, 2017 & 2108, 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 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 8,894,616 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 2,623,330 fans (42,312 per game).
SHUTOUT-FREE ... 278 AND COUNTING
East Carolina will enter the UCF contest with an active streak of 278 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 278-game run currently ranks among the Top 10 nationally (Florida/398 leads all programs).
CHARTING THE PIRATES MONTH-BY-MONTH
In all, East Carolina is 3-3-0 in August, 130-119-1 in September, 162-161-4 in October, 140-130-5 in November, 9-10-0 in December and 1-4-0 in January ... Overall, the Pirates are 1-4 against American Athletic Conference foes in the ninth month, posting its only win at then-member UConn in 2017 ... At home, ECU has won 19 of its last 25 (19-6) September matchups dating back to 2009 while a member of Conference USA and the American Athletic Conference ... Since joining the AAC, East Carolina is 10-4 at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium while playing in September (0-1 in league play, falling to USF in 2017).
OPENING IT UP, CLOSING IT OUT AT HOME
East Carolina's American Athletic Conference opener against UCF on Sept. 26 will mark the first time the Pirates begin league play at home since 2016 (also vs. the Knights) ... In fact, ECU has only started conference action at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium twice since becoming members of AAC (SMU/2014) ... On the other hand, the Pirates will close out the regular season in Greenville for the second-straight year when they face the Mustangs on Nov. 28 (Tulsa in 2019).
MUCH IS BACK ... STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
Offensively, the Pirates return 86 percent of their rushing yards (1,452 of 1,556) and an even more impressive 98 percent of their passing yards (3,387 of 3,466) from a year ago ... On defense, ECU welcomes back over 59 percent of its tackles (489 of 832) and over 61 percent of its turnover production (11 of 18; 8/11 interceptions and 3/7 fumble recoveries) … From a scoring standpoint, players who accounted for 303 of East Carolina's 321 points last season are on the 2020 active roster (94 percent).
GROWING UP QUICKLY
The Pirates utilized 14 true freshmen in 2019 - six on offense, five on defense and three on special teams - and seven surpassed the four-game "limit" mandated by the NCAA: ST Alex Angus (4 games played), DL Rick D'Abreu (11), CB Malik Fleming (12), QB Bryan Gagg (1), IR Jsi Hatfi eld (12), DL Immanuel Hickman (2), ST Trent Holler (2), OR C.J. Johnson (12), TE Jeremy Lewis (11), RB Demetrius Mauney (12), CB Ja'Quan McMillian (12), PK Patrick Nations (1), SS Juan Powell (4) and OL Nishad Strother (2).
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 (23,247), 2. East Carolina (22,919), 3. UCF (20,229), 4. Cincinnati (19,942) and 5. Houston (19,738) ... In addition, the Pirates top the league in completions (1,944) and attempts (3,226) ... ECU has also accounted for a conference-high 18 400-yard passing games.
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) and have produced a total of 10 1,000-yard pass catchers over the last decade.
LIGHTNING STRIKES
East Carolina turned in 73 "big plays" (20+ yards) in 2019 - an average of 6.1 per contest ... The top five Pirates' big play producing units include: 2014 (93), 2019 (73), 2013 (65), 2018 (60) and 2016 (60) ... ECU logged 16 rushes and 57 passes that went 20+ yards.
AHLERS (STARTS) AT-A-GLANCE
Junior QB Holton Ahlers took over the starting position in Game 7 of the 2018 season (UCF) and has already surpassed 5,000 aerial yards (with 32 TDs) … In his 22-game overall collegiate career, Ahlers has also rushed for 951 yards and 12 TDs on 227 carries (4.2 ypr); as a starter, he has 703 ground yards on 189 attempts (3.7 ypr) … Ahlers has compiled 5,731 total yards (337.1 ypg) as the Pirates' starter in the last 17 games … Ahlers has accounted for 45 touchdowns (12 rush/33 pass) overall, 39 as a starter (7/32).
AMONG NOTABLE FRESHMEN GROUND-GAINERS
Demetrius Mauney's 446 rushing yards in 2019 stood as the third-best single-season total among all freshmen Pirate running backs in program history, trailing only Leonard Henry (634 in '98) and first-round draft choice Chris Johnson (561 in '04).
THIS & THAT ...
- LT D'Ante Smith (25 games) and FS Davondre Robinson (21) own the program's longest starting streaks on offense and defense entering the UCF contest ...
- East Carolina has forced at least one turnover in 11-straight contests, the longest streak by a Pirate unit since a 14-game run in 2009 ...
- East Carolina committed only 17 turnovers (seven fumbles, 10 interceptions) in 2019, the third-fewest since 2000 (14/2007, 16/2013) ...
- QB Holton Ahlers completed 125-of-192 passes for a combined 1,715 yards (428.8 ypg) and 14 touchdowns in his last four games of 2019 (CIN, SMU, UCONN, TLS) ...
- OR C.J. Johnson posted triple-digit receiving yardage totals in four of the last seven games of the 2019 season (TEM/100, UCF/106, CIN/283, TLS/141) ...
- RS/IR Tyler Snead posted over 100 all-purpose yards in six-straight games (UCF/107, USF/222, CIN/102, SMU/276, UCONN/166, TLS/132) to close out 2019 and scored six TDs during the same span (5 receiving, 1 KOR) ...
- CB Ja'Quan McMillian's three (3) interceptions last year were the most by a rookie Pirate defender since Emanuel Davis had four (4) in 2008 ...
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