ECU Welcomes No. 21 Tulane To Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium

No. 21 Tulane (7-1, 4-0 AAC) at East Carolina (1-7, 0-4 AAC) (Game 8)
Date	Saturday, November 4th
Time	3:30 p.m. (EDT)
Location	Greenville, N.C. (Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium) (50,000)
Live Game Coverage	Radio: WNCT 107.9FM Broadcast: ESPNU
Internet Options	Live Stats
Official Web Sites	East Carolina \| Tulane \| The American
Game Notes	East Carolina \| Tulane \| The American
2023 Statistics	East Carolina \| Tulane \| The American
ECU Football Central	East Carolina Media Hub \| Roster \| NCAA Football \| College Scoreboard

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Twitter	East Carolina \| ECU Football (in-game updates) \| The American
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GREENVILLE, N.C. – East Carolina returns home Saturday (Nov. 4), playing host to No. 21 and defending American Athletic Conference champion Tulane on Military Appreciation Day at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium.

Kickoff is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. and the game will air on ESPNU with Jay Alter (play-by-play), and Rene Ingoglia (color analyst) handling the broadcast.

ECU is under the direction of fifth-year head coach Mike Houston.

The Pirates (1-7, 0-4 AAC) showed some fight early in last Saturday's showdown with UTSA in San Antonio, but the Roadrunners outscored East Carolina 17-3 in the second quarter on the way to 41-27 victory at the Alamodome.

Alex Flinn turned in a gritty performance completing 23 of 43 pass attempts for 225 yards and recording the first multi-touchdown effort of his career. He tossed a 13-yard scoring strike to Jaylen Johnson in the first quarter before finding Chase Sowell from four yards away with 15 seconds remaining in the contest. Johnson notched a career-best 105 receiving yards. East Carolina limited UTSA to just 151 yards in the second half after the Roadrunners registered 364 in the first 30 minutes.

The Green Wave (7-1, 4-0 AAC) earned a hard-fought 30-28 road win at Rice last Saturday, remaining undefeated in conference play. Running back Makhi Hughes ran for a career-high 153 yards to lead the offensive attack. Michael Pratt went 22-for-30 for 263 yards and two passing touchdowns. He also ran 12 times for 40 yards and another score. Chris Brazzell II led the team with his five catches for 75 yards. Fellow wideout Yulkeith Brown caught five passes for 57 yards and a touchdown. Tight end Alex Bauman also hauled in five passes for 24 yards and a touchdown. Tulane totaled 24 first downs in the game while accumulating 194 yards on the ground and 263 through the air for a total of 457 yards.

East Carolina Records, Streaks and Trends

Owns a 1-3 record at home in 2023 with a win over Gardner-Webb and losses to Marshall, SMU and Charlotte.
Has forced at least one turnover in 35 of its last 39 games (and 46 of the last 53).
Has scored three defensive touchdowns (two at Appalachian State and one at UTSA).
Recovered five fumbles against Gardner-Webb – a first since setting the standard versus TCU on Nov. 23, 2002.
Blanked the Runnin' Bulldogs 44-0 to register its first defensive shutout since beating Duke 38-0 on Sept. 2, 2000.

The Series
East Carolina leads the series with Tulane by a 12-7 margin. The Pirates have won seven of the last 12 (and 11 of the last 17) meetings. ECU is 9-2 against the Green Wave in Greenville, but Tulane has won five of eight matchups in New Orleans.

Last Meeting
Tulane 24, East Carolina 9
(Oct. 8, 2022 @ Yulman Stadium in New Orleans, La.)
Too many critical mistakes against a quality team playing on its home turf added up a momentum-draining loss for East Carolina on Saturday afternoon. The Pirates committed two crucial first-half penalties, threw a pair of second-half interceptions and continued to struggle on special teams with a couple of missed kicks in a 24-9 setback to Tulane on a warm and windy afternoon at Yulman Stadium. The Green Wave pitched a shutout the final 42:08 in remaining unbeaten in American Athletic Conference play at 2-0 and improving to 5-1 overall. The Pirates, looking to build on last week's 48-28 rout of South Florida, drop to 3-3 overall and 1-2 in the AAC with consecutive home games against Memphis and UCF coming up. For nearly every error the Pirates made, Tulane made them pay. The first came on ECU's second drive and wiped a touchdown off the board. Quarterback Holton Ahlers zipped a nine-yard pass to Ryan Jones, who came into the game with touchdown catches in four consecutive games, but a penalty for an ineligible man downfield wiped it out. ECU instead settled for a 27-yard Owen Daffer field goal and a 3-0 lead. Another penalty on the ensuing possession handed the Green Wave the lead. After Jha'Quan Johnson's 46-yard reception set Tulane up at the 10, the Pirates stymied three plays to apparently force a field goal, but an unsportsmanlike conduct flag on Xavier Smith provided new life. Two plays later, quarterback Michael Pratt rolled right and flipped a two-yard pass to Tyrick James for a 7-3 lead. ECU's ongoing kicking woes the surfaced again. A 24-yard pass from Ahlers to C.J. Johnson capped a five-play drive that propelled the Pirates back in front 9-7, but Daffer missed the PAT. The sophomore kicker also misfired on a 46-yard attempt to end the half. Tulane took the lead for a good with a time-consuming, 16-play drive that ended with a five-yard Pratt scamper for a 14-9 lead. The Green Wave cashed in two Ahlers interceptions into 10 second-half points. ECU's final eight possessions after the second-quarter score resulted in three punts, two turnovers, a missed field goal, turning the ball over on downs, then ending the game at the Tulane 22. Pratt, despite being sacked five times in the second half, took the upper hand in the battle of veteran quarterbacks. The junior from Boca Raton, Fla., who sat out an overtime win over Houston with an injury, completed 27 of 34 passes for 326 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Six of his completions gained at least 20 yards, including consecutive throws of 33 and 44 yards to Duece Watts to put the Green Wave in the end zone following Larry Brooks' first interception of the year. Ahlers, pressured often but never sacked, connected on 32 of 51 passes for 288 yards. He now has 12,039 career passing yards to move past Shane Carden as the school's all-time leader. He also now stands first in pass attempts with 1,614. ECU's offense lacked some of its firepower with running back Rahjai Harris and receiver Jalen Johnson out with injuries. Running back Keaton Mitchell returned after missing one-plus games with a hip pointer, but never ripped off one of his signature plays. Mitchell alternated possessions with freshman Marlon Gunn Jr. until Gunn suffered a minor injury. Mitchell finished with 47 yards rushing on 10 carries and caught eight passes for 57 yards while Gunn gained a team and career-high 67 yards on seven carries. He added three catches for 25 yards. Tulane's physical secondary blanketed ECU's receivers and allowed only two completions more than 20 yards.

Shutout Free ... 320 And Counting
East Carolina enters its encounter with Tulane with an active streak of 320 games of not suffering a shutout - a school record (previous mark was 110 set from 1971-81). The last time the Pirates were blanked was on Oct. 4, 1997 (56-0 at Syracuse). ECU's 320-game run currently ranks among the Top 10 nationally (Florida is first with 443).

Comparing 10-Year, Eight-Game Results
East Carolina's loss at UTSA dropped the Pirates to 1-7 on the season. The Pirates have won three consecutive week nine contests under Mike Houston. A win against Tulane would improve their record to 2-7, but a loss would drop them to 1-8 which last occurred in 2003.

At Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium
East Carolina's all-time record at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium is 201-117 (.632). The Pirates opened the facility on Sept. 21, 1963, with a 20-10 win over Wake Forest in front of 17,000 fans, celebrated the stadium's 50th anniversary in 2013 and recently hosted its 300th game (vs. Tulane in 2020). ECU played seven home games in 2022 and posted a 4-3 record. Before a 4-2 clip in 2021, a 1-3 record two years ago and a collective 13-19 mark from 2015-2019, 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). With its 34-13 win over UCF (Oct. 22, 2022), ECU has notched 41 winning campaigns at DFS since 1963.

The Pirate Nation – Over 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 9,563,516 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 3,292,227 fans.

Looking For More Loot
Through eight games this season, East Carolina is plus one in turnover margin (ECU 12, Opponents 11). ECU forced eight fumbles against Gardner-Webb and recovered five (most in Mike Houston era) - a feat that they last accomplished on Nov. 23, 2002, against TCU (span of 253 games). The Pirates have scored three defensive touchdowns this season (2 at Appalachian State, 1 at UTSA).

Standing Alone ... Facing Ranked Opponents At Home
East Carolina is the only Group of 5 program nationally which has hosted ranked AP opponents in each of the last eight years - 2017 (No. 16 Virginia Tech/No. 18 South Florida), 2018 (No. 10 UCF), 2019 (No. 17 Cincinnati), 2020 (No. 13 UCF), 2021 (No. 4 Cincinnati), 2022 (No. 13 NC State) and 2023 (No. 21 Tulane). Troy stands second by welcoming four – 2018 (No. 18/Boise State), 2019 (No. 22/Appalachian State), 2020 (No. 11/Coastal Carolina) and 2021 (No. 24/Louisiana).

Analyzing The 2023 Overall Schedule
ECU's 2023 opponents compiled an overall record of 87-67 (.565) in 2022. The Pirates' four non-conference opponents were a combined 35-17 (.673) last season while the eight AAC teams on the state tallied a 52-50 (.510) mark. Seven programs had at least six or more wins including three teams that had 10-plus victories – Michigan (13-1), Tulane (12-2) and UTSA (11-3). Five of East Carolina's first six opponents finished last year at or above .500.
Who went Bowling? … The Pirates' 2023 schedule features contests against five teams who competed in bowl games last season, highlighted by Michigan's second-straight appearance in the College Football Playoff Semifinals and Tulane's comeback victory over USC in the Cotton Bowl ... Michigan (Fiesta), Tulane (Cotton), Marshall (Myrtle Beach), UTSA (Duluth Trading Cure), and SMU (New Mexico) … Three of the Pirates' six home games are against 2022 bowl qualifiers.
In the Final Polls … Two of ECU's 2023 opponents finished the 2022 season in college football's two major polls (Associated Press and USA Today/AFCA Coaches) – AAC champion Tulane (9/9) and Michigan (3/3).

Up Next
East Carolina hits the road once more, heading south to Boca Raton, Fla., Nov. 11 for an American Athletic Conference showdown with Florida Atlantic. Kickoff at the FAU Football Stadium is slated for 4 p.m. and the game will stream live via ESPN+.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Holton Ahlers

Owen Daffer

Alex Flinn

Marlon Gunn Jr.

Rahjai Harris

C.J. Johnson

Jaylen Johnson

Ryan Jones

Keaton Mitchell

Xavier Smith

Chase Sowell

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