East Carolina Set To Entertain Appalachian State

Game Three: Appalachian State (1-1) at East Carolina (2-0)
Date	Saturday, September 14th
Time	4:00 p.m. (EDT)
Location	Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium (50,000) \| Greenville, N.C.
Live Game Coverage	Radio: WNCT 107.9FM Streaming: ESPNU
Internet Options	Live Stats
Official Web Sites	East Carolina \| Appalachian State \| The American
Game Notes	East Carolina \| Appalachian State \| The American Weekly Release
2024 Statistics	East Carolina \| Appalachian State \| The American
ECU Football Central	East Carolina Media Hub \| Roster \| NCAA Football \| College Scoreboard

Official Social Media Sites
Facebook	East Carolina \| The American
Twitter	East Carolina \| ECU Football (in-game updates) \| The American
Twitter Hashtags	#PirateNation \| #AmericanFB
Instagram	East Carolina \| The American

GREENVILLE, N.C. – Seeking its first 3-0 start since 2008, East Carolina welcomes in-state foe Appalachian State to a nearly sold-out Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium Saturday afternoon. Kickoff is slated for 4 p.m. and the game will air live on ESPNU with Mike Corey (play-by-play) and Rene Ingoglia (color analyst) handling broadcast duties.

The Pirates are under the direction of sixth-year head coach Mike Houston.

A heavy dose of running back Rahjai Harris and a stout effort by an aggressive defense enabled ECU to overcome numerous mistakes last Saturday night and hang on for a 20-14 victory at Old Dominion. The Pirates, now 2-0 and already matching last year's win total, overcame four interceptions and 10 penalties a week after committing six turnovers in a season-opening 42-3 rout of Norfolk State.

The bullish running of Harris ultimately proved the difference. The senior shouldered the load in the running game with a career-high 26 carries for 131 yards and a pair of scintillating touchdown runs – a 22-yarder on the opening drive of the game and a 63-yard burst on East Carolina's first series of the third quarter.

The two teams combined to run 164 plays on an overcast, gusty evening at S.B. Ballard Stadium with the Pirates recording 89 snaps for 466 total yards. Garcia, making his third career start, completed 25 of 38 passes for 283 yards, spreading the ball to nine receivers.

Appalachian State (1-1) made the trip down to Clemson last Saturday for an appointment with No. 22 Clemson and exited Memorial Stadium with a 66-20 setback. Anderson Castle led the Mountaineers' offense with seven carries for 80 yards and a touchdown. Joey Aguilar threw for 213 yards with one touchdown and no interceptions.

The Tigers outgained App State 712-363, led by quarterback Cade Klubnik who completed 24 of his 26 pass attempts for 378 yards and five touchdowns. Clemson, who had trailed 6-0 at halftime of a 34-3 loss to No. 1 Georgia in their 2024 opener, took the lead for good Saturday when Klubnik fired a 76-yard touchdown pass to Bryant Wesco Jr. on a third-and-11 pass in the opening 90 seconds.

East Carolina Records, Streaks and Trends

The Pirates are 2-0 for the first time since defeating Western Carolina and NC State to begin the 2016 season.
ECU currently ranks 12th nationally in total defense (200.5 yards allowed per game) as well as 30th in total offense, averaging 486 yards per game.
Fifteen different ECU defenders have recorded at least a half tackle for loss in the first two games. In sum, the Pirates have tallied 26.0 tackles for loss for minus 91 yards and rank second nationally in tackles for loss per game at 13.
Since the start of the 2023 campaign, East Carolina's defense has scored four touchdowns (2/ASU '23, 1/UTSA '23, 1/NSU '24)
The Pirates have forced at least one turnover in 41 of their last 45 games and in 52 of the last 59.

The Series
Appalachian State leads the all-time series with East Carolina by a 21-12 count. While the Mountaineers have won 21 of 33 games in a near-90-year series that dates back to 1932, the two programs have met only four times since the Pirates posted a 29-24 victory over App State in Greenville on Sept. 5, 2009. The Mountaineers opened the series with 10 consecutive victories while ECU has won nine of the last 13, including six of the last eight. The Pirates are 9-8 against App State in Greenville, but are just 3-12 in 15 meetings in Boone and 0-1 in neutral site contests. Saturday's affair marks the first appearance by the Mountaineers in Greenville since 2012 – a 35-13 East Carolina victory.

Last Time Against Appalachian State
Appalachian State 43, East Carolina 28
Sept. 16, 2023 @ Kidd Brewer Stadium, Boone, N.C.

BOONE, N.C. - A change at quarterback couldn't alter the path of a disappointing start to East Carolina's 2023 football season. Alex Flinn made his first career start at quarterback and provided a spark Saturday against in-state foe Appalachian State, but three interceptions and a Mountaineer second-half offensive surge led to a 43-28 loss. A week after seeing Marshall reel off 21 straight points to erase a 13-10 second-half deficit, the Pirates surrendered 21 unanswered points to App State after leading 28-22 nearly seven minutes into the third quarter. ECU falls to 0-3 for the first time since 2017 and dropped its second in a row to the Mountaineers in the teams' first meeting in Boone since 1979. The Pirates showed flashes in an excitement-filled duel before a record Kidd Brewer Stadium crowd of 40,168, matching blow for blow in a game featuring six lead changes, five turnovers, four scoring plays of at least 34 yards and a pair of defensive touchdowns – both by ECU. East Carolina, averaging just 8.0 points per game coming in, led by as much as 21-10 behind an effective mix of a balanced offense directed by Flinn, an aggressive defense and the punting of Luke Larsen but could not keep pace with the quick-strike Mountaineers (2-1). App State finished with a dominant 465-240 advantage in total yards, holding ECU to 79 yards rushing while piling up 224. ASU took the lead for good at 29-28 on Joey Aguilar's 35-yard pass to Milan Tucker with 8:18 left in the third quarter. Aguilar, who threw for 241 yards and three touchdowns, added a one-yard run with nine seconds left in the quarter then delivered the dagger with a 6-yard toss to David Larkins with 5:44 to play. ECU maintained the upper hand much of the first half as Flinn, starting in place of Mason Garcia, directed 10-play, 75-yard drive on the opening series. The redshirt junior completed 17 of 31 passes for 158 yards with three interceptions but also was victimized by several dropped passes. App State's blitzing defense recorded four sacks and forced two passes ruled intentional grounding. Overall. ECU had double-digit penalties for the third-straight game to begin the season (11 for 80 yards). The Pirates did show more explosiveness of offense, chalking up three plays of 20-plus yards after two total in the first two games. Rahjai Harris provided some punch with 56 yards on 12 carries and a pair of touchdowns, but the Pirates managed just 79 yards total. App State, spearheaded by Nate Noel, racked up 224 yards on the ground to go with 221 through the air. Noel finished with 178 yards on 26 carries, his 12th career 100-yard game and fourth in a row. He broke free on a 68-yard dash on the Mountaineers' second snap to tie it at 7-7, but ECU limited him to seven yards on his next seven carries in the first half. Noel had 103 yards on 18 second-half carries. While ECU's offense sputtered at times, an opportunistic defense kept the Pirates in the game. Freshman Antione Jackson's pick six propelled ECU in front 14-10 after Larsen's 35-yard punt pinned App State at its one-yard line. Jackson, a 6-1, 175-pound defensive back from Lauderhill, Fla., jumped an out route on a third-down pass from Aguilar, snared the ball at the eight and easily strolled in for his first collegiate score. Shavon Revel gave ECU its last lead at 28-22, scooping up a fumble forced by B.J. Davis and sprinted 57 yards to the house. But App State quickly answered for a 29-28 edge then cashed in Omari Philyaw's interception to essentially seal ECU's fate.

Houston Against The Mountaineers
Saturday's matchup will mark the third time Mike Houston has faced off against Appalachian State. In 2021, the Mountaineers defeated the Pirates 33-19 in the Dukes Mayo Classic, which was played in Bank of America Stadium - home of the Carolina Panthers. East Carolina then fell to App State in Boone last season.

Shawn Clark Against The Pirates
While Shawn Clark has faced East Carolina twice as a head coach, posting a 2-0 mark, he is 4-0 against the Pirates as a member of the Mountaineers staff during his 20-plus year coaching career.

Against Non-Conference Opponents
The Pirates have produced a 46-62 (.426) regular season non-league record since 1997, which includes an 1-3 clip in 2023. ECU went 3-1 in 2022, picking up wins against Old Dominion, Campbell and BYU, while dropping the home opener to NC State. In 2021, they split their four non-conference games falling to Appalachian State and South Carolina to open the season before rallying back to post victories against Marshall and Charleston Southern. During his first season as head coach at ECU in 2019, Mike Houston led the Pirates to a 3-1 showing - the program's first winning non-conference record since 2014. East Carolina has won 11 of last 19 non-conference games dating back to 2019.

The Pirate Nation: Over 9 Million Strong
East Carolina has often 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 9,663,315 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 3,392,026 ECU faithful.

At Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium
East Carolina's all-time record at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium is 202-119 (.630). 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. 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 posted 41 winning campaigns inside the friendly confines since 1963.

Among American Athletic Conference Attendance Leaders
East Carolina has been among the leaders in attendance every season since becoming a member of the American Athletic Conference in 2014. The Pirates led the AAC in regular season attendance average three times - 2014, 2016 and 2017. ECU finished the 2023 season ranked 68th nationally (total), 66th (average), third in AAC (total) and second in AAC (average) attendance.

Comparing 10 Year, Three-Game Results
East Carolina's 20-14 win over Old Dominion pushed its record to 2-0 for just the second time in the last 10 seasons (the other 2016). A victory against Appalachian State would give ECU a 3-0 start for the first time since 2008.

1999 Pirates To Be Recognized At UTSA Game
East Carolina University Athletics officials have announced that the 1999 Pirate Football team will be recognized at the UTSA game on Saturday, Sept. 28 inside Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium. The 1999 season was one of perseverance following the catastrophic damages left behind from Hurricane Floyd, which impacted Eastern North Carolina on Sept. 16. ECU started the season 2-0 after wins against West Virginia and Duke before traveling to South Carolina. Prior to the Pirates' 21-3 win in Columbia, S.C., Floyd made landfall and much of Eastern North Carolina received 15-20 inches of rain over the next 12 hours. Unable to travel back home, the Pirates stayed in Columbia, preparing for what would have been their home game against the ninth-ranked University of Miami Hurricanes. With portions of the city still reeling from the flood, the game was moved to Raleigh, N.C., and Carter-Finley Stadium. Trailing 23-10 after the third quarter, ECU rallied from 20 points down to defeat the Hurricanes and improved to 4-0. The 1999 team finished with a 9-3 overall record, played in the 1999 Mobile Alabama Bowl against TCU and was the recipient of the 1999 Disney's Wide World of Sports Spirit Award at the annual Home Depot College Football Awards.

2024 Graduates
OL Hampton Ergle, OL Dustyn Hall, DS Alex Harper, RB Rahjai Harris, LB Noah Holmes, DB Jordan Huff, TE Casey Kelly, P Luke Larsen, Dl Jaden McKenzie, DB Kingston McKinstry, OL Parker Moorer, TE Tyler Savage, DL Chad Stephens and WR Winston Wright Jr. each have earned their degrees heading into the 2024 season.

Up Next
East Carolina faces another stout challenge when it closes its non-conference slate Saturday, Sept. 21, at Liberty. The Flames put together a 12-0 regular season record and won the Conference USA Championship Game in 2023 before earning a spot in the Vrbo Fiesta Bowl opposite Oregon. Liberty is 2-0 this season with wins over Campbell (41-24) and New Mexico State (30-24) prior to this Saturday's (Sept. 14) home appointment with UTEP.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Hampton Ergle

Alex Flinn

Mason Garcia

Dustyn Hall

Alex Harper

Rahjai Harris

Noah Holmes

Jordan Huff

Antione Jackson

Casey Kelly

Luke Larsen

Jaden McKenzie

Kingston McKinstry

Parker Moorer

Tyler Savage

Chad Stephens

Winston Wright Jr.

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