East Carolina Wraps Non-Conference Slate At Liberty

Game Four: East Carolina (2-1) at Liberty (3-0)
Date	Saturday, September 21st
Time	6:00 p.m. (ET)
Location	Williams Stadium (25,000) \| Lynchburg, Va.
Live Game Coverage	Radio: WNCT 107.9FM Streaming: ESPN+
Internet Options	Live Stats
Official Web Sites	East Carolina \| Liberty \| The American
Game Notes	East Carolina \| Liberty \| The American Weekly Release
2024 Statistics	East Carolina \| Liberty \| 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. – East Carolina attempts to rebound from its first loss of the 2024 campaign Saturday night when it closes out the non-conference portion of its schedule with a trip to Lynchburg, Va., and a meeting with Liberty inside a sold-out Williams Stadium.

Kickoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. and the contest will stream live via ESPN+ with Matt Warner (play-by-play), Joe Jaunch (analyst) and Emily Austen (sideline) on the call.

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

East Carolina (2-1) ignited the fireworks early but could not deliver the grand finale and suffered a 21-19 loss to in-state rival and Sun Belt Conference preseason favorite Appalachian State last Saturday. With an energetic, electric atmosphere not witnessed in Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium in two years, the Pirates blazed to a 16-0 lead in the first quarter before critical errors derailed a bid for the club's first 3-0 start since 2008.

Jake Garcia, who completed 18 of 28 passes for 226 yards, got ECU on the board on the game's third snap when he found Winston Wright Jr. open behind the App State defense for a 65-yard strike. The Pirates, aided by one of two App State's two targeting penalties on the night, then put together a 12-play drive on their second possession before Conrad knocked through a 48-yard field goal for a 10-0 lead. Shavon Revel Jr. boosted the lead to 16-0 three plays later, snatching an Aguilar pass and racing 50 yards to the end zone.

But the methodical Mountaineers controlled the second quarter, rolling up 168 yards to ECU's 63 and scoring three times – a 6-yard touchdown pass and two-point conversion toss from Aguilar to Eli Wilson and a pair of Michael Hughes field goals to make it 16-14. App State continued to play keep-away in the second half and wound up with the advantage in time of possession (39 minutes to 21 minutes), plays (83-58), first downs (25-15) and total yards (505-324).

Liberty (3-0) remained unbeaten last Saturday with a 28-10 Conference USA victory over visiting UTEP. Running back Billy Lucas scored a career-high three rushing touchdowns and put the Flames' first 21 points on the board. He finished the game with 21 carries for 104 yards on the ground. Quarterback Kaidon Salter was efficient under center, completing 15-of-19 pass attempts for 228 yards and a touchdown. Liberty finished the night with a season-low 415 total offensive yards, which the Flames reached by recording 150 yards during the final quarter.

East Carolina Records, Streaks and Trends

The Pirates have won two of their first three games in a season for the second time under Houston. The other occurrence was in 2022 when ECU finished with an 8-5 record and knocked off Coastal Carolina 53-29 in the Birmingham Bowl.
East Carolina currently slots 42nd nationally in total defense (432.0 yards allowed per game), 52nd in total defense (302.0 yards per game) and 29th in scoring defense (12.7 points per game allowed).
18 different ECU defenders have recorded at least a half tackle for loss in the first three games. In all, the Pirates have tallied 36.0 tackles for loss (-109 yards) and ranks first nationally in tackles for loss per game (12.0).
The East Carolina defense has scored five touchdowns since the start of the 2023 campaign (2/App State '23, 1/UTSA '23, 1/Norfolk State '24, 1/App State '24)
The Pirates have forced at least one turnover in 42 of their last 46 games (and in 53 of the last 60).

The Series
Saturday's meeting with Liberty is the first in program history. East Carolina's last contest versus a current member of Conference USA finished as a victory as the Pirates defeated host Florida International 34-13 in a league affair back on Nov. 2, 2013 in Miami, Fla. ECU would join the American Athletic Conference a season later.

On The Road
Since shedding independent status in 1997, East Carolina is 68-103 (.398) when playing away from Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium. This season, the Pirates are 1-0 following a 20-14 win at Old Dominion. A year ago, ECU finished the year 1-5 on the road and, in 2022, it posted a 4-2 road slate (wins at South Florida/Boca Raton, Fla., BYU, Temple and Coastal Carolina/Birmingham, Ala., as well as losses to Tulane and Cincinnati). From a non-conference standpoint, ECU snapped a seven-game skid when it topped Old Dominion 24-21 on Sept. 28, 2019, but has only played in seven non-AAC road tilts since (3-4).

Comparing 10-Year, Four-Game Results
East Carolina's 21-19 loss against App State dropped its record to 2-1 for the second time in the last three years. A victory at Liberty would give the Pirates a 3-1 mark for the first time since 2014 when they went 8-5 overall and played in the Birmingham Bowl against Florida.

Against Non-Conference Opponents
The Pirates have produced a 46-63 (.422) regular season non-league record since 1997, which includes a 2-1 clip in 2024. Last year, ECU was 1-3 in non-conference games and in 2022 posted a 3-1 ledger picking up wins against Old Dominion, Campbell and BYU, while dropping the home opener to NC State. In 2021, the Pirates 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 20 non-conference games dating back to 2019.

A Starters' Log
DL Chad Stephens enters the Liberty contest having started 22 consecutive games as a member of the defensive unit. OL Hampton Ergle currently has the longest starting streak on the offense at 16 prior to Saturday's game. Against Norfolk State, ECU had 10 first time starters in a Pirate uniform: LB Zakye Barker, OL Darius Bell, LB Ryheem Craig, QB Jake Garcia, DB Gavin Gibson, TE Casey Kelly, DB Devon King, OL Emmanuel Poku, WR Anthony Smith, WR Winston Wright Jr.

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 returns to Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium Saturday, Sept. 28, for its American Athletic Conference opener versus UTSA. Kickoff is scheduled for 4 p.m. and the game will stream live through ESPN+.

Players Mentioned

Zakye Barker

Darius Bell

Ryheem Craig

Hampton Ergle

Jake Garcia

Gavin Gibson

Dustyn Hall

Alex Harper

Rahjai Harris

Noah Holmes

Jordan Huff

Casey Kelly

Devon King

Luke Larsen

Jaden McKenzie

Kingston McKinstry

Parker Moorer

Shavon Revel Jr.

Tyler Savage

Anthony Smith

Chad Stephens

Winston Wright Jr.

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