East Carolina University
James Madison
Gameday: ECU Hosts JMU In Season Opener
August 31, 2017 | Football
| ECU Game 1: James Madison | |
| Date: | Saturday, Sept. 2 |
| Time: | 6:00 PM (EDT) |
| Location: | Greenville, N.C. (Bagwell Field at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium) |
| Tickets & Parking: | Game Tickets | Parking Information | Things To Look For On Gameday |
| Live Game Coverage: | Radio: WNCT 107.9FM | TuneIn Radio Online Television: ESPN3 |
| Internet Options: | Live Stats |
| Official Web Sites: | ECU | James Madison | American Athletic Conference |
| Game Notes: | ECU (PDF) | James Madison (PDF) | The American (PDF) |
| 2016 Football Statistics: | ECU | James Madison |
| ECU Football Central: | Roster | Fact Book (PDF) | The American | NCAA Football | College Scoreboard |
| Official Social Media Sites | |
| Facebook: | ECU | James Madison | The American |
| Twitter: | ECU | ECUScoreboard (In-Game Updates) l James Madison | The American |
| Twitter Hashtags: | #ECUGameday | #ECUndaunted | #ECUFootball | #AmericanFB | #JMUvsECU |
| Instagram: | ECU | The American |
GREENVILLE, N.C. – ECU, which has made bowl appearances in seven of the last 10 years, will open a new season under the direction of second-year head coach Scottie Montgomery when the Pirates battle Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) defending national champion James Madison in a non-conference matchup at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium.
The contest against the Dukes will mark the eighth time in the last nine years that ECU will open a season at home. The tilt will also represent the first of four non-league games on the Pirates' 2017 schedule, preceding meetings with West Virginia (Sept. 9/road), Virginia Tech (Sept. 16/home) and BYU (Oct. 21/home).
EAST CAROLINA RECORDS AND STREAKS
- Qualified for 10 bowl appearances since 2000 (three of the last five years) ...
- Has won 30 of the last 37 games when scoring 30 or more points ...
- Has won 19 of the last 22 games when gaining 200 or more rushing yards ...
- Has won 29 of the last 31 games when leading at the half ...
- Has won 14 of the last 21 and 18 of the last 26 home games ...
- Has won five-straight (and eight of the last nine) season openers ...
- Has won 11 of the last 12 home openers ...
- Has won 25-straight games against FCS opponents (25-1 overall record) ...
- Has lost 22-straight games when scoring 20 or less points (19-14 vs. UCF in '09/last win) ...
- Has accounted for 400 or more yards of total offense in 11 of the last 12 games ...
THE SERIES
Saturday's contest will mark the first meeting (0-0) between James Madison and ECU in the sport of football.
NON-LEAGUE STATISTICAL COMPARISONS
In its four regular season non-conference contests last year, ECU averaged 29.3 points, 155.8 rushing yards, 368.0 passing yards and 523.8 total yards per game ... By comparison, the Pirates booked 25.9 ppg, 120.8 rypg, 318.0 pypg and 438.8 ypg averages in their eight conference tilts in 2016.
AGAINST THE FCS
The Pirates currently own a 25-game win streak and have recorded an all-time 25-1 record against programs that currently compete or competed on the Football Championship Subdivision (formerly NCAA Division I-AA) level when the game was played ... The lone setback, which occurred in the "first" contest, came against Eastern Kentucky (28-16) on Nov. 15, 1980 ... Among all of the Pirates' previous FCS opponents, Appalachian State (2-0), Georgia Southern (3-0), UCF (2-0), Southwest Texas State (1-0, now referred to as Texas State), have since made the transition to the FBS level ... Matchups against defending FCS (I-AA) national champions, similar to Saturday's clash against James Madison, are denoted in bold (2-1 record).
WHAT'S BACK ... PRODUCTIVELY SPEAKING
Offensively, the Pirates return just 16 percent of their rushing yards (256 of 1,589) and 34 percent of their passing yards (1,347 of 4,016) from a year ago ... On defense, ECU welcomes back over 47 percent of its tackles (405 of 857), but a more impressive 63 percent of its turnover production (five of eight; 3/5 interceptions and 2/3 fumble recoveries) … From a scoring standpoint, players who accounted for 98 of ECU's 324 points last season are on the 2017 active roster (30 percent).
ECU AGAINST THE COLONIAL ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION
ECU has compiled an all-time record of 27-15-1 (.640) against current members of the Colonial Athletic Association ... The Pirates are 13-11 against Richmond, 12-4 vs. William & Mary and 1-0 against both Maine and Towson ... In addition to James Madison, ECU has also never faced Albany, Delaware, Elon, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Stony Brook and Villanova on the gridiron.
PIRATE & DUKES CONNECTIONS
ECU Director of Athletics Jeff Compher earned his bachelor's degree in psychology from James Madison in 1980 and was a student-athlete as a member of the football program ... JMU offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Donnie Kirkpatrick served as the Pirates' receivers coach and recruiting coordinator from 2005 to 2015 under head coaches Skip Holtz (2005-09) and Ruffin McNeill (2010-15) ... He helped the Pirates to eight bowl appearances and a pair of Conference USA championships (2008, 2009), while the ECU offense nearly rewrote the program's entire record book - especially with the help of receivers Dwayne Harris, Justin Hardy and the first three campaigns of Zay Jones' career ... JMU cornerbacks coach and recruiting coordinator Tripp Weaver, a 2012 ECU graduate, was promoted to a defensive staff assistant role and worked with the secondary for the Pirates in 2012 and 2013 after serving as a student assistant under McNeill ... Dale Steele, the Dukes' director of football administration, held a similar title with the Pirates from 2013 to 2015 and also spent six years coaching receivers on Bill Lewis and Steve Logan's staff s ... He played an integral role in ECU's 1991 "We Believe" season which resulted in an 11-1 record and 37-34 win over NC State in the Peach Bowl.
AT DOWDY-FICKLEN STADIUM - 3-3 IN 2016
ECU's all-time record at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium is 183-93-1 (.662) ... 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 back-to-back 3-3 marks in 2015 and 2016, ECU recorded consecutive 5-1 ledgers 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 will be looking for its 40th winning campaign at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium this fall.
PIRATE NATION - 8 MILLION STRONG
ECU has always been able to claim plenty of hometown support, even more so when playing at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium during the fall - establishing itself as a conference and a national attendance leader on a near annual basis ... In all, a total of 8,208,366 fans have seen the Pirates in action since 1963 (ECU cracked the 8 million mark when 50,719 watched ECU down NC State Sept. 10, 2016) ... Since the completion of a 7,000-seat expansion project in 2010 (to push capacity to 50,000), the Pirates have drawn 1,937,080 fans.
ATTENDANCE LEADERS
ECU topped all "Non-Autonomy" conference members in attendance in 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2016 ... Overall, ECU ranked 53rd nationally in average attendance (44,113) and 50th in capacity percentage (88.23) during the 2016 campaign ... A closer look: 1. ECU (53rd/44,113), 2. Houston (58th/38,953), 3. USF (60th/37,539), 4. Memphis (61st/37,346), 5. San Diego State (62nd/37,289) ... ECU has drawn at least 40,000 fans to Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium in 20 of its last 22 home games dating back to 2013 ... The only "exception" was a Thursday night matchup against Temple on October 22, 2015 (39,417) and last year's home fi nale against Navy (39,480).
ANYTIME, ANYWHERE
ECU is the only program in the nation to play at least three non-conference games against P6 (including Notre Dame & BYU) opponents in each of the last five years, including the 2017 campaign.
ANALYZING THE 2017 OVERALL SCHEDULE
Overall, the Pirates '17 schedule features contests against eight teams which advanced to bowl games a year ago - West Virginia (Russell Athletic), Virginia Tech (Belk), BYU (Poinsettia), USF (Birmingham), UCF (AutoNation Cure), Temple (Military), Memphis (Boca Raton) and Houston (Las Vegas) ... Of ECU's five road games, four will be against 2016 bowl qualifiers ... Six of the Pirates' FBS opponents this year were either ranked or received votes in college football's two major polls (Associated Press, Coaches) to end the 2016 season - Virginia Tech (16/16), West Virginia (18/17) and USF (19/19) were among the Top 25, while BYU, Temple and Houston each received votes ... ECU's four non-conference opponents were a combined 43-12 (.782) a year ago, while the Pirates' eight American Conference foes posted a collective 55-47 (.539) record ... The Pirates' 2017 non-conference slate, which includes FCS national champion JMU, was ranked as the toughest nationally by USA Today.
CHARTING THE PIRATES MONTH-BY-MONTH
In all, ECU is 3-2-0 in August, 123-112-2 in September, 161-153-4 in October, 137-121-5 in November, 9-9-0 in December and 1-4-0 in January ... Although the Pirates were 2-2 last season (and have won 15 of their last 26 overall September games), ECU has posted a recent 8-11 record against non-conference foes in the ninth month.
SHUTOUT-FREE ... 243 AND COUNTING
ECU will enter the James Madison contest with an active streak of 234 games of not suffering a shutout - a school record (previous mark was 110 set from '71 to '81) ... The last time the Pirates were blanked was on Oct. 4, 1997 (56-0 at Syracuse).
BACK TO WORK ... IT'S BEEN 279 DAYS
ECU will end a 279-day layoff when it meets the Dukes Saturday, last playing Nov. 26, 2016 - a 37-10 loss to Temple at Lincoln Financial Field.
FIRST-TIME STARTERS?
There could be as many as nine (9) first-time ECU starters in the Pirates' lineup against James Madison Saturday - four on the offensive side of the ball (LT D'Ante Smith, LG Cortez Herrin, RG Austin Lee, RBs Derrell Scott/Tyshon Dye) and five more on defense (DT Alex Turner, ILB Ray Tillman, CB Travis Phillips, FS Korrin Wiggins, ROV Tim Irvin) ... It is worth nothing however that Scott (Tennessee), Dye (Clemson), Wiggins (Clemson) and Irvin (Auburn) are FBS transfers.
LOSING THEIR (RED) SHIRTS
A total of 28 players have had their redshirts removed and experienced action as true freshmen in the last five years - 2012 (1), 2013 (5), 2014 (9), 2015 (4), 2016 (9/DE Kendall Futrell, CB Colby Gore, OG Cortez Herrin, RB Hussein Howe, QB Gardner Minshew, DE Jalen Price, DS Anthony Ratliff, OT D'Ante Smith and DE Alex Turner) ... The count could rise by three (3) when Scottie Montgomery opens his second season as head coach against James Madison on Saturday ... TE Ben Norris, SS Davondre Robinson and WR Mydreon Vines are all included on the Pirates' opening depth chart.
MORE ON SEASON OPENING SUCCESS - NATIONALLY
As previously mentioned, ECU has won its last fi ve-straight season openers, matching 17 other FBS programs - Air Force, Alabama, Ball State, Baylor, Cincinnati, Duke, Florida, Florida State, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan State, Ohio State, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas Tech, Utah and Western Kentucky.
TOP PASSING UNIT IN AMERICAN HISTORY
Since joining the American Athletic Conference in 2014, the Pirates lead the league in passing yards per game over a combined three-year period despite utilizing five starting quarterbacks, three offensive coordinators and two head coaches: 1. ECU (330.4), 2. Cincinnati (307.8), 3. Tulsa (288.3). In addition, the Pirates also top the conference in completions and attempts since joining the AAC over the last three seasons.
KEEPING IT IN THE EASTERN TIME ZONE
Since becoming a conference member (1997), ECU has played just two opponents from outside the Eastern Time Zone - Alabama (in Birmingham in 1998) and BYU (in Provo in 2015) ... To extend the trend, the Pirates aren't scheduled to leave the "ET" for a non-league contest through 2021.
RECEIVER U
ECU has the top two receivers in the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision history by career receptions in Zay Jones (399 from 2013-16) and Justin Hardy (387 from 2011-2014) ... Marshall and Nevada are the only other schools with multiple Top 20 all-time FBS pass catchers ... In terms of FBS single-season reception leaders, the Pirates are just one of two programs (Nevada) to have three players in the Top 25 listings - 1. Jones (158/2016, 20. Hardy (121/2014, 25. Hardy (114/2013).
SPREADING IT AROUND
ECU was one of just nine FBS programs to have three players with 45 or more catches in 2016, joining Colorado, Fresno State, Houston, Indiana, Middle Tennessee State, Syracuse, Virginia and Washington State.
P6 .... #AMERICANPOWER
Similar to the 2016 campaign, ECU will continue to wear P6 helmet stickers, recognizing Commissioner Mike Aresco's long-standing message that the American Athletic Conference is a Power 6 Conference based on the league's competitive results and commitments made at all the conference's institutions.
NOT MANY 4TH DOWN DILLEMAS
The Pirates ranked fifth nationally among all FBS programs in 4th down conversions (21) and fifth in attempts (35) during the 2016 campaign as then-first-year head coach Scottie Montgomery more than doubled the tries made by ECU in 2015 (17) ... The 35 attempts were the most by a Pirate squad since 1996 ... Against USF (Oct. 8), ECU went for it on 4th down six times, which stood as the fourth-highest single-game total by a FBS unit a year ago (and matched the most attempts by the Pirates in the last 20 years).
THIS AND THAT
INDIVIDUAL NOTES: OT Brandon Smith (23 games) and CB Colby Gore (8) own the program's longest starting streaks on their respective side of the ball entering the James Madison contest ... WR Jimmy Williams will enter the 2017 season with at least one reception in his last 13 games played (did not have a catch against USF on Nov. 7, 2015) ... He'll also open action vs. JMU with a streak of TD receptions in two straight outings (Navy and Temple to close out the 2016 campaign) and in four of the last six contests ... As a starter, QB Gardner Minshew completed 37 of-59 (62.7%) passes for 421 yards and four touchdowns a year ago ... He set career-highs in completions (29), attempts (49) and passing yards (336) against Tulsa in a relief role before tossing a personal-best three TDs (40, 6, 77-yarders) vs. the Mids in his first career start last Nov. 19 ... Minshew also appeared on the Netflix series Last Chance U (Season 1/Episode 5) while playing at Northwest Mississippi Community College ... Graduate transfer QB Thomas Sirk had quite a memorable game during his last official collegiate appearance (sat out 2016 with an injury), earning Co-MVP honors at the New Era Pinstripe Bowl after 17-of-37, 163-yard passing and 155 yard rushing (20 carries) performances vs. Indiana at Yankee Stadium ... In all, Sirk accounted for three TDs to help Duke to a 44-41 overtime win over the Hoosiers on Dec. 26, 2015 ... ILB Jordan Williams, who led ECU in tackles last year and was included on SI.com's Freak List (nation's top 40 workout warriors in college football), has posted three or more stops in 15 of his last 16 contests with the only hiccup being a one-tackle performance in the 2016 season finale at Temple ... ILB Ray Tillman closed out the 2016 season by racking up a combined 23 stops in the final two games - 18 vs. Navy, five vs. Temple ... The 18 hits against the Midshipmen were the most by an ECU defender since 2003 (18/Chris Moore vs. WVU).
TEAM NOTES: The Pirates have thrown at least one TD strike in 63 of their last 69 games, including a run of 14-straight contests ... ECU has tallied at least one rushing TD in four of the last five outings (none vs. Temple) ... The Pirates have allowed 21 or more first-half points in four-straight outings (24/TLS, 38/SMU, 31/Navy, 21/Temple) ... ECU was -16 in turnover margin a year ago, but according to Phil Steele Preview Magazine, "nearly 70 percent of teams with a -10 or worse margin have a better record the following year" ... The Pirates will look to break a four-game takeaway drought when it meets JMU Saturday, last forcing a turnover (three) during a 41-3 win over Connecticut on Oct. 29, 2016 ... ECU has racked up 400 or more yards of total offense in 11 of its last 12 games (225 vs. Temple) ... The Pirates' defense has surrendered only a combined 34 completions in their last three games (an average of just 11.2 per contest).
