Gameday: ECU Hosts USF for Homecoming | Eastern NC Now

Publisher's note: This post appears here courtesy of the news and information section for East Carolina University men's and women's sports.

USF at ECU (Game 8)
Date	Saturday, Oct. 26
Time	3:45 P.M. (EDT)
Location	Greenville, N.C. (Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium)
Tickets & Parking	Tickets | Parking
Live Game Coverage	Radio: WNCT 107.9FM | TuneIn Radio Online Television: ESPNU
Internet Options	Live Stats
Official Web Sites	ECU | USF | American Athletic Conference
Game Notes	ECU (PDF) | USF (PDF) | The American (PDF)
2019 Statistics	ECU (PDF) | USF (PDF)
ECU Football Central	ECU Media Hub | Roster | The American (PDF) | NCAA Football | College Scoreboard

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.     It's Homecoming on the ECU campus as the Pirates welcome USF to Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium on Saturday. After falling at UCF last week, East Carolina hopes to bounce back and even its overall record to 4-4 for the first time since 2015 when it battles the Bulls. The Pirates will also attempt to push their home ledger to 3-1 this year and capture their first-ever victory over USF (0-4) in Greenville. Lastly, ECU has downed 12 of its last 13 Homecoming opponents dating back to 2006.

    ECU RECORDS AND STREAKS

• Qualified for 10 bowl appearances since 2000 (eight in the last 13 years) ...
• Has thrown at least one TD pass in four-straight games (and in 11 of the last 14) ...
• Has made at least one field goal (when attempted) in 18-straight games ...
• Has booked 45 tackles for lost yardage in the last six games (7.5 pg) ...
• Has forced at least one turnover in six-straight games ...
• Has won 37 of the last 40 games when leading at the half ...
• Has won 13 of the last 14 games when leading at the end of the 3rd quarter ...
• Has won 12 of the last 13 Homecoming games ...
• Has limited opponents to just one (1) second-half TD in the last four home games ...

    THE SERIES     USF leads East Carolina 8-1 all-time in a series which dates back to 2002 ... The 2003 and 2004 meetings were league contests while both programs were members of Conference USA, while the last five matchups (2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 & 2018) have served as the Bulls' and Pirates' initial quintet of American Athletic Conference encounters ... The Papajohns.com Bowl matchup in Birmingham was ECU's first against then-Big East member USF at a neutral site ... The Pirates are winless (0-4) against the Bulls in Greenville and 1-3 in Tampa.

    MIKE HOUSTON AGAINST THE BULLS     Including Mike Houston's prior eight-year tenure as a collegiate head coach at Lenoir-Rhyne, The Citadel and James Madison, Saturday's game will mark his first-ever meeting against USF.

    CHARLIE STRONG AGAINST THE PIRATES     While Saturday's contest will be Charlie Strong's third against East Carolina as a head coach, he did face the Pirates on one occasion as an assistant ... As defensive coordinator on Lou Holtz' staff at South Carolina, ECU pinned a 21-3 loss on the Gamecocks at Williams-Brice Stadium in 1999 ... The Pirates have squared off against Southern Illinois, Louisville and Florida in their history, but never when Strong was on those respective staffs.

    ECU & USF COACHING CONNECTIONS     East Carolina and USF each feature Skip Holtz on its all-time head coach roster page ... Holtz was 16-21 (.432) while guiding the Bulls for three seasons (2010-12) after leading the Pirates to a 38-27 (.585) mark, two Conference USA titles and an unprecedented run of four-straight bowl appearances from 2005 to 2009.

    BULLS, KNIGHTS, 'CANES, 'NOLES, GATORS, OWLS AND PANTHERS     The Pirates have dropped 35 of 50 all-time matchups (15-35) 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, 1-8 vs. USF, 0-3 vs. Florida and 0-7 vs. Florida State ... The Pirates have lost 11 of the last 12 matchups against schools from Florida (posting its only win against UCF in the 2015 road finale).

    THE AMERICAN - YEAR SIX     East Carolina has posted an 82-70 (.539) all-time mark against current members of the American Conference ... The Pirates currently sport series records against Memphis (15-8), Cincinnati (13-9), Tulane (11-5), UCF (10-8), Tulsa (8-6), Temple (8-9), Houston (7-7), Connecticut (4-1), SMU (4-3), Navy (1-6) and USF (1-8).

    ...

    Read the entire game preview HERE.