Things have not gone well for East Carolina in its young American Conference series with Charlotte.

The Pirates are 0-2 all-time against the 49ers with an opportunity to get into the win column on Saturday at 3 p.m. at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium.

The in-state opponents first met in 2023 in Greenville with Charlotte taking a 10-7 win over an offensively-challenged Pirates team.

ECU sought payback in the Queen City last year, but the 49ers had 311 yards rushing in a 55-24 conquest of the Pirates.

“Anytime you’re preparing for an opponent, the focus is on you,” said ECU coach Blake Harrell on Monday. “We just had a young man in our locker room stand up that was here in ’23. There’s a young man in our locker room that was here in ’24 who stood up.

“They all know what that means and what that’s about. … We know we’ve got to treat this game a little differently than I think we have in the past.

“That’s the biggest thing that we focused on. … It is the biggest game on our schedule, the next game. And it happens to be a team down the road and that adds a little bit more to it.  Became it’s a team in this state, we’ve got to establish who we are in this state and establish what we’re about.  …

“We’re not the same team we were a year ago when we played these guys, but we’ve got to go out and prove that on Saturday.”

Temple template

ECU is 5-3 overall and 3-1 in the American after a 45-14 win at Temple on Saturday.

“We can’t take a single play from last week, a single point, a single defensive stop into this week,” Harrell said. “We’ve got to go out and be consistent with what we do every week.

“Obviously, the focus is on us, but that’s definitely fresh in our minds and we’ll make sure it stays there as well.”

Run to daylight

The Pirates had 358 yards rushing at Temple in their first day game of the season. Harrell is looking forward to ECU’s first day game at home this season.

“Thankful we’re be back in Dowdy,” Harrell said. “Finally, a Saturday game in Dowdy. It’s been a while since we’ve had one of those and it will be the first day game of the year in Dowdy Ficklen. Excited about that.

“No place I’d rather be than with Pirate Nation in the Fick. It will be great to have friends back, alumni back for homecoming.

“A lot of events going on this week. Congrats to the letter winners and the Hall of Fame inductees, including our football inductees. Dwayne Harris, Shane Carden and Justin Hardy certainly laid the foundation to make what Greenville’s about, what Greenville football and Greenville’s about. Making it matter and a place where football is important.

“Thank you to those men and excited to have them back. Also excited to have our seniors from last year’s Military Bowl champs back with us this weekend. They’re getting their rings.”

Road warriors

ECU got its second road win at Temple and is 2-2 in away games this season.

“It was a tough place to play, but I thought we did a really good job just bringing energy and bringing juice to it all day,” Harrell said of the matchup at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia. “We could have easily went into it, had a bye week, 16 days off, and just kind of oozed out of there or got off to a slow start.

“But we started fast. Defense gets the three and out. Offense goes down and scores. We pick off their quarterback for the first time all year and go up 14.”

Physicality

Harrell felt the physicality of the Pirates was a decisive factor.

“The biggest impact of the game was the physicality we played with on both sides of the football,” he said. “That’s something we practice. Just talked to our group this morning about you run the football because we practice inside run. We do perimeter drill on the edges there and we’re able to be physical out there. It’s the same thing defensively. You’re able to stop the run because of some things we do there.”

Looking at Charlotte

The 49ers changed coaches after going 5-7 overall and 4-4 in the American in 2024.

“Tim Albin is their new head coach,” Harrell said. “Tim comes from Ohio. Did a great job up there. I think the last three seasons they won 10 games each of those seasons.

“Offensively, there will be some familiarity there. Todd Fitch is their offensive coordinator, once a Pirate and they’re going to have a quarterback, Grayson Loftis, who started out his career at Duke. …

“They’ll play 11 personnel, 12 personnel. You’ll see zone run game. You’ll see a little bit of counter, some quick game. Ball control and then they’ll max protect, play action, take a shot down the field.”

49ers defense

Charlotte (1-7, 0-5 American) has given up 298 points this season, over 37 points per game.

“Defensively, you’re going to see more of a four-down front,” Harrell said.”Nate Faanes is their defensive coordinator. He came with the head coach from Ohio. Their linebackers kind of stand out. Kadin Schmitz, No. 19, and No. 40, Reid Williford, kind of lead them.”