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Thursday Night
Lights
With
the debut of all-new
black uniforms,
East Carolina will
play the 40th game
of the Ruffin
McNeill era tonight in front
of a
primetime television
audience
against
Florida Atlantic.
Regarding ECU�s black
duds, Coach
McNeill said, ��I
told our kids last
night, `The uniforms
are fantastic. I
love them.' The
excitement is great.
But it starts from
them first, what's
inside. The person
that puts the
uniform on is more
important. I love
the uniform. But
making sure the kids
understand how we
practice and how we
prepare and when our
fans are cheering,
they're cheering for
that Pirate that's
inside that uniform.
We're excited about
it. Our fans will
love it. It's a
nice, classy look.
I'm excited."
A team�s biggest
improvement comes
from week one to
week two. Though the
34-6 score of FAU's
season-opening loss
to Miami didn't
exactly gain the
team a lot of
support from
pundits, Owls coach
Carl Pelini is
pleased with the way
his squad showed
against Miami. �I'm
very optimistic,� Pelini said on
Sunday. �I like what
we are doing.� After
studying the game
video, Pelini
concluded that most
of the problems FAU
ran into were �very
correctable things.�
He saw some missed
reads and missed
blocks � the kinds
of mistakes that
could be fixed in
time for tonight's
Conference USA
opener.
McNeill is
also looking for
progress from the
Pirates in week
two. �There are
always first game
items that you can
only address after
the initial game to
get a starting
point, and now we're
able to do that.
Whatever it may be,
from sideline
jitters to
coordination, you
can only get that
feeling in the
actual game. It was
great to be able to
do that. It was a
great starting point
for us.� One area
in which the Pirates can
improve is the
elimination of
costly penalties
that stalled several
drives against ODU.
Although they ranked
10th nationally in
fewest penalties a
year ago, the
Pirates were flagged
nine times during
the opener, the most in a single
game since Oct. 29,
2011, against Tulane.
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FIU |
TALE OF
THE TAPE* |
ECU |
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75th/133.0 |
Rushing
Offense |
114th/34.0 |
|
104th/117 |
Passing
Offense |
3rd/447.0 |
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103rd/250 |
Total
Offense |
38th/481.0 |
|
T-110th/6.0 |
Scoring
Offense |
T-11th/52.0 |
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110th/303 |
Rushing
Defense |
26th/90.0 |
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56th/116.5 |
Pass
Efficiency
Defense |
83rd/153.81 |
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94th/503 |
Total
Defense |
81st/460.0 |
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T-77th/34 |
Scoring
Defense |
91st/38.0 |
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T-49th/0.0 |
Turnover
Margin |
T-24th/1.0 |
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15th/2.85 |
Sacks |
41st/2.0 |
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61st/2.08 |
Sacks
Allowed |
64th/2.0 |
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*2013 FBS National
ranking |
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TOP PERFORMERS AT A
GLANCE |
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PASSING
Comp-Att-Int. YDS.
TD |
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FIU
- Jaquez Johnson
11-20-0 83 0 |
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ECU - Shane Carden
46 54 9 447 5 |
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RUSHING
ATT. YDS. AVG. TD |
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FIU
-
Jonathan
Wallace
10 34
3.4
0 |
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ECU - Vintavious
Cooper
12 38 3.2 0 |
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RECEIVING
NO. YDS. AVG. TD |
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FIU
- Melvin German
3
34 11.3 0 |
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ECU - Justin Hardy
16 191 11.9
0 |
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TACKLES
UT AT TFL SACKS |
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FIU
- Keith Reaser/Adarius
Glanton
7
1 1.0 0 |
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ECU - Damon Magazu
7 4 0 0 |
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Schemes: FAU
utilizes a spread
offensive attack
while employing a
multiple defensive
alignment.
ECU will also line
up in a spread
offense and are
multiple on defense.
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WORTH NOTING |
�
ECU�s
contest
against the
Owls will be
the Pirates�
799th since
the start of
football in
1932
(407-379-12/.518).
The Pirates
have dropped
24 of 35
all-time
matchups
(11-24)
against FBS
(formerly
Division
I-A)
programs
from the
state of
Florida ...
ECU is 9-3
against
Central
Florida,
2-9 vs.
Miami, 0-1
vs. Florida,
0-4 vs.
South
Florida
and 0-7 vs.
Florida
State ...
East
Carolina has
also never
faced FAU on
the
gridiron.
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�
ECU will
open the
Florida
Atlantic
contest with
an active
streak of
42 straight red zone
scores (37
TDs, 5 FGs)
since
converting
its last
three
close-in
opportunities against
Memphis last
Oct. 13th.
The Pirates
were 6-6 in
the red zone in the
�13 season
opener
against Old
Dominion. The Pirates
were
50-of-54
overall
(92.6%) in
2012,
ranking 3rd
among all FBS
programs,
and
currently
stand first
nationally
in 2013 with
a perfect
100.0
percent
clip.
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�
The last two
contests at
Dowdy-Ficklen
Stadium
(Marshall/2012,
Old
Dominion/
2013) have
been special
for both
Shane Carden
and Justin
Hardy:
Carden is
a combined
84-of-101
(83.2
percent) for
886 yards
and eight
touchdowns. Hardy has
been on the
receiving
end of 32
passes for
362 yards.
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�
Although
they ranked
10th
nationally
in fewest
penalties a
year ago,
the Pirates
were flagged
nine times
during the
opener vs.
ODU, the
most in a
single game
since Oct.
29, 2011
against Tulane.
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�
Junior
placekicker
Warren
Harvey has
converted
every
extra-point
attempt
since taking
over the
full-time
duties as a
sophomore a
year ago. ...
His run of
57 straight PATs
currently
ranks eighth
nationally. ECU has
received the
opening
kickoff in
12-straight
games, the
second-longest
active
streak
nationally
(16/San
Diego State)
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