2018 East Carolina Pirates football team

The 2018 East Carolina Pirates football team represented East Carolina University in the 2018 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Pirates, led by third-year head coach Scottie Montgomery, played their home games at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium, and were members of the East Division in the American Athletic Conference. They finished the season 3–9, 1–7 in AAC play to finish in fifth place in the East Division.

2018 East Carolina Pirates football
ConferenceAmerican Athletic Conference
DivisionEast Division
2018 record3–9 (1–7 The American)
Head coachScottie Montgomery (3rd season)
Offensive coordinatorTony Petersen (3rd season)
Defensive coordinatorDavid Blackwell (1st season)
Home stadiumDowdy-Ficklen Stadium
(Capacity: 50,000)
2018 American Athletic Conference football standings
Conf  Overall
Team W L    W L 
East Division
No. 11 UCF x$  8 –0     12 –1  
Temple  7 –1     8 –5  
No. 24 Cincinnati  6 –2     11 –2  
South Florida  3 –5     7 –6  
East Carolina  1 –7     3 –9  
UConn  0 –8     1 –11  
West Division
Memphis xy  5 –3     8 –6  
Houston x  5 –3     8 –5  
Tulane x  5 –3     7 –6  
SMU  4 –4     5 –7  
Navy  2 –6     3 –10  
Tulsa  2 –6     3 –9  
Championship: UCF 56, Memphis 41
  • $ – Conference champion
  • x – Division champion/co-champions
  • y – Championship game participant
Rankings from AP Poll

On November 29, head coach Socttie Montgomery was fired.[1] He finished at East Carolina with a three year record of 9–26. Defensive coordinator David Blackwell was the interim head coach during their final game of the season. On December 3, ECU hired James Madison head coach Mike Houston as their new head coach.[2]

Previous season

The Pirates finished the 2017 season 3–9, 2–6 in AAC play to finish in a three-way tie for fourth place in the East Division.

Preseason

Award watch lists

Listed in the order that they were released

Award Player Position Year
Fred Biletnikoff Award[3] Trevon Brown WR SR
Wuerffel Trophy[4] Garrett McGhin OL SR

AAC media poll

The AAC media poll was released on July 24, 2018, with the Pirates predicted to finish in last place in the AAC East Division.[5]

Media poll (East)
Predicted finish Team Votes (1st place)
1UCF175 (25)
2USF140 (5)
3Temple132
4Cincinnati91
5UConn51
6East Carolina41

Schedule
DateTimeOpponentSiteTVResultAttendance
September 2[lower-alpha 1]3:30 p.m.No. 14 (FCS) North Carolina A&T*
ESPN3L 23–2838,640
September 83:30 p.m.North Carolina*
  • Dowdy–Ficklen Stadium
  • Greenville, NC
ESPNUW 41–1939,298
September 228:00 p.m.at South Florida
ESPNewsL 13–2034,562
September 293:30 p.m.Old Dominion*
  • Dowdy–Ficklen Stadium
  • Greenville, NC
ESPN3W 37–3535,047
October 612:00 p.m.at Temple
ESPNewsL 6–4926,681
October 137:00 p.m.Houston
  • Dowdy–Ficklen Stadium
  • Greenville, NC
CBSSNL 20–4229,851
October 207:00 p.m.No. 10 UCF
  • Dowdy–Ficklen Stadium
  • Greenville, NC (rivalry)
ESPN2L 10–3731,159
November 312:00 p.m.Memphis
  • Dowdy–Ficklen Stadium
  • Greenville, NC
ESPNUL 41–5929,127
November 104:00 p.m.at Tulane
ESPNewsL 18–2420,860
November 177:00 p.m.UConn
  • Dowdy–Ficklen Stadium
  • Greenville, NC
CBSSNW 55–2127,234
November 233:30 p.m.at Cincinnati
CBSSNL 6–5621,230
December 1[lower-alpha 2]12:00 p.m.at NC State*
ACCN ExtraL 3–5857,223
  • *Non-conference game
  • Homecoming
  • Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game
  • All times are in Eastern time
  1. The game against North Carolina A&T was originally scheduled for September 1 at 6:00 pm before being postponed to September 2 at 3:30 pm due to inclement weather.[6]
  2. The game between ECU and Virginia Tech, originally scheduled for September 15, 2018, was canceled in anticipation of Hurricane Florence.[7] This game was scheduled on October 2, 2018 to replace East Carolina’s game at Virginia Tech and NC State’s game vs. West Virginia, both of which were canceled due to Hurricane Florence.[8]
Schedule Source:[9]

Game summaries

North Carolina A&T
See also: 2018 North Carolina A&T Aggies football team
North Carolina A&T at East Carolina
1 234Total
• No. 14 (FCS) Aggies 7 7014 28
Pirates 3 1433 23
  • Date: September 2
  • Location: Dowdy–Ficklen Stadium
    Greenville, NC
  • Game start: 3:30 p.m. EDT
  • Elapsed time: 3:41
  • Game attendance: 38,640
  • Game weather: 90°F • 5–8 mph • Mostly Cloudy
  • Referee: Henry Wimberg
  • TV announcers (ESPN3): Josh Appel (play-by-play), Stan Lewter (analyst)
Overall record Last meeting Result
First meeting

North Carolina
See also: 2018 North Carolina Tar Heels football team
North Carolina at East Carolina
1 234Total
Tar Heels 6 1300 19
• Pirates 7 14713 41
  • Date: September 8
  • Location: Dowdy–Ficklen Stadium
    Greenville, NC
  • Game start: 3:30 p.m. EDT
  • Elapsed time: 3:33
  • Game attendance: 39,298
  • Game weather: 91°F • S 5 • Partly Cloudy
  • Referee: Duane Heydt
  • TV announcers (ESPNU): Mike Corey (play-by-play), Rene Ingoglia (analyst)
Overall record Last meeting Result
4–12–1 September 20, 2014 W, 70–41

at South Florida
See also: 2018 South Florida Bulls football team
East Carolina at South Florida
1 234Total
Pirates 7 330 13
• Bulls 6 707 20
  • Date: September 22
  • Location: Raymond James Stadium
    Tampa, FL
  • Game start: 8:00 p.m. EDT
  • Elapsed time: 3:05
  • Game attendance: 34,562
  • Referee: Charles Lamerti
  • TV announcers (ESPNews): Dave Lamont (play-by-play), Ray Bentley (analyst)
Overall record Last meeting Result
1–7 September 30, 2017 L, 31–61

Old Dominion
See also: 2018 Old Dominion Monarchs football team
Old Dominion at East Carolina
1 234Total
Monarchs 14 678 35
• Pirates 14 779 37
Overall record Last meeting Result
4–3–1 August 31, 2013 W, 52–38

at Temple
See also: 2018 Temple Owls football team
East Carolina at Temple
1 234Total
Pirates 0 303 6
• Owls 14 2177 49
Overall record Last meeting Result
7–8 October 7, 2017 L, 10–34

Houston
See also: 2018 Houston Cougars football team
Houston at East Carolina
1 234Total
• Cougars 14 7714 42
Pirates 0 3314 20
  • Sources:
Overall record Last meeting Result
7–8 November 4, 2017 L, 27–52

UCF
See also: 2018 UCF Knights football team
UCF at East Carolina
1 234Total
• No. 10 Knights 0 20314 37
Pirates 3 070 10
  • Sources:
Overall record Last meeting Result
10–6 October 14, 2017 L, 21–63

Memphis
See also: 2018 Memphis Tigers football team
Memphis at East Carolina
1 234Total
• Tigers 10 141421 59
Pirates 14 3177 41
Overall record Last meeting Result
14–7 November 25, 2017 L, 13–70

The high-scoring affair features a combined 1,200 yards by the two teams. Holton Ahlers, in his second start in relief of Reid Herring, led the Pirates in both rushing (17 carries for 57 yards) and passing, completing 34 of his 62 passes for 449 yards (fourth in school history to Shane Carden's 480 in 2013, Blake Kemp's 465 in 2015, and Gardner Minshew's 463 in 217)[20] and three touchdowns without an interception. Trevon Brown had 10 receptions for 193 yards (eighth in ECU history) and two of those touchdowns. The second of these tied the game at 31 midway through the third quarter, but the Pirates were outscored 28-17 the rest of the way in the loss.[19]

at Tulane
See also: 2018 Tulane Green Wave football team
East Carolina at Tulane
1 234Total
Pirates 3 708 18
• Green Wave 7 773 24
Overall record Last meeting Result
11–4 November 11, 2017 L, 24–31 OT

UConn
See also: 2018 UConn Huskies football team
UConn at East Carolina
1 234Total
Huskies 7 1400 21
• Pirates 7 27147 55
Overall record Last meeting Result
3–1 September 24, 2017 W, 41–38

at Cincinnati
See also: 2018 Cincinnati Bearcats football team
East Carolina at Cincinnati
1 234Total
Pirates 0 600 6
• Bearcats 21 2177 56
Overall record Last meeting Result
13–8 November 18, 2017 W, 48–20

at NC State
See also: 2018 NC State Wolfpack football team
East Carolina at NC State
1 234Total
Pirates 0 003 3
• Wolfpack 17 101417 58
Overall record Last meeting Result
13–16 September 10, 2016 W, 33–30

Note: This game was scheduled on October 2, 2018 to replace NC State’s game vs. West Virginia and East Carolina’s game at Virginia Tech, both of which were canceled due to Hurricane Florence. This game will not take place if either NC State or ECU qualifies for their respective conference championship.

References
  1. https://www.apnews.com/4fc375b072844aebae6fdec06daae08a
  2. Igoe, Stephen. "New coach, new AD — a new era for Pirates". Wilson Daily Times. Retrieved December 22, 2018.
  3. "2018 Biletnikoff Award Watch List". July 19, 2018. Retrieved July 19, 2018.
  4. "Wuerffel Trophy Unveils 2018 Watch List". July 26, 2018. Retrieved July 26, 2018.
  5. "UCF Tabbed as Favorite in 2018 Preseason Media Poll". TheAmerican.org. Retrieved 24 July 2018.
  6. "ECU–N.C. A&T Game Postponed Until Sunday, Sept. 2 At 3:30 P.M." ECU Pirates Official Athletics Site. September 1, 2018. Retrieved September 1, 2018.
  7. "Safety Concerns, Catastrophic Florence Forecast Forces ECU To Cancel Blacksburg Trip". ECU Pirates Official Athletics Site. September 11, 2018. Retrieved September 23, 2018.
  8. "NC State, East Carolina to play on Dec. 1, add games in 2025, 2028". FB Schedules. October 2, 2018. Retrieved October 2, 2018.
  9. "2018 ECU Football Schedule | Pirates | FBSchedules.com". FB Schedules. Retrieved April 12, 2018.
  10. "ECU Game Notes – North Carolina A&T: Game 1" (PDF). August 27, 2018. Retrieved September 3, 2018.
  11. "North Carolina A&T (2–0) vs. East Carolina (0–1)". ECU Pirates Official Athletic Site. September 2, 2018. Retrieved September 3, 2018.
  12. "ECU Game Notes – North Carolina: Game 2" (PDF). September 3, 2018. Retrieved September 8, 2018.
  13. "North Carolina (0–2) vs. East Carolina (1–1)". ECU Pirates Official Athletic Site. September 8, 2018. Retrieved September 8, 2018.
  14. "ECU Game Notes – South Florida: Game 3" (PDF). September 21, 2018. Retrieved September 23, 2018.
  15. "South Florida (3–0) vs. East Carolina (1–2)". ECU Pirates Official Athletic Site. September 22, 2018. Retrieved September 23, 2018.
  16. "ECU Game Notes – Old Dominion: Game 4" (PDF). September 28, 2018. Retrieved October 2, 2018.
  17. "Old Dominion (1–4) vs. East Carolina (2–2)". ECU Pirates Official Athletic Site. September 22, 2018. Retrieved September 23, 2018.
  18. "ECU Game Notes – Temple: Game 5" (PDF). October 2, 2018. Retrieved October 2, 2018.
  19. "Memphis at East Carolina Box Score, November 3, 2018". College Football at Sports-Reference.com.
  20. "ECU Pirates 2018 Factbook" (PDF).


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