USF Athletics

Louk's Closer Look: Bulls Right Back on the Road

October 24, 2019

NEXT GAME: USF (3-4, 1-2) at East Carolina (3-4, 0-3)
DAY/TIME: Saturday/3:45 p.m.
LOCATION: Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium, Greenville, N.C.
TV/RADIO: ESPNU/USF Radio Network: Over the Air: WDAE 95.3 FM/620 AM & Digital: Bulls Unlimited
SERIES: USF leads, 8-1, and has won four straight
GAME NOTES: USF | ECU
 
 
By JIM LOUK
Voice of the Bulls
 
TAMPA, OCT. 24, 2019 – October is travel month for the Bulls, and we are right back on the road this weekend at East Carolina. 
 
Although the last game didn't go as we would have liked, the Navy trip really showed the great support for the team.  Thanks to all the Bulls fans who made the trip and showed up in force at Annapolis.
 
Now it's on to a new challenge. Both the Bulls and ECU are 3-4 on the season and both are coming off losses in the past week.  Here's how the matchup looks for this Saturday:
 

• The Bulls have had a lot of success against the Pirates, with an 8-1 overall record.  The wins include the 2006 PapaJohns.com Bowl in Birmingham. The lone loss was in Tampa in the 2014 homecoming game.  USF is a perfect 4-0 in Greenville.
• The last time the Bulls visited Greenville (Sept. 30, 2017), they scored 61 points, the seventh most they have scored in a game and the most they have ever scored on the road.
• East Carolina has played in 20 bowl games, with a record of 9-11. Its most recent appearance was a loss to Florida in the 2015 Birmingham Bowl.
• The Bulls will be making their fifth visit to the on-campus Dowdy-Ficklin Stadium.  The facility opened in 1963 and seats 50,000. It has recently undergone a $55 million renovation.
• East Carolina has had three terms as an independent; 1932-1946, 1962-1964, and 1977 to 1996.  They Pirates have been members of the North State Conference, Southern Conference, and Conference USA prior to joining the American.  Their last conference championship came in Conference USA in 2009 under Skip Holtz.
• USF has 18 takeaways, which rank second in the nation. The Bulls are now third in the nation in tackles for loss with 9.1 per game.
• This will be the 27^th American Athletic Conference road game for the Bulls.  USF owns a 14-12 record away from home.
• Jordan Cronkrite (Miami) is up to 1,580 career yards rushing.  He'll break in to the USF all-time top 10 with 160 more yards. 
• East Carolina's wins are over Old Dominion, William & Mary, and Gardiner-Webb.  The losses are to UCF, Temple, Navy and North Carolina State.
• With 10 more receiving yards, Mitchell Wilcox will pass Jessie Hester for 12^th place on the USF all-time list.
• ECU has not been shut out in 22 years, a span of 273 games.  The last team to hold the Pirates scoreless was Syracuse, 56-0, on Oct. 4, 1997.

 
We'll have an unusual time slot from ESPNU for this one.  Kickoff will be at 3:45 p.m. from Greenville.  That means radio coverage begins at 1:45 p.m. with our first pregame hour exclusive to USF Bulls Unlimited through the free iHeart radio app.  Coverage begins on FM 95.3 and AM 620 WDAE at 2:45 p.m.
 
This game will conclude a busy month of October for the Bulls.  Next week is an open week, and then the team returns for a Thursday night home game against Temple on Nov. 7.  Horns Up!
 
ABOUT USF FOOTBALL
Having completed just its 22^nd season of football, and 19^th at the FBS level, the USF football program has earned 10 bowl appearances, including a current run of four straight, and owns a record of 6-3 in bowl games. The Bulls have appeared in the national top 25 rankings in each of the past three seasons, including a program record run of 20 straight weeks in the top 25, and in 2018 reached the program's 150^th win faster than any FBS program in state of Florida history. USF has posted a pair of 10-plus win seasons in the last three years, including a program-record 11 wins (11-2) in 2016, and logged 15 winning seasons overall. Since first taking the field in 1997, the USF program has reached as high as No. 2 in the national rankings (2007), seen 30 players selected in the NFL Draft, 14 named All-American and 29 earn first-team all-conference selection.
 
Follow @USFFootball on twitter for all the latest information concerning the USF Football program.