Greg Vacek's Monday Infographic | 'That's Reality'

ECU

(5-7, 3-5)

UC

(7-5, 4-4)

Nov 28, 2015

Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium

Greenville, NC

Page Last Updated Monday, November 30, 2015 04:06 AM

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Greg Vacek's Monday Infographic

>>> AAC SCOREBOARD >>> ..... ..... Thursday: USF 44, UCF 3 (ESPN) ..... ..... Friday: Houston 52, Navy 31 (ABC) ..... Tulsa 45, Tulane 34 (ESPNU) ..... ..... Saturday: Memphis 63, SMU 0 (ESPNN) ..... Cincinnati 19, ECU 16 ..... Temple 27, UConn 3 (ESPNU) ..... .....

	'That's Reality'
	Injuries and Close Losses Sum Up the Season
	5 of 7 losses were by 10 points or less

Ruffin McNeill on the ECU football team fighting through adversity:

"Right before the season started, [Kurt Benkert] went down, Cody Keith got hurt, injuries here and there, but we weren�t making any excuses, and that�s reality. This conference is a conference � and our nonconference schedule is a schedule that you can not � it�s small margin of error anyway � but there�s a point where we�ve still got to build those next man up ... baby, step up and step in there. But still, no excuses, no complaints. The kids worked hard. I told them in there, they�ve never had a day that they did not work hard. A lot of teams would have folded, a lot of teams would have quit, a lot of teams would not have been fighting like that today after the tough losses they�ve had. I�m very proud of them after that and the staff."

Bearcats play it close to the vest in the second half

ECU loses for just for the second time in 29 games when leading at the half

"This was a hard game; we knew it ... this was a hard game last year," said Cincinnati coach Tommy Tuberville. "This [ECU] offense is hard to stop. The whole key to the game the second half was we were able to run the ball. They had forty-four snaps the first half and I told the offense if we didn�t get control of the ball in the second half we couldn�t win the game. We had to be able to run the ball. They had forty-four the first half and had just twenty-five the second half and that was the difference in the game. We relied on the kicker. We didn�t go deep with the ball in the second half � we weren�t going to turn it over."

The Pirates had possession for only 9 minutes and 1 second in the 2nd half.

12 Minute 52 Second Differential

Top Performers

PASSING Comp-Att-Int. Yds TD Long Sack

KEMP, Blake 33-50-0 315 1 24 0

Kemp started his eighth game under center (5-3 record). Recorded his fifth 300-plus passing game with 315 yards (others: 333/Florida, 325/Navy, 371/BYU, 465/UCF); logged seven 200-plus games. His 260 completions ranks sixth on ECU�s single-season charts.

James Summers threw his fifth TD pass of the season, connecting with Bryce Williams from two yards out in the fourth quarter on his lone pass attempt of the game.

RUSHING No. Gain Loss Net TD Lg Avg

KEMP, Blake 6 34 1 33 0 13 5.5

Not the first time an ECU QB has been the leading rusher this season.

RECEIVING No. Yards TD Long

JONES, Isaiah 12 124 0 24

Jones finished with a team-high 12 receptions for 124 yards. Became the sixth Pirate to have 1,000 yards or more receiving in a season (eighth time in school history with a 1,000-yard receiver) on a four-yard grab in the first quarter. Marks the fourth-straight year ECU has had a 1,000-yard receiver. ... Has caught multiple
passes in 37 of 38 career games (none vs. Virginia Tech in 2013). Has tallied 241 career receptions (third all-time) for 2,533
yards (third all-time); ranks fourth on the single-season receptions chart with 98, passing Lance Lewis (89 receptions in 2010). His 1,099 receiving yards in 2015 ranks sixth on the ECU single-season charts.

TACKLES UA A TFL/YDS

JORDAN, Williams 6 8 14 1.0/1

Zeek Bigger tallied nine tackles (six solo) with a pair of TFLs (-3 yards). Finished career with 333 tackles (164 solo), which
ranks 10th on ECU�s all-time list.

Montese Overton tallied eight tackles (five solo). Recorded at least one tackle in 45 of 46 career games played. Finished career with 35.5 TFL.

DaShawn Benton picked off his second pass of the season (second of his career) in the end zone in the second quarter. ... Finished with four tackles (one solo).

American Athletic Conference - East DivisionStandings

School

Conf

All

Last Result

7-1

10-2

Temple Lands In American Football Championship With Win Over UConn, 27-3

6-2

8-4

Flowers Powers USF Past UCF, 44-3

4-4

7-5

Has Tommy Tuberville advanced UC Bearcat football?

4-4

6-6

Temple defense dominates in
rout of UConn

3-5

5-7

East Carolina Falls to Cincinnati on Last-Second Field Goal, 19-16

0-8

0-12

UCF's 2015 season doomed before it started

#AmericanRising

In arguably the American Athletic Conference's best season of football, with four teams in the top 25 at one time and with eight teams bowl eligible, it will be painful for teams like ECU and UCF that have been regular bowl participants to stay home. But with revenue sharing and conference reputation at stake, Pirate fans can cheer on conference mates in the following bowl matchups.

Birmingham Bowl
Birmingham, AL � vs. SEC

St. Petersburg Bowl
St. Petersburg, FL � vs. C-USA

Miami Beach Bowl
Miami, FL � vs. C-USA

Military Bowl presented by Northrop Grumman
Annapolis, MD � vs. ACC

Sheraton Hawaii Bowl
Honolulu, HI � vs. Mountain West

Marmot Boca Raton Bowl
Boca Raton, FL � vs. MAC

AutoNation Cure Bowl
Orlando, FL � vs. Sun Belt

Peach Bowl
Atlanta, GA � Group of Five Houston/Temple winner vs. At Large

ECU has lost 18-straight games when scoring 20 or less points (19-14 vs. UCF in �09/last win)

Play Distribution

FIRST DOWNS 23 ECU; 30 CIN

"It starts with the sticks. The first down is where we feel like you�ve got to gain control," ECU coach Ruffin McNeill said of Cincinnati�s success on 3rd down that continued to extend Bearcat drives. "They�ve got size upfront and mass upfront. That�s the difference in this league. I�ve been trying to tell everyone that. That�s an NFL line they got. Three of the five are going to the league. But again, we�ve got to hold up. Eventually we�ll get there, our kids will get to that size and hold up there. They ran the football and controlled the clock on us, made manageable third downs, hit some big ones..."

Next Opponent: Western Carolina

vs.

Day:		Saturday
Date:		Sept 3, 2016
Location:		Greenville, NC