ECU-ASU football game notes

THE GAME
Defending Conference USA champion East Carolina, which has
posted three consecutive winning seasons for the first time since the
1998, 1999 and 2000 campaigns, will open the new year under the
direction of fifth-year head coach Skip Holtz when the Pirates battle
Appalachian State in a non-conference matchup at Dowdy-Ficklen
Stadium. The contest against the Mountaineers also marks an end to
a run of 11-straight (5-6) regular season non-conference games
against Bowl Championship Series (BCS) members dating back to 2006. However,
ECU will close out its ‘09 non-league slate by facing West Virginia (Sept. 12) and North
Carolina (Sept. 19) on the road before hosting Virginia Tech on Thursday, Nov. 5.

SCHEMES
ASU utilizes a multiple spread offensive attack while employing a 4-3 defensive alignment.
ECU will line up in a multiple offense and use a multiple look when defending.

THE COACHES
SKIP HOLTZ (Notre Dame ‘86) is 29-22 (.569) in his fifth season at East Carolina,
while overall, he is in year 10 as a collegiate head coach with a 63-45 (.583) record.
When he became ECU’s 19th all-time head football coach Dec. 3, 2004, Holtz officially
finished a six-year stint as South Carolina’s assistant head coach, offensive coordinator
and quarterbacks coach.
Prior to leading the Pirates to three-straight bowl appearances and earning
Conference USA Coach-of-the-Year honors in 2008, Holtz helped guide the Gamecocks
to back-to-back Outback Bowl wins over Ohio State (2001-2002). From 1994 to
1998, Holtz steered the Connecticut program to unprecedented success as its head
coach and layed the foundation for the school’s move to the Division I-A (FBS) level.
UConn was a consistent member of the I-AA (FCS) Top 25 polls during his last four
seasons, which included a school-record 10-win, playoff campaign in 1998. Prior to his
success at Connecticut, Holtz spent four seasons at alma mater Notre Dame and served
as the Fighting Irish’s offensive coordinator in 1992 and 1993 – a period which resulted
in a 21-2-1 record and top 10 national ranks in total offense and scoring offense.

JERRY MOORE (Baylor ‘61) is in his 21st season heading the football program at
Appalachian State and sports a 178-73 (.709) record. Overall, he is in his 28th year as
a collegiate head coach with a 205-121-2 (.628) mark. Before taking over the top ASU
football position and leading the Mountaineers to three consecutive FCS national titles in
2005, 2006 and 2007, Moore was 16-37-2 in five seasons as head coach at Texas
Tech (‘81-85) and 11-11 in two campaigns at North Texas (‘79-80). He also has served
on the staffs at SMU, Nebraska and Arkansas as an assistant.

THE SERIES
Appalachian State leads 19-10 …. While the Mountaineers have won 19 of 29 games in a 77-year
series that dates back to 1932, the two programs haven’t met since the Pirates posted a 38-21
victory over ASU in Boone on Nov. 3, 1979 … The Mountaineers opened the series with 10
consecutive victories while ECU has won seven of the last nine, including a run of four straight …
The Pirates are 7-8 against their former Southern Conference rivals when playing in Greenville:
Date Site Result Attendance
Nov. 26, 1932 Boone, N.C. ASU 21-0 N/A
Nov. 25, 1933 Greenville, N.C. ASU 14-0 N/A
Oct. 20, 1934 Boone, N.C. ASU 27-6 N/A
Nov. 23, 1935 Greenville, N.C. ASU 14-6 N/A
Nov. 19, 1938 Greenville, N.C. ASU 18-6 N/A
Nov. 18, 1939 Boone, N.C. ASU 64-0 N/A
Nov. 6, 1948 Greenville, N.C. ASU 47-0 N/A
Nov. 5, 1949 Greenville, N.C. ASU 35-18 N/A
Nov. 4, 1950 Boone, N.C. ASU 20-0 N/A
Nov. 3, 1951 Greenville, N.C. ASU 24-20 N/A
Nov. 1, 1952 Boone, N.C. ECU 22-19 N/A
Oct. 31, 1953 Greenville, N.C. ECU 40-7 N/A
Oct. 30, 1954 Boone, N.C. ASU 13-7 N/A
Oct. 29, 1955 Greenville, N.C. ECU 13-0 N/A
Oct. 27, 1956 Boone, N.C. ASU 22-19 N/A
Nov. 2, 1957 Greenville, N.C ASU 7-6 N/A
Nov. 1, 1958 Boone, N.C. ASU 14-0 N/A
Oct. 31, 1959 Greenville, N.C. ASU 28-0 N/A
Oct. 29,1960 Boone, N.C. ASU 21-17 N/A
Oct. 28, 1961 Boone, N.C. ASU 16-14 N/A
Oct. 27, 1962 Greenville, N.C. ECU 29-16 4,000
Sept. 23, 1972 Greenville, N.C. ECU 35-7 16,410
Nov. 17, 1973 Greenville, N.C. ECU 49-14 14,181
Oct. 19, 1974 Boone, N.C. ASU 23-21 11,259
Sept. 13, 1975 Boone, N.C. ASU 41-25 13,000
Nov. 20, 1976 Greenville, N.C. ECU 35-7 15,335
Nov. 5, 1977 Boone, N.C. ECU 45-14 10,419
Nov. 4, 1978 Greenville, N.C. ECU 33-8 19,726
Nov. 3, 1979 Boone, N.C. ECU 38-21 13,815

HOLTZ AGAINST APPALACHIAN STATE
Despite Skip Holtz’ long and successful assistant coaching career at four FBS institutions, his fiveyear
head coaching tenure at UConn and his four years guiding the ECU program, he has never
battled Appalachian State prior to Saturday’s meeting.

MOORE AGAINST EAST CAROLINA
While Saturday’s matchup with be Jerry Moore’s first against East Carolina as Appalachian State’s
head coach, he did face the Pirates on one other occasion:
Date Staff Position Score Location
11/17/79 North Texas Head Coach ECU, 49-16 Greenville, N.C.
In addition to ASU, he did not square off against ECU while heading the Texas Tech program, nor
as a member of the SMU, Nebraska or Arkansas staffs as an assistant.

LAST MEETING
East Carolina 38, Appalachian State 21

Fullback Theodore Sutton (134) and tailback Tony Collins (122) combined for 256 of East Carolina’s
450 rushing yards to lead the Pirates past fumble-prone Appalachian State … Collins added three
touchdown runs, the last two helping ECU break open a slim 17-14 lead late in the third quarter.
EAST CAROLINA 7 3 13 15 -38
APPALACHIAN STATE 0 7 7 7 -21
Quarter Time Play Score
1 10:05 Tony Collins 7 run (Bill Lamm kick) 7-0
2 2:21 Rick Beasley 57 pass from Steve Brown (Mark French kick) 7-7
2 0:52 Lamm 39 field goal 10-7
3 14:08 Theodore Sutton 28 run (Lamm kick) 17-7
3 4:29 Raymond Moore 9 run (French kick) 17-14
3 1:39 Collins 1 run (kick failed) 23-14
4 11:17 Collins 3 run (Leander Green run) 31-14
4 7:58 Beasley 38 pass from Brown (French kick) 31-21
4 1:33 Green 15 run (Lamm kick) 38-21

ECU STATS ASU INDIVIDUAL STATS
29 1st Downs 24 Rushing – T. Sutton (ECU), 20-134, 1 TD
450 Rush Yds. 185 R. Moore (ASU), 8-75, 1 TD
94 Pass Yds. 285 Passing – L. Green (ECU), 12-7-0, 94 yds, 0 TD
544 Total Yds. 470 S. Brown (ASU), 27-16-1, 277 yds, 2 TD
1-0 Fumbles-Lost 8-3 Receiving – V. Davenport (ECU), 4-47, 0 TD
5-59 Penalties-Yds. 4-50 R. Beasley (ASU), 6-159, 2 TD

REWIND THE CLOCK TO 1979
As previously mentioned, the last Appalachian State-East Carolina matchup took place nearly 30
years ago on Nov. 3, 1979 … A look at the headlines that year – 1) Three Mile Island nuclear
accident; 2) 63 Americans are taken hostage in the American Embassy in Tehran, Iran; 3) price of
oil reaches a new record of $24 per barrel; 4) the USSR invades Afghanistan; 5) first commercial
cellular network established by NTT; 6) quiz game Trivial Pursuit is launched; 7) new house cost
was $58,100; 8) average annual income was $17,500; 9) gallon of gas cost was 86 cents and 10)
the “new” Sony Walkman was $200.
Appalachian State at East Carolina

4 thoughts on “ECU-ASU football game notes

  1. APP state has no chance. Ecu will wn by atleast 20. APP has no QB now and ECU has one in his 6th year. Sorry app fans, there will be no big upset like against michigan. Seems like there were thousands of fans jumping on the bandwagon after that game. APP is a bandwagon school, and they arent even that good at football. In a D-1 conference, they wouldnt win more than 2 games.

  2. Deans List APP State QB Armanti Edwards is graduating in just 3 1/2 years this December…

    (he will probably have the 2nd highest total yards for a QB ever in D-1 football.)

    Your quarterback is coming back for his 6 TH! year…kinda typical down there @ EZU…

  3. typical

    Can you add? Redshirt is one year, medical hardship one year, four years playing plus he is working on his graduate courses.

    ecuuuuuuuuu they do have a great quarterback, Armanti Edwards surely you have not forgotten the Michigan game.

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