GREENVILLE, N.C. - Gardner-Webb closes the month of September with their second game of the season against an FBS opponent, heading to Greenville, N.C. to face East Carolina on Saturday, Sept. 23.

Gardner-Webb (1-2, 0-1 Big South-OVC) at East Carolina (0-3)
Saturday, Sept. 23 - 6:00 PM
Greenville, N.C. - Dowdy-Ficklin Stadium

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THE GAME
Gardner-Webb faces their final FBS opponent of the season, heading to Greenville, N.C. to face East Carolina of the American Athletic Conference. Kickoff is set for 6:00 PM from Dowdy-Ficklin Stadium. Dave Friedman and Richard Martin will have the call on the Runnin' Bulldog Sports Network via the Varsity Network App or at gwusports.com, or on the radio at 1450 AM/101.1 FM WGNC. James Westling and Reginald Walker Jr. will have the call on ESPN+.

SCOUTING ECU
East Carolina enters the contest at 0-3 following a 43-28 loss at Appalachian State last week. The Pirates led 21-16 at haltime, but were outscored 27-7 in the second half against the Mountaineers. ECU was held to just 79 yards rushing against App State and the Pirates were sacked four times...Both Alex Flinn and Mason Garcia have started at quarterback for ECU. Flinn has gone 26-for-50 for 271 yards and four interceptions, while Garcia is 23-for-43 for 145 yards and one touchdown with two interceptions. Garcia also has rushed for 160 yards so far this season...Rahjai Harris leads the Pirates at running back, rushing for 107 yards on 26 carries with two touchdowns...ECU is averaging just 14.7 points per game while giving up 34.7 points per game. East Carolina opened the season at #2 Michigan, falling 30-3 to the Wolverines...ECU is one of 12 teams in the FBS to have scored two defensive touchdowns this season. Both of those came at App State with an eight-yard interception return by Antoine Jackson and a 57-yard fumble recovery by Shavon Revel...Michael Edwards III leads the American with 16 solo tackles. He has 27 total tackles and 5.0 TFL

SERIES NOTES
This is the second meeting between the Pirates and the Runnin' Bulldogs, with ECU taking a 48-9 victory the last time these two teams met on Sept. 7, 2019. ECU jumped out to an early 17-0 lead, rushing for 365 yards and piling up 574 total yards of offense. GWU is 2-5 all-time against current teams from the AAC, but both of those wins were over Florida Atlantic (2001, 38-19) and Charlotte (2014, 27-24) when those teams played at the FCS level.

MOVING UP THE BOARD
On the first play of the game against Tennessee State, Ty French recorded a sack and forced a fumble, tallying his 26.5 career sack. Frech is now 2.5 sacks shy of tying former GWU Runnin' Bulldog and Green Bay Packer Gabe Wilkins (1990-93) for the most in school history (29.0). French also has 6.5 tackles-for-loss this season, the most in the conference and the fourth-most in the FCS. For his career, French has 46 tackles-for-loss, the fourth-most in program history

THE MAYOR
Running back Narii Gaither (5-10, 181, R-Sr.) now has 2,727 yards rushing for his career, ranking third all-time. Gaither is now second on the school's all-time Division I career rushing list, trailing only Tyrell Maxwell (2,944). Gaither ranks second in GWU history for pass receptions by a running back (87) and in touchdown catches by a running back (7). His 6.1 yards per carry are the second-most for a running back in program history for a career. 

BEWARE OF DAWG
Gardner-Webb is just 1-21 all-time against the FBS, but three of their last six games have been decided by one possession. Last season, GWU led Liberty 20-14 going to the fourth, and led Coastal Carolina 27-24 with 10:33 remaining in the game. In 2021 at Georgia Southern, a sack by the Eagles with 42 seconds remaining clinched the win for the Eagles.  Earlier this season, GWU led App State 24-21 with 5:16 left in the third quarter, but the Mountaineers forced three straight turnovers to pull away for a 45-24 win. The 'Dawgs lone win against an FBS team came on September 11, 2010 at Akron, a 38-37 win over the Zips in overtime.

THE HEAD COACHES
Gardner-Webb head coach Tre Lamb is the second-youngest skipper in Division I football at age 34. He is 14-17 in his brief tenure, with six of those losses coming to 85-scholarship FBS programs. Mike Houston is in his 5th year at ECU, with a record of 22-27 in Greenville. Houston is 102-52 in his career, having led James Madison to an FCS National Championship in 2016 and led Lenoir-Rhyne to a Division-II National Championship Runner-Up in 2013. Last season, Houston led the Pirates to an 8-5 record and a win over Coastal Carolina in the Birmingham Bowl. As a player, Houston  was 1-3 against Gardner-Webb as a tight end at Mars Hill, the lone win coming in 1993, a 40-21 win for the Lions.

LAST TIME OUT
Gardner-Webb enters this week's contest 1-2 and 0-1 in conference play following a 27-25 loss to Tennessee State in the Runnin' Bulldogs' Big South-OVC opener. James Lowery nailed a 50-yard field goal with nine seconds remaining to give the Tigers the win. Narii Gaither rushed for 152 yards in the loss, moving him past Jonny Walker (1974-77) for the third-most rushing yards in school history. Gaither has now rushed for 2,757 yards in his career.

MR. ANDERSON (ANDERSON)
Ty Anderson has picked up right where he left off from his 2022 Big South Defensive Freshman of the Year season, with 18 tackles and 1.5 tackles-for-loss. Anderson tied his career-high for tackles with nine in the season opener at App State. Anderson picked up a safety with a two-yard tackle-for-loss in the endzone at Tennessee State. The sophomore also has half a sack this season.

DOING WELL CALDWELL
Matthew Caldwell has grown more comfortable as the starting quarterback for Gardner-Webb, as 82 total completions lead the conference and are the third-most in FCS. In his first two weeks, Caldwell recorded top-10 marks for completions in a game, as his 30 completions against App State are the eighth-most in a game by a GWU quarterback, while his 32 completions against Elon are the fourth-most in a game. Caldwell threw for 296 yards and two touchdowns and ran for a touchdown in the Runnin' Bulldogs' win over the Phoenix, earning The Analyst FCS Honorable Mention honors.

TARHEEL TUSSLE
Being one of the 14 Division-I schools in North Carolina, Gardner-Webb has seen plenty of matchups against their cohorts. Since moving up to the Division-I level in 2000, the Runnin' Bulldogs are 12-24 against Division-I teams from the state of North Carolina. Seven of those contests came against FBS teams, which GWU is 0-7 in those games. The only Division-I football teams from North Carolina that the 'Dawgs have not faced off against since 2000 are Davidson, Duke, and North Carolina. Gardner-Webb has never played Duke or North Carolina, and played Davidson in 1985, a 49-14 win for Gardner-Webb.

UP NEXT
The Runnin' Bulldogs will take a break with an open date on September 30. GWU returns to the gridiron and to Spangler Stadium on Saturday, Oct. 7 for a conference clash with Robert Morris. Kickoff is set for 6:00 PM. Fans can purchase tickets for the game online at gwusports.com