GREENVILLE, North Carolina — A year ago, many BYU fans were wondering why the Cougars were playing at Mountain West also-ran Wyoming, a classic example of one of those football games where the higher-profile program had a lot to lose and very little to gain.
Their fears were for naught, as BYU rolled to a 34-14 win on the high plains of Laramie.
Will history repeat itself Saturday in BYU’s third game of the 2025 season?
In a scenario very similar to last September, East Carolina (2-1) of the American Conference hosts undefeated, unranked BYU (2-0) of the Big 12 at 51,000-seat Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium with designs on getting a signature win for a Group of Five school over a Power Four foe.
“I would love to play an ACC team, an SEC team, and a Big Ten team. Line them up. Let’s do this.”
— BYU coach Kalani Sitake on his desire to only play Power Four teams in non-conference games
Once again, BYU doesn’t have that much to gain. A win over ECU, despite the Pirates’ impressive start to the season, will do little for the Cougars, who are touchdown favorites on the Tidewater Plain.
A loss will not only dash BYU’s hopes of getting ranked, it will send the Cougars into next week’s Big 12 opener at Colorado with little or no momentum, and pretty much kill BYU’s chances of getting into the College Football Playoffs via a route other than the Big 12 championship.
Why is BYU playing this game?
The short answer is that the Cougars have to, after signing an agreement back in 2017 to play the Pirates in 2022 in Provo and 2024 in Greenville when they were desperate for quality opponents as a college football independent. The 2024 game was moved to 2025 when BYU got an invitation to join the Big 12.
“We are a different team now than we were back then,” BYU coach Kalani Sitake said Monday, after having been asked about ECU’s two-game winning streak in the series.
They also have a much better program, bolstered by money from becoming a member of a Power Four conference. They used some of that money to fly into North Carolina on Thursday in order to get an extra day to acclimate to the heat and humidity, and the two-hour time change.
At the Big 12 football media days in July, Sitake said if he had his druthers he would only play Power Four conference foes in his three non-conference games.
“I would love to play an ACC team, an SEC team, and a Big Ten team,” he said. “Line them up. Let’s do this.”
He was singing a different tune on Monday, praising ECU for having Power Four-caliber players and coaches.
“It is a complete team,” he said. “Watching them play and seeing them on film just validates what we thought all along, that they have a lot of talent.”
BYU traveled to Greenville the day before kickoff in 2017, Sitake’s second year, and was throttled 33-17 after the Pirates pulled away from a 10-10 halftime tie when future NFL quarterback Gardner Minshew engineered two fourth-quarter touchdown drives.
Prior to playing that infamous game that some referred to as the basement bowl, or worse, because both teams were 1-6, BYU and ECU agreed to another two-game series.
“ECU is a great matchup and it was an easy decision to schedule another series with them,” Holmoe said on Oct. 19, 2017, two days before the loss. “It provides our team with a unique travel opportunity, and it gives Cougar fans who live in the Southeast another opportunity to see us play.”
Saturday’s game will draw thousands of BYU fans, although ECU coach Blake Harrell and athletic director Jon Gilbert have spent time this week pleading for greater attendance from their fans and promising fireworks as the Pirates take the field and after scoring plays as incentives.
“All eyes will be on East Carolina University, Greenville, and Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium as we host back-to-back football games on national television,” Gilbert wrote in a letter to fans. “It all begins Saturday at 7:30 p.m. (local time) with a major matchup against BYU and follows with action on Thursday night against conference foe Army.”
BYU got that treatment last year at Wyoming, and will likely get it next year when it travels to play former Mountain West Conference foe Colorado State in Fort Collins. The Rams will be a member of the reconstituted Pac-12 then.
BYU safety Tanner Wall remembers the last time the Cougars played the Pirates, when ECU escaped Provo with a 27-24 win in 2022 on a last-second field goal after a controversial defensive pass interference penalty on fourth down prolonged the scoring drive.
“For us, wherever we go and play, regardless of how far away it is or who it is, we’re going to be excited to go play,” Wall said. “Having two days to adjust, you know, leaving Thursday for the game, is great. There’s a lot of science behind that. And our sports scientists are the best around. So grateful for the way that (the school) handles all that. We’ll be ready to go Saturday.”
East Carolina, which almost toppled neighboring North Carolina State the last time it faced a Power Four opponent, will have the home-field advantage and the more experienced quarterback, as senior Katin Houser duels with BYU freshman Bear Bachmeier. The 19-year-old will be making his third college start, and first start in a road game.
BYU will counter with a defense ranked among the best in the country — albeit in wins over lowly Portland State and Stanford — and a bruising rushing attack, led by junior LJ Martin.
“We coach really mature, smart guys that kind of understand that we’re on a business trip, and I don’t worry too much about our guys getting distracted,” said BYU offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick. “You have to adjust to the time zone and all that stuff, and the humidity. So yeah, there’s some stuff there to deal with, but I have a lot of confidence in our players.”
Sitake believes the humidity won’t be a factor, mentioning that darkness will be falling around kickoff time. The Cougars are 30-4 in their last 34 night games, and 12-1 in their last 13 night games away from Provo.
They are also trying to go 3-0 to start a season for the third straight year and for the fifth time in six years. BYU has never gone 3-0 in three consecutive seasons in its long and storied history.
“That’s not an easy environment to go into. Their fans are gonna be excited for that game, but we’re just as excited too. We get to go on the road,” Sitake said. “This is gonna be fun for us to go see our fans on the East Coast. … Our guys will rally together and bond even closer than what we’ve been and we’re already a close team. We feel like we can accomplish a lot when this team gets really close and loves each other and then loves the opportunity to play this game. So it’s going to be a lot of fun, and I feel really excited about this opportunity.”