ECU at UTSA: How to watch, listen, stream
East Carolina will try and pull the upset on Saturday in Texas when it takes on Texas-San Antonio inside the Alamodome at 3:30 p.m. ET (2:30 p.m. CT). The game will be televised and streamed live on ESPN+, with Ted Emrich on play by play and former Marshall head coach Doc Holliday color commentating. The contest can also be heard on 94.3 The Game or 107.9 WNCT locally across FM radio in Eastern North Carolina. The IBX Media App can also be downloaded and the game can be streamed through there, via the ECU Sports Network. Jim Szoke has play-by-play, with former ECU punter Andrew Bayes color commentating, and former Pirate offensive player Maceo Donald handling sideline duties.
UTSA enters at 4-3 overall and 3-0 in league action. The Roadrunners are in their first year in the American Athletic Conference after winning back-to-back Conference USA titles under head coach Jeff Traylor each of the previous two seasons. After a 1-3 non-conference that featured losses to Army, Tennessee and Houston, the Roadrunners have gotten on track in league play. They won their first AAC game at Temple on Oct. 7, before topping UAB 41-20 and beating FAU 36-10 last weekend. The big spark for UTSA has been the return of quarterback Frank Harris. The seventh-year senior has been dealing with a turf toe injury that sidelined him for two games. He’s thrown for 10,545 yards in his career with 83 touchdowns to 28 picks. He’s also traditionally been a big running threat (1,914 yards rushing, 25 scores in his career), but has been limited a bit this season with just 94 net yards rushing.
The Roadrunners are averaging 394.3 yards per game and 5.4 yards per play, along with 29 points per game. UTSA is allowing 25.1 points and 371.1 yards per game. Teams are averaging just 3.5 yards per rush against them, but have been able to throw the ball at a clip of 6.8 yards per attempt.
East Carolina comes in at 1-6 overall and 0-3 in league play under fifth-year head coach Mike Houston. Theoffense has been a major struggle, while the defense has kept games close at times. Pirates are averaging 17.4 points and allowing 24.1 points per game. The offense is averaging 276.9 yards per contest, which ranks near the bottom of the country. Conversely, the Pirates are giving up 331.3 yards per game on defense.
It’s homecoming for UTSA, which plays in the Alamodome, the former home of the San Antonio Spurs. The Roadrunners have used the stadium since 2011. They have won 17 of their last 20 games inside the friendly confines and are known for having a loud environment due to the roof.
“We'll try to create as much noise as we can for the offense to try to mimic what's going to be a very loud environment,” Houston said. “You really stress communication. Your communication has to be visual and verbal. Everybody has to really focus; we have to make sure everybody gets the call, and everybody's communication is clean. We'll try to get there a little early for kickoff Saturday to give our kickers, punters, returners, receivers and all those guys to get a chance to optically go in there and catch balls, kicks, punts and stuff indoors. By the time we get through with the early warmup stuff, they should be fine."
This will be the first ever meeting between ECU and UTSA in football. The Roadrunners’ inaugural season was 2011. ECU has been playing football since 1932.
Here’s everything you need to know ahead of ECU’s meeting with UTSA.
Date: Saturday, Oct. 28
Time: 3:30 p.m. ET
Site: Alamodome (San Antonio, Texas)
TV/Online Streaming: ESPN+ (Available through ESPN app with ESPN+ subscription)
TV Announcers: Ted Emrich (play-by-play), Doc Holliday (color analyst)
Listen: 107.9 FM, or 94.3 The Game locally in North Carolina, as well as the IBX Media App
Current Betting Line: UTSA -18.5
