For the first time this season, BYU will hit the road to take on the East Carolina Pirates with hopes of starting its season 3-0 for the third straight year.
The Pirates are currently 2-1 and sit in fifth place in the AAC after shutting out Coastal Carolina 38-0 last weekend.
This will be the fourth time in program history that BYU faces the Pirates, who hold a 2-1 lead in the series, including a close matchup in 2022 at LaVell Edwards Stadium that ended with a last-play 33-yard field goal to seal the win against the Cougars.
2015: BYU won 45-38
2017: ECU won 33-17
2022: ECU won 27-24
This year, East Carolina is led by senior quarterback Katin Houser, who has passed for 973 yards through three games with five touchdowns and one interception. Houser will face his toughest test of the season against a BYU defense that has allowed only 198 passing yards so far.
BYU head coach Kalani Sitake spoke highly of the seasoned quarterback.
"He can throw the rock, and he's very accurate," he said. "He commands that offense and doesn't make a lot of mistakes, so it'll be a good test for our defense."
Houser's favorite target so far this season has been sixth-year wide receiver Anthony Smith, who leads the Purple and Gold and is fifth in the AAC with 23 receptions and 241 yards. Last week in South Carolina, he set a career high in both receptions (11) and yards (136). Smith will be looking for his first touchdown against a Cougars defense that hasn't allowed one to this point in the young season.
BYU safety Raider Damuni will be one of the names to watch in the secondary as he looks to slow down Smith and the Pirates' offense to continue BYU's strong defensive start to the season.
"We want to keep that going and keep everyone out of the end zone," Damuni said. "In the Stanford game, we had a good game, but we also felt like we left some things out there that we could have fixed. That is our mentality as a defense. We are happy that we did well, but there are still some things that we can improve on going forward.”
On the defensive side of the ball, East Carolina has allowed only three points in its last 13 quarters played. Taking on true freshman quarterback Bear Bachmeier in his first NCAA road action, the Pirates will look to get him off his game quickly in front of what should be a packed Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium with over 35,000 fans.
According to ESPN BYU is still favored to win as 6.5-point favorites.
Kickoff is at 5:30 p.m. MT on Saturday evening, in what will be the toughest test yet for both teams as they try to start the 2025 campaign with an important non-conference win.