You have to hand it to Skip Holtz. It only took him two seasons (not even that, really) to turn ECU back into a winning football school.
Now, the Pirates are shouting "Arrr" with visions of post-season football in their heads. At 6-4, ECU's already bowl-eligible. But things could get very interesting for Pirate fans in the following weeks. Let's take a look…
Nov. 18 at Rice: A win in this game would clinch the Conference USA-East title for the Pirates, placing ECU in the CUSA Championship game … presumably at Houston on Dec. 1. Rice is 5-5, and the odds makers have ECU as a slight favorite. Then…
Nov 25 at N.C. State: The party-slash-grudge match begins at 7 p.m. Then…
Dec. 1 CUSA Championship Game: Assuming a win over Rice (or if Southern Miss doesn't win both its remaining games), the Pirates will play for a conference title. If Houston beats Memphis this weekend (the Tigers are a robust 1-9 this season), the Cougars will host this game.
After that, there will be a bowl game somewhere… chances are the Liberty (Memphis), GMAC (Mobile), Birmingham or New Orleans. It basically depends on which projection you place your stock in at the time. A CUSA title means the Liberty, and second place equals GMAC (on Jan. 7, if you can believe that).
Regardless, the Pirates are back to being the dangerous team they were during the Steve Logan years, when they made five bowl trips in eight seasons between 1994-2001.
