With the first game less than two weeks away, ECU head coach Mike Houston met with the press after practice and by all indications, the team has another solid day on Tuesday.
As the Pirates prepare for the home and season opener against UCF that is currently ranked as high as 13th in the country, it gives them an opportunity for what would be perceived as a big upset should they find a way to bring home a victory.
Make no mistake about it, pulling the upset will be a monumental task with the Knights having an opportunity to get past the game one jitters this Saturday when they take on Georgia Tech in Atlanta.
We asked Coach Houston about what a win would do to jump start things in Greenville and alter the current mindset of both the team and the fans.
“I think back to the other programs that we have led and you always remember that first signature win, that first big win that kind of validates what you are doing,” Houston told PirateIllustrated.com.
“It will come in time. I don’t know when it’s going go come. I would love for it to be the 26th and I think we’re going to play well against Central Florida and I think it’s going to be a great game, but when that time comes really what it does you really see a switch that has been flipped within your players.”
It came close to happening last year on a couple of occasions and the second year East Carolina coach harkened back to a pair of games when the switch was close to being flipped. One was in a 46-43 loss to then (13)Cincinnati and the other was a close 59-51 loss in Dallas last season at SMU.
The Pirates had a better than average opportunity to win both contests.
“The Cincinnati game last year is a great example. For three and a half quarters we played a phenomenal ballgame but we didn’t finish it,” said Houston, “When that switch flips, you start finishing those games. You start closing out the Cincinnati game, closing out the SMU game.”
“I think back to my second year at the Citadel. When I got there, everybody told me not to set my expectations too high. You can’t win championships here. You want to be competitive. Go out and win your fair share but don’t put your expectations too high."
"The kids believed that when we got there. That second year when we knocked off Wofford at home, the first time the Citadel had beaten them in like twenty years, that game was a signature win and we rattled off many more that year but that win was the one that did it. So you always remember that one win.”
“It’s coming. I don’t know when it is. Hopefully it’s next Saturday,” Houston told PI.
East Carolina will open the season at high noon on September 26 when the Pirates host UCF on ESPN+.
