Pirates Become Bowl Eligible For 10th Time Since 2000
October 24, 2014 | Football
ECU's Possible Bowl Destinations
By Mike Grizzard
ECUPirates.com
GREENVILLE, N.C. - East Carolina's quest to officially become bowl eligible Thursday night became more of survival than celebration.
A win is a win, however, and no Pirates were apologizing for the package in which a victory over one-win Connecticut was wrapped. In the end, ECU prevailed 31-21 before a blacked-out crowd at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium and an ESPNU audience, improving to 6-1 and remaining unbeaten in the American Athletic Conference at 3-0.
"I told them not to dare try to defend a win," head coach Ruffin McNeill said. "The main thing is to win and we did that."
For the third-straight game against a conference foe bidding for an upset, the Pirates staggered a bit but showed the mettle to grind out a victory. They outlasted SMU 45-24 at home, rallied for a 28-17 at South Florida and then broke away from a 21-all tie in the fourth quarter Thursday.
"We're going to get everyone's best shot," junior linebacker Zeek Bigger said. "I like the way this team fights, and we're going to keep fighting until we get to what we want, and that's a conference championship."
Senior quarterback Shane Carden, who had his third-highest passing day with 445 yards and a pair of touchdowns, was only interested in the final result.
"We don't worry how we win games," said Carden, who surpassed 400 yards in a game for the eighth time in his career. "We're not going to win games with style. That's not something I can control. We want to win games. Tonight that was a win, and we're still undefeated in the conference. I don't care how we did it.
"We wanted to become bowl eligible," Carden continued. "We're excited about that. That was one of our goals this year. But that wasn't the extent of our goals this year."
Senior receiver Justin Hardy, a major cog in the win with 14 catches for 186 yards and one touchdown, echoed a similar sentiment.
"There's no such thing as a bad win," Hardy said. "It's very important, just to have a chance to be bowl eligible. We're not going to think about it anymore. Our goal is to be conference champions."
McNeill called his team "brave, courageous, lion-hearted" for overcoming an inspired effort by the Huskies, as well as the frustration of 11 penalties for 105 yards. ECU also had a pass picked off in the end zone and missed a field goal.
He didn't hide his satisfaction in knowing his team will be headed to postseason play, calling bowl games a reward for players, coaches, coaches' families, support staff and the fan base.
"Bowl games are very important," McNeill said.
Thursday's win secured ECU's eighth bowl trip in the last nine years and 10th trip since 2000. It also gives the Pirates their first 6-1 start since 1999, seven-straight victories on their home field, and 11 consecutive home league wins in Conference USA and now the American Athletic Conference.
The Pirates' postseason destination, of course, will be determined by the way the rest of the season plays out. The American has five bowl slots to fill this year: the Birmingham Bowl (vs. an SEC opponent), the first Miami Beach Bowl (vs. Brigham Young), the Bitcoin St. Petersburg Bowl (vs. an ACC opponent), the Military Bowl Presented by Northrop Grumman (vs. an ACC opponent) and the Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl (vs. Army).
But there is a chance at a spot in one of the Access Bowls, which will take the highest-ranked conference champion of teams not included in the "Power Five" conferences.
Bigger said the fight the Pirates showed Thursday night could take them there.
"It's a good thing. We're happy. That's what we wanted to do," Bigger said of the sixth win. "But we've still got more goals we want to accomplish. We've still got places to go and people to see. We're not done yet. We're just getting started."
