Ten-win seasons don’t happen often at East Carolina. Make that twice in the program’s history to be exact.

The first was 1991 when the Pirates notched 11 wins and finished ranked 9th nationally after beating N.C. State on New Year’s in Atlanta. That was the memorable “We Believe” season, one that most programs will never match.

The most recent was clinched last week in St. Petersburg, FL, when ECU finished off Ohio 37-20 in the Beef ‘O’ Brady’s Bowl. It capped a 10-3 season that included blowout road victories over in-state rivals North Carolina and N.C. State.

That the Pirates won ten games and throttled the Tar Heels and Wolfpack are accomplishments that can’t be overlooked. Last anyone checked, that trio of milestones has never been experienced by the program in one season, 1991 included.

The way East Carolina bullied both North Carolina and N.C. State from start to finish will be remembered for years. As far as athletics gratification goes in Greenville, those indelible moments are difficult to beat.

But if you closely monitored East Carolina’s season from the opening snap to the final whistle, you can’t help but think that this ten-win bunch could have done more. Much more.

If you ask Pirates Coach Ruffin McNeill, his staff, and the players, odds are they would agree.

If ever a realistic opportunity presented itself for ECU to crash the BCS party, this season was it. The schedule was far more forgiving than originally anticipated, with each game on it winnable when observed individually.

Five points and a handful of blown opportunities were all that separated the Pirates from beating an average Virginia Tech bunch. After easily carving through the Hokies defense on the game’s opening drive, the ECU offense otherwise couldn’t get out of its own way.

Overall, the day was defined by head-scratching mistakes and missed opportunities in a game the Pirates should have won.

In a triple overtime loss at Tulane, the ECU offense spent most of the day sleepwalking and performing with little sense of urgency. Collectively the Pirates played with relative nonchalance until falling behind 19-9 with nine minutes remaining.

The ease with which the Pirates moved the chains from the fourth quarter on demonstrated the wide talent gap that existed between the two teams’ personnel.

And while Marshall had little difficulty dismantling ECU, you’ll have a hard time convincing me the Herd is the better team. Truth is, the Pirates never appeared ready for what they saw and seemed to check out early.

The point here is not to understate the achievements of a very good year or to suggest that McNeill and his staff didn’t do a good job preparing the Pirates in the preseason or during it.

For the offense to pile up the numbers it did despite the alarmingly high turnover at the receiver position suggests otherwise. So does the amazing turnaround the Pirates made defensively after spending the last three seasons as a punch line.

The program, under McNeill’s direction, is undoubtedly trending in the right direction.

After closing the season with a comfortable win over Ohio in the Beef ‘O’ Brady’s Bowl, the Pirates clearly aren’t letting what could have been stand in the way of celebrating what they accomplished in 2013. Nor should they.

But you can’t deny that — despite accomplishing much this season — there were more headlines for the taking. More than any other year since the BCS's inception, attaining its riches presented itself as a realistic scenario for ECU.