...agreed that this should be taken as a "must win", but the opening line has ECU by 7.5, meaning that in some sense, the value of a Pirates win is not a whole lot more than just treading water.

So many positives here fellas. Regional matchup, I'm actually pretty excited about it. Coastal has been pretty solid in case you haven't noticed. Nat Championship in Baseball too. Should be a fun game and well attended. Warmer destination, and actually a pretty fun town to visit. We have come so far from where we were.... Has everyone forgotten the low point of Aggies' coming to G'vegas and winning? I never will. We compete now and the future looks bright with Houston at the helm. He is building a solid program and we are foolish to do anything other than recognize it and get behind him and our Pirates!!! Let's Go!!! Blessing to have the opportunity!!

This is a must win game, to be taken seriously. ECU was ahead of TCU at the point when we lost to TCU in Mobile in '99. We were ahead of Marshall when we lost to the Herd in 2001, S. Florida had no real bowl history when they beat us in 2006. We beat Boise St. in 2007 and they have not run really run far past us nor has UL-Lafayette though they beat us in 2012, plus we kept Ohio behind us by winning in 2014. W had our chances to prove it to the SEC in 2009, 2010, 2015. Interestingly we lost 2 bowl games in 2010. ECU is much better than that. We must take this game very seriously to keep Coastal in the rear view mirror.

ECU has no grounds to complain, of course, and I think that one more win would've made a pretty big difference, and no slight meant to CC, which is quite decent, but this is somewhat disappointing, given the projections being made that the opposition would be a Power 5 opponent. CC has little football tradition, not much cachet, and virtually any P5 opponent would've made for a higher stature contest. Other than this game giving ECU a chance to beat a recruiting competitor, there's considerably more downside to this game than upside.

Yes, but UNCC's football is poor, and it generally has no tradition, athletic (except maybe baseball) or academic, so there's just no upside for the American generally or ECU specifically. In other news, it was nice to see Tulane kick UCF's a$$ on its way out the door as a parting gift.

I agree, it’s hard to get excited about games against those new AAC teams, except Charlotte. Because I live near there.

In terms of its football stature, the AAC would be better off staying with its 8 remaining teams than admitting those Conf USA teams, and is only worsening the stature loss that it's suffering due to the 3 departures. At worst, I can keep see them maybe taking Rice, due to its very high academic pedigree and long tradition, and UTSA, which clearly has aggressive aspirations for success on the field.

I can’t agree about the talent “being there” for the secondary. Several times early on in the season the D had a decent pass rush, or at least getting pressure. Because of the problems in the secondary, the Pirates have dropped seven back with an eighth man in the flat, which almost eliminates any chance of disrupting the QB. I think if anyone on the roster could execute the type of lockdown coverage of a Ja’Quan MacMillan, we would have seen him. When you can’t press cover with any consistency, combined with no pressure up front, you could be in for some long days against any decent passing game. The Warner kid is a great example. He’s a freshman but comes with a high IQ for the game. He sliced and diced the Pirates almost the entire game. I’m proud of what the Pirates have accomplished, given what we now know about the team’s strengths and weaknesses. I’m disappointed the coaches didn’t address the special teams in more detail going into the season. No one is perfect, but certain errors really shouldn’t happen at all, much less on a recurring basis. Here’s hoping for a successful bowl game. The Seniors who have persevered certainly have earned it.

Kudos to ecu coaches and team. Parity in the conference could be seen early on. Coach Houston knows he has got to shore-up the defensive secondary, and create better pass rushing. The talent is there.

FWIW, the latest projection has ECU playing Syracuse at Fenway Park on Sat., Dec. 17 (at 1100, a stupid time, unfortunately.) I would expect the early line to be tight, w/ Syracuse favored, but this would be an excellent post-season game for the Pirates, probably about as good as they can hope for. Bring mittens.

...very happy for Holton Ahlers and Pirates nation; after last week's debacle, a loss would've cast MANY doubts on the state of the program. Hats off to the Temple q, but truly, the defensive performance was another head-scratcher. I'd thought until recently that the d had evolved into a quite decent unit, but... I will give Wilk credit for that huge, perfectly timed pass breakup on Temple's last possession. Coach Houston owes his Temple counterpart a steak dinner for punting the ball at midfield on a 4th and 1 late in the 4th. "This is a gift," I said to my wife at the time, and it sure as heck proved to be; if I was a Temple fan, I'd be VERY hot at their head coach for that inexplicable call. There's at least a 2 out of 3 chance that Temple would've got the yard, which would've come pretty darn close to putting the game away for Temple. Despite the win, I was inclined to be fairly critical in my comments after ECU only eeking by a lowly Temple, but then I see a lowly Tulsa beat Houston last night, and UCF needing a last second heroic catch to beat an even lowlier USF!! ...and I have to wonder if the TD call was right, besides. I think that the lesson is that there's a TON of parity in the American, and the difference it seems more often than not between a loss and a dub is razor thin. Hopefully Tulane will spank UCF next week as a parting gift. Hopefully ECU will draw a decent bowl opponent, preferably a team from a Power 5 conference, in which a win would be meaningful for both the program and the American. For next year, hopefully a) Mason Garcia is able to live up to his recruiting billing, b) the kicking game will become stabilized, c) the secondary will become stabilized, and d) Keaton Mitchell will not be recruited away (with all due respect to Harris and Gunn, both of whom are better than average.)

Congrats to the Pirates for awakening out of the Cincy game funk, at least the offense, and bringing home the "W". Very cool to watch the run game click so well, and KM end the regular season with a real statement! Also nice to see HA, for the most part, make good decisions. Also nice to see us on the "successful" side of special teams for a change. Sad for #41, who apparently has lost the kickoff duties to #99. It's got to be tough to go from returning best AAC kicker to the bench in less than 90 days. I hope he can rebound, going forward. Hatfield and the kick return team did well. When you force the opponent to change their kick strategy, you're doing something right. Coach Huston described the defensive effort as having a few "busts". Sorry Coach, there ain't enough lipstick in MACY'S to dress up that pig. When you get toasted for 500+, you've had a bad day, not a few "busts". Bottom line, Pirates got the "W". They could have easily folded the tent, with the defense doing so poorly. The "O", and Special Teams, came through. Well done.

I was just getting over pneumonia but felt I had to see this game. I knew that Houston had a good team. but felt that we had a good chance to win. What I saw was a good old fashion butt-kicking. It appears that they came to play - we were not ready. I pray that we can beat Temple. GOOO...PPIRATES!!

Coach Houston is saying all of the usual “Coach-speak” tropes you would expect him to say, given the circumstances. The biggest problem is both the DC and OC were beaten up as badly as the Pirate players. Anyone who watched the Pirate defense flounder around the field as the Cougars exposed every weakness of the Pirates understands what a knife’s edge the “D” lives on each game. More than any game this year, Houston exposed how much Ja’Quan McMillian is missed. It doesn’t matter what conference you’re playing in, you need a lock down cornerback. The Pirates don’t come close. This forces you to loosen up the entire secondary, making every third down an adventure. The fact we haven’t seen a new face on the field getting some reps tells me there isn’t a player on the roster that can fulfill that role… depressing. The offensive collapse is more puzzling, given the success of KM in the run game. Granted, KM did much of the work on his own, without holes being opened for him. The passing game strategy seemed ill fitting to the Houston defensive scheme. Several instances of poor execution didn’t help matters, either. Pirate Nation can only hope the entire team has a short memory, otherwise it will be a long afternoon in Philly without much brotherly love.

That’s when a quick release with accuracy talent shows up.