East Carolina still aiming for postseason bowl

With only four games left in its regular season, East Carolina needs to win two to become bowl eligible - the last of its goals on a dwindling list.

Any hope the Pirates (4-4, 2-2 AAC) had of making a “Group of 5” bowl was dashed after they lost 31-24 to Florida on Sept. 12 and 45-21 to Navy on Sept. 19.

And after the 24-14 loss to No. 21 Temple (7-0, 4-0) on Oct. 22, ECU is no longer in the running for an American Athletic Conference East Division title, either.

With a premier bowl game and a conference title off the table, the Pirates are now playing for bowl eligibility and pride. They must win at least two of their final four games to clinch a postseason appearance, and should they win out they will match their game win total from last season and end the regular season at 8-4.

Those goal are well within reach.

The Pirates get their first chance on Friday night, when they travel to Rentschler Field in East Hartford, Conn. to face Connecticut (3-5, 1-3), a team that’s lost five of its last six games.

“Every game is important. We just take one game at a time and every game we want to win,” said senior inside linebacker Zeek Bigger, who leads ECU with 65 tackles. “We just want to win, man. Just win out and be the best team at the end of the season.

“… People think it’s all about the beginning (of the season) but we just want to be our best at the end of the season and work hard show what we’re all about. At the end of the day we’ll see what our record is and where we stand.”

After the trip to Connecticut, the Pirates host South Florida (4-3, 2-1) on Nov. 7 in a battle for second place in the East Division. On. Nov. 19, they face a winless Central Florida (0-8, 0-4) team on the road before returning home to close out the regular season against Cincinnati (4-3, 1-2) on Nov. 28.

But the Pirates need to finish close games on top. ECU has been outscored a combined 31-7 in the final two quarters of the past two games.

“We got to win the fourth quarter,” said East Carolina defensive coordinator Rick Smith.

The one good thing to come from the Pirates’ loss to the Owls, was that is happened last Thursday night, giving ECU’s sixth-year head coach Ruffin McNeill and his players extra time to prepare for the game against the Huskies.

“Long weekend – it was needed, by coaches and by players,” McNeill said. “It was good to get away from it for a little bit, take your mind off things.

“… Players are resilient. They took this one hard, just like I knew they would. We have to get ready right now for Connecticut. They are on the clock.”

This story was originally published October 29, 2015 at 6:33 PM with the headline "East Carolina still aiming for postseason bowl."