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A 28-20 loss to the Florida Gators in Saturday’s Birmingham Bowl capped off a season that resulted in nothing but disappointment for the East Carolina Pirates. Blessed with an outstanding offense and a favorable schedule, the Pirates were a team many had an eye on to lead the “Group of 5,” and become the highest-ranked conference champion from one of FBS‘ smaller conferences, thus earning a bid in one of the six big New Year’s bowl games.
But today’s loss to the Gators only confirmed what a underwhelming season this has really been for ECU. No one was that surprised when the Pirates fell by 10 to No. 21 South Carolina in the second game of the season. But East Carolina responded immediately by winning at No. 17 Virginia Tech (the only team to beat Ohio State this season), kicking off a five-game winning streak.
Led by quarterback Shane Carden (34-for-66, 427 yards, two touchdowns, two interceptions today) and the all-time FBS leader in receptions, Justin Hardy (11 for 160 yards today), the Pirates entered November 6-1 and in great shape. But the holes in the ECU arsenal began to show through in a puzzling 20-10 loss at Temple. Even though the offense woke up the next week at Cincinnati, the Pirates couldn’t stop the Bearcats and ECU fell 54-46.
That was enough to kill off any conference title hopes for the Pirates, as Boise State, winners of the Mountain West, eventually received the Little 5 bid to the Fiesta Bowl (beating Arizona). Still, ECU had every chance to turn around its season on a positive note. But the Pirates were beaten on a Hail Mary pass by Central Florida, and then the Gators did them in today.
Given all the offensive talent, and the fact that the Pirates didn’t even have to play resurgent Memphis, which went 7-1 in the AAC and tied for the league title, there were few before the season who would have believed ECU was only going to go 8-5. Especially coming off a 10-3 campaign in 2013. Improvement was expected, and rightfully so.
But this year’s version of the Pirates only put it together early in the season, highlighted by the win at Virginia Tech and a 70-41 demolition of North Carolina. There weren’t any other notable wins and too many losses — led by the upset at Temple — to leave a positive taste in the mouth of Pirates fans when looking back on the 2014 season.
Ed Morgans is an ACC Basketball Writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @writered21 and add him to your network on Google.
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