East Carolina Pirates: 5 Critical Games for 2016
- UCF Knights – October 1
No, I am not putting another matchup against the Hokies in this spot. ECU is in a conference for a reason. That reason is to win the conference championship and position itself for the Gang of Five bid into the Bowl Alliance games. You have to win conference games to do that.
The Knights are the first item on the conference schedule. They had a down year and ended the George O’Leary era at the school. They too have a new coach and new ideas to return to form in the AAC. Those ideas need to stop in Greenville at the start of October.
As beaten up as the Pirates may be, their conference destiny starts in this spot. It doesn’t matter if UCF is not the titan it once was. It is the first conference game, a new measuring stick for the team, and a chance to snatch momentum going into the rest of the conference schedule.
Next: Navy