East Carolinian

Issue date: 12/4/08 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Travis Bartlett

Football immortality could be just around for the corner for ECU.

The Pirates travel to Tulsa, Okla. this week for a noon showdown to play for the Conference USA title. A win would give ECU its first league title of any kind since capturing the Southern Conference title in 1976.

"I think it speaks volumes for players and what they're doing, the depth that we have, how we've overcoming some of the adversity we've faced and how some of the young guys have stepped up," said ECU coach Skip Holtz of the season. "It also speaks to the players and their desire, strength and mental attitude. They have stayed focused and in this thing the whole way."

The game pits C-USA's No. 1 offense in Tulsa [10-2, 7-1] against the No. 2 defense in ECU [8-4, 6-2]. The game will serve as a football version of "mythbusters" in regards to whether it is truly defense that does win championships.

ECU remained mostly independent during its current title drought and has fought hard over the course of the Skip Holtz era to be in its current position. The last two years the Pirates didn't close out the season strong, losing in the 11th week to Rice and Marshall respectfully and watching their dreams of an appearance in the C-USA title game dashed.

When ECU made it to the Papajohns.com Bowl two years ago, Holtz said in the aftermath of a 24-7 loss that it was more about taking the step and getting there rather than winning. But don't be fooled, this week the Pirates are not just taking a vacation to Tulsa, they plan on bringing home a C-USA title and a Liberty Bowl berth.

"It just goes to show you that your hard work pays off," said senior ECU free safety Van Eskridge. "We've been working multiple years to try and get to this goal [C-USA title game], and now that we're here, the only thing left for us to do is win it."

The winning part is going to be quite a difficult task no matter how you cut it for the Pirates. Tulsa, as previously stated, ranks No. 1 in the nation in total offense, averaging almost 579 yards per game. The Golden Hurricane also rank No. 2 in scoring offense, averaging 49 points.

In comparison, Tulsa has scored 81 touchdowns to ECU's 33.

"A lot of the teams on the western side of the conference have some big time offenses," Eskridge said. "Tulsa might be the best one. I would have to say at as far as being very good at what they do, they rank right up there with West Virginia and Houston."

Continued...

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