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GREENVILLE,NC. - Despite last weekend's overtime loss to NCSU, East Carolina remains in the Top 25, ranking #23 in this weeks polls. The time to react is already upon the No. 23 East Carolina football team.
The 3-1 Pirates will be forced to make their 30-24 overtime loss to N.C. State a memory, and head coach Skip Holtz said Monday that will be the team's newest challenge.
The Pirates host Conference USA rival Houston on Saturday, and while the dream of an unbeaten season and making a big dent on the national bowl scene has expired, the bulk of the season still awaits ECU.
"They're very down, it's very somber and very quiet," Holtz said of the player reaction to the team's first loss since last Nov. 10. "I'm not saying that's a bad thing."
The coach said his team's reaction to the sudden disappearance of all the talk about what he called the "polls and bowls and all that garbage" will either be his team's rallying cry or its undoing.
Holtz pointed to last season's overtime league win at UTEP and how it changed the Miners' season for the worst.
"UTEP was in first place in the West Division when we played them a year ago, and we came back and scored right at the end and beat them in overtime, and UTEP didn't win another game the rest of the season," said Holtz, who met with the ECU's juniors and seniors Sunday to remind them they will carry a 1-0 league record into Saturday's 3:30 kickoff.
Holtz also recalled his first Monday press conference at ECU leading up to the Duke game in 2005. He said the outside focus seemed to be on just beating Duke in that particular game.
Four years later, the coach stressed no one game should ever be more important than the season as a whole.
"How you react to the win or the loss of that game is much more important this early in the year than that game itself," Holtz said. "It's one of those things where we lost the battle and we've got to make sure we don't lose the war. We can't get a do-over."
Injuries
The loss to the Wolfpack was not as costly as the win over Tulane in terms of injuries.
Defensive end Scotty Robinson hobbled out of Carter-Finley Stadium on his own power, but Holtz said his foot injury left him doubtful for the game with the Cougars.
The outlook is better for fullback Kevin Gidrey, who is becoming more and more useful in the role of H-back. His thumb injury will require surgery, but Holtz said he is hopeful for Gidrey's return to action with a cast.
Corner Jerek Hewett and safety Leon Best will both be limited at practice this week with ankle injuries. Also, defensive tackle Khalif Mitchell is still feeling his turf toe injury.
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