Time to move on for No. 23 Pirates

GREENVILLE - After every game, win or lose, East Carolina coach Skip Holtz gives his team 24 hours to celebrate or sulk.

Time's up.

After suffering an emotional defeat to North Carolina State on Saturday, the Pirates dropped to 23rd in the Associated Press poll and possibly dashed any hopes of crashing a BCS game. ECU turns its focus toward Houston this week.

"It's time to put this one behind us," Holtz said. "It doesn't make the knot in your stomach go away, you can't do that until you play again, but it's time that we move on as a football program and team. We've got to turn and get ourselves up off the ground, brush ourselves off, put on the film and start to go from there."

Up until Saturday's loss, the Pirates were being hounded with national attention. Since the defeat, Holtz admitted the team mood is still somber and quiet.

How the Pirates respond will depend on their leadership, Holtz said.

"I met with the juniors and seniors for about 30 minutes yesterday and talked about where we are, what we need to do, where we need to go from here and what our options are," Holtz said.

Saturday's game hurt the Pirates in many ways.

During Monday's press conference reporters questioned Holtz's fourth-and-1 call from N.C. State's 1-yard line early in the fourth quarter. Clinging to a 21-17 lead, ECU was stuffed on three-consecutive plays. Instead of kicking the field goal, the Pirates attempted to put the game away.

If given the opportunity, Holtz said he would make the same call again,

"I've gotten a lot of questions about this, and I would have gone for it again with the situation and circumstances involved in the game," he said. "I felt like scoring a touchdown would have put us up two scores, and if we would have kicked the field goal, we were still only up one score."

With their BCS dreams bruised, the Pirates are focused on winning Conference USA. ECU won its first C-USA game, 28-24, against Tulane on Sept. 13,

The Pirates have been involved in four-consecutive emotional games, beginning with their week one win over Virginia Tech. From then, they hosted West Virginia, traveled halfway across the country to play Tulane before playing in-state rival N.C. State.

Finally, for the second time in five games, ECU returns back to Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium.

Holtz knows Houston is not going to be an easy task. The Pirates knocked off the Cougars in a 37-35 shootout last season. Houston

had opportunities late in the game to win, but missed two field goals.

This year, quarterback Case Keenum is a year older and torching opponents,despite Houston's 1-3 start.

Keenum has thrown for 1,521 yards with 16 touchdowns and just four interceptions.

"It's going to be important to put points up, but we have to make sure it's not a three-and-out mindset," Holtz said. "If all you do is punt against these people, you're going to lose; you have to turn and score some points. You can't just spread it out and go pass, pass, pass, trying to score a lot of points and then go three-and-out. That just puts their team right back out on the field. It's going to have to be a balance."

Notes: Defensive lineman Scotty Robinson is listed as doubtful for Saturday's game with a foot injury. Safeties Leon Best and Jerek Hewitt, as well as linebacker Pierre Bell will be limited in practice, but are expected to suit up against Houston.

Adam Thompson can be reached at (252) 635-5670 or at athompson@freedomenc.com.