East Carolina vs. Virginia Tech football 2007

East Carolina has known all along that it would face a tremendous challenge in opening the 2007 season at college football powerhouse Virginia Tech.

After all, the Pirates sought to add the Hokies to their schedule due to the variety of opportunities that the games would bring. Well, if the initial contest of the nine-game deal between the schools is any indication, ECU will get all it hoped for and then some.

The two familiar foes will renew a series that has been dormant since 2000. Ironically, that meeting was much like this year’s, in that it offered the East Carolina program a shot to earn a program-changing win. However, the Michael Vick-led Hokies—who played for the national title the previous season—took advantage of some early Pirate miscues and cruised to a 45-28 victory in that nationally-televised Thursday night match-up on ESPN.

The Pirates and Hokies have squared off 12 times on the gridiron and all but one of those was played from 1987 to 2000.

When the series resumed in 1987, the two programs paralleled each other in many regards and both were Division I-A Independents that were battling for conference affiliation.

East Carolina actually held a 4-3 advantage in the all-time series after it collected a last-minute 30-27 victory over Virginia Tech—a member of the newly formed Big East Football Conference—in 1992 in Greenville. The loss was one of eight for the Hokies in a season that made the Tech faithful wonder if they may need to make a coaching change.

However, they opted to stick with their own in former Hokie footballer Frank Beamer and the decision was a wise one as he has “only” turned his alma mater into one of the nation’s best programs.

The Hokies have not only dominated the Pirates lately—winning the last five meetings—but they’ve dominated a lot of people during their stellar string of success. Tech has recorded 14 consecutive winning seasons, each of which has concluded with a bowl appearance. Perhaps even more impressive is the fact that the Hokies have posted three 11-win seasons and five 10-win seasons during that time. They’ve participated in three Sugar Bowls, an Orange Bowl and were unrightfully passed over for media darling Notre Dame for the Fiesta Bowl on more than one occasion.

After struggling to a 24-40-2 mark in his first six seasons in Blacksburg, Beamer has won over 75 percent of his games since and carries a 156-82-2 record into his 21 st season at his alma mater.

While the Pirates have also had their share of success during this time, the programs have obviously been traveling down divergent paths ever since the Hokies gained admittance to the Big East.

Virginia Tech has since moved on to the Atlantic Coast Conference, where it has continued to achieve excellence.

Meanwhile, East Carolina suffered from poor leadership and withstood a major blow to the gut during the end of the Steve Logan era and the brief John Thompson experiment.

However, the Pirates have made strides toward respectability in their first two seasons under Skip Holtz and seek to keep the ball rolling down hill in 2007.

Traveling to Lane Stadium—one of college football’s loudest and most difficult stadiums to win in—is a tough enough task on a normal weekend. Unfortunately, the weekend of September 1st will be anything but normal. As a result of the tragedy that took place on the Virginia Tech campus on April 16, there will be a togetherness and intensity present that has never been felt before at a Hokie football game—making the environment that much more hostile for the visiting Pirates.

The contest would have likely been on television regardless, but it has now been slated for a noon kickoff on ESPN.

Additionally, the ESPN College GameDay crew of Chris Fowler, Lee Corso, Kirk Herbstreit and Desmond Howard will be on hand to broadcast the network’s popular preview show live from just outside Lane Stadium. As a result, the game coverage will be that much greater and the highlights will be shown continuously throughout the day during the various scoreboard shows and Sportscenter game recaps.

When you take all factors into consideration, there is no doubt that a win would be the biggest in East Carolina football history. And while one game certainly does not make (or break) a program, one can only imagine the far-reaching effects that a Pirate upset would have.

60,000 plus screaming Hokies…Metallica’s Enter Sandman blaring over the PA system at Lane Stadium…Pirate Football is only two months away, folks!

Pirates presented with prime opportunity in season opener versus Hokies

East Carolina and Virginia Tech will meet at noon on September 1