2008 East Carolina Pirates football team The 2008 East Carolina Pirates football team represented East Carolina University in the college football season of 2008 - 09 . and plays their home games in Dowdy - Ficklen Stadium . The team was coached by Skip Holtz , who was in his fifth year with the program . The Pirates have a local television contract with WITN - TV , an NBC affiliate located in Washington , NC who elects to pick up games that are not picked up by national or regional networks , and all games are broadcast over the radio on the Pirate - ISP Sports Network . The flagship radio stations of the Pirates are Pirate Radio 1250 and 930 AM and Oldies 107 . 9 WNCT , both located in Greenville , NC . The games are called by the " Voice of the Pirates , " Jeff Charles . Before the season . The annual Purple - Gold Spring Game was held on April 12 , 2008 during the Pigskin Pigout weekend activities in downtown Greenville , North Carolina . The " Pirates " team defeated the " East Carolina " team 13 - 3 as the game was called off due to inclement weather . Game notes . Virginia Tech . Recap : Week 1 The meeting on August 30 was the 14th meeting between these two teams . These two teams met last year for the first time since 2000 . Virginia Tech won that meeting and lead the head - to - head record 9 - 4 . After a blocked field goal placed the Hokies up 16 - 13 over the Pirates , T . J . Lee would return the favor by blocking a Hokie punt and running it back for the game - winning touchdown , leading the Pirates to their first victory over Virginia Tech since 1992 . This was the first time since 2002 that a Conference USA team had defeated a ranked BCS - conference team , and also made the Pirates the first C - USA team ever to defeat ranked teams in consecutive games ( counting ECU ' s win over Boise State in last season ' s Hawaii Bowl ) . West Virginia . Recap : Week 2 The Mountaineers visited Greenville for the seventh time in school history , while the Pirates were looking for their first win against WVU in Greenville since September 30 , 1995 . Going into the game , West Virginia led in the overall matchup , 17 - 2 . ECU did not need any last - minute heroics to pull off their second straight upset over a ranked BCS - conference school . Quarterback Patrick Pinkney had an almost mistake - free game , going 22 - for - 28 through the air with a touchdown and no interceptions , while the Pirates defense kept WVU ' s normally high - powered offense out of the end zone ( the first time since 2001 any WVU opponent had done so ) . The Pirates scored their first win over a top - 10 team since beating Miami in 1999 . Tulane . Recap : Week 3 < nowiki > # 14 < / nowiki > East Carolina visited New Orleans for the first time since the 2003 football season . Before the game , the Pirates led the series against this conference foe , 7 - 2 , with both losses occurring in the Louisiana Superdome . For the first time in a long time , the Pirates went into a game with a national ranking , but suffered a sluggish start against the Green Wave , who the week prior had held Alabama to a single offensive touchdown . After a perfect game against the Mountaineers , the Pirates suffered four turnovers on offense as the defense struggled after losing senior Defensive Linebacker Quentin Cotton to a severe knee injury . With the Green Wave up 24 - 21 in the 4th , the offensive line rallied back . Patrick Pinkney completed a pass to Jamar Bryant for the touchdown and brought the Pirates up 28 - 24 with 1 : 28 remaining . Pierre Bell ' s interception on the next Tulane drive would end it as the Pirates managed to sail past the Green Wave with the final score 28 - 24 . North Carolina State . Recap : Week 4 After barely escaping past Tulane , # 15 ECU visited their inter - state rival in the state capital for the 21st time in the 26 game history . NCSU won the previous years ' game 34 - 20 in Greenville and lead the all - time record 15 - 10 . Injuries were a major factor in the outcome of this game , but despite only dressing 45 of its players for the game , the Wolfpack managed to come on top over the Pirates , who fell to 3 - 1 overall . The key loss of Defensive Linebacker Quentin Cotton , and the two missed touchdown opportunities in the red zone for the Pirates would lead to an Overtime showdown as the score was tied at the last second , 24 - 24 . The Pirates came up with nothing after the first offensive series in Overtime , as Quarterback Patrick Pinkney was sacked and fumbled the ball , setting up a Wolfpack touchdown that gave the Pirates their first loss of the 2008 season , the final score : 30 - 24 . The next time the two schools meet was pushed back to the 2010 season , to accommodate the completion of East Carolina ' s upcoming stadium expansion . Houston . Recap : Week 5 < nowiki > # 23 < / nowiki > East Carolina hosted Houston for their conference home opener at Dowdy - Ficklen Stadium . ECU won in a shootout last fall , 37 - 35 . The Pirates led this Conference USA West opponent overall , five games to three , but disaster would strike for a second week in a row . The Pirate defense was unable to stop Case Keenum ' s 399 yard passing attack and could not muster enough offense to match it . The high - scoring Houston offense never trailed as the Pirates went down for a second straight week , losing 41 - 24 and was knocked out of the Top 25 . Virginia . Recap : Week 7 Coming off of their first bye week , East Carolina traveled to Charlottesville for the second time in this three game history . ECU beat this ACC member in Greenville in 2006 , 31 - 21 , and led the overall series 2 - 0 . After going up on the board early 6 - 0 , Virginia would rally back to make the score 28 - 6 at halftime . A Pirate rally in the second half would be cut short as a fumble and botched punt were recovered by the Cavaliers . The Pirates would go on to lose to Virginia for the first time in this series ' history , 35 - 20 . Memphis . Recap : Week 8 For ECU ' s second home conference game , they played the Tigers of Memphis . East Carolina won last fall ' s game 56 - 40 at the Liberty Bowl , in Memphis . In the 16 previous games played between these teams , the Pirates led the Tigers 10 - 6 . UCF . Recap : Week 10 East Carolina traveled to the Bright House Networks Stadium in Orlando for the third time in this series . The Pirates led the series six games to one . Marshall . Recap : Week 11 The Thundering Herd traveled to North Carolina for the fifth time in this storied series . After the 1970 contest , Marshall ' s plane crashed while traveling back to Huntington . The 2001 GMAC Bowl is the highest - scoring bowl game in Division I - A ( now Division I FBS ) history . Marshall won 64 - 61 in two overtimes . The Pirates led the series 6 - 3 . Southern Miss . Recap : Week 12 Southern Miss hosted East Carolina in the 34th meeting of these two teams . Of the 33 games in the history of the series , the Pirates have won only eight times . UAB . Recap Week 13 The Pirates traveled to Birmingham for the fourth time to face the Blazers . Before this game , East Carolina had never won a road contest at UAB ' s home field . UAB led the overall series 4 - 3 . UTEP . Recap Week 14 The Pirates welcome the Miners to Greenville for the first time ever . East Carolina and this Conference USA West opponent are meeting for the second time . The first meeting occurred last fall in El Paso , Texas . ECU won in overtime , 45 - 42 in the Sun Bowl . 2008 Conference USA Championship . The Pirates , after clenching their division in a 17 - 13 win over the UAB Blazers , will be representing Conference USA East in a battle against the champion of the West division , the Tulsa Golden Hurricanes . Tulsa clenched the division title with a win over Marshall and a Houston loss to Rice . Tulsa leads the all - time series against the Pirates , 5 - 2 . 2009 Liberty Bowl . After defeating Tulsa in the 2008 Conference USA Football Championship and winning their first Conference Championship in more than thirty years , the Pirates immediately accepted an invitation to play in the Liberty Bowl , which the team had not done in thirteen years . The last time East Carolina went to the Liberty Bowl was in 1995 , where they defeated Stanford 19 - 13 . The Pirates faced Kentucky from the SEC and lost 17 - 20 after they went into overtime and lost by a field goal .