GREENVILLE — Two wins in as many weeks to close year two of the Mike Houston era.
“We have a chance to change the program permanently right now,” he said Saturday after East Carolina’s 52-38 victory over Southern Methodist, a team that entered a 10-point favorite and one month ago was ranked 16th in the country. The Mustangs were dusted 45-7 in the first half.
The Pirates’ first win at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium this season was played before few fans, about 3,500 because of the coronavirus. The Senior Day sendoff was unlike any other — just the players on the field, the coach, and there were only seven of them who knew this was it.
But oh, how sweet was the victory.
The Pirates owned a trio of pivotal fourth down plays in the first quarter. A fake punt on their first possession went for 25 yards leading to the first of six touchdowns before half. They stopped a try by the Mustangs a minute later, then converted one of their own the old-fashioned way en route to the end zone.
“That was an incredibly impressive performance by our players,” Houston said, not letting the two-touchdown final mar the moment. “I’ve been waiting on this game. I thought it might have been going to happen at Tulsa, or maybe the Navy game, where everything just flipped.”
Forget that a two-win season would have been the worst since the end of the John Thompson coaching debacle in 2004. The virus changed everything this year, including the schedule — only nine games, eight in the American Athletic Conference.
We’ll never know if the Pirates would have beaten Navy with quarterback Holton Ahlers, but they only lost by four without their offensive leader. And we’ll never know if that fumble recovery in Tulsa would have been enough to seal the game with less than two minutes left.
Arguably, the Pirates were awful close to a 5-4 ledger. Instead, it is six straight losing seasons — the most without a winning record since 1984 to 1990.
That said, the light at the end of the tunnel in Greenville is no longer an oncoming train.
“We’ve got a lot of heart,” Ahlers said. “We’ve been coming together. We thought it was the Cincinnati game last year. This was the win we’ve been looking for. We’re young, we’ve got to grow up a little bit. We’re headed in the right direction. The darker days are behind us. We’re starting to climb that mountain.”
The Pirates (3-6, 3-5 American) finished the season not only winning two in a row, but never trailing in either. ECU had not done that against bowl level competition since 2013 against UAB and N.C. State.
“That’s a good football team we played,” Houston said of a Mustangs team (7-3, 4-3 American) that has won four times on the road. “They’re going to go to a bowl game. Quality resume.”
The coach who led James Madison to the 2016 FCS national championship said his team needs to continue to grow up, and land key recruiting targets. Its assets are in the locker room, and there’s a lot more value there now even if the nucleus is in the sophomore and freshman classes.
“Last year was hard here,” Houston said. “It was a hard spring when I first got here, a difficult summer and fall. This group has not been like that. We had adversity. The whole deal where you lose to Navy, the loss at Tulsa. It was a struggling time. The kids kept a positive attitude. The kids worked through the things we had to work through.”
Saturday, it came together. The defense was physical and pursuing with purpose. The offense was efficient, taking advantage of SMU miscues. When the Mustangs flirted with making it interesting, Winston-Salem sophomore Ja’Quan McMillian made two interceptions in 41 seconds of the final four minutes.
“Those kids are the biggest asset that we have,” Houston said.
No longer can just anyone be a Pirate. There’s a standard on the field, and an equal or higher one off of it. And Houston said that benchmark doesn’t fluctuate or take a day off. It is consistent, just as he wants the program to reflect on Saturdays.
“It’s the little things that help build our culture,” said sophomore linebacker Jireh Wilson. “Everybody is a lot closer. We’re all one unit now. That’s the biggest thing that has changed.”
Houston is encouraged. Players are, too. The program he inherited was a disciplinary mess, and those who have survived appreciate the change.
“This team is improving,” he said. “This team is going to be something else. We’ve got to capitalize on the opportunity. It’s a signature win, those kids have worked for it, and they deserve it.”
Dark days, indeed, do seem behind them.
Alan Wooten can be reached at 910-247-9132 or awooten@www.bladenjournal.com. Twitter: @alanwooten19.