ECU Pirates Will Be atop The American at Season’s End

With the ECU Pirates (2-1, 0-0 AAC) coming off of the big upset at Virginia Tech, there is no reason they shouldn’t be the immediate front-runner to win the American Athletic Conference.

Over the last two games, ECU has faced opponents in the Power 5 conferences that also so happened to be ranked in the AP Top 25, not to mention both performances were on ESPN and in front of a giant crowd of 60,000-plus.

The Pirates were displayed on one of the biggest stages that college football has to offer in the regular season and the team responded by playing well and showing the country what this team is made of; toughness and grit.

Many have picked the Cincinnati Bearcats to be atop of the AAC come November. While Cincinnati has an impressive team, having such a late start to the season (didn’t play until September 12) could actually be its demise in the long run—we got a taste of that in the Bearcats’ second half against Toledo.

Bye weeks are vital to each team’s success throughout the year, and each should be strategically placed in the schedule to give the team much needed rest to recover from the bumps, bruises and injuries that come with each game. The Bearcats have not used the bye weeks appropriately and that will aid the Pirates in taking the conference by storm.

ECU will have played three consecutive games against the Power 5 conferences and a bye week before hitting the conference schedule (with two more games and another break). Those three game experiences against the Power 5 will be the trial by fire the Pirates need to give them the confidence and swagger to run through the conference schedule.

In three short games, ECU has already looked in mid-season form by averaging 374 yards through the air and 34.3 points per game with the defense allowing 20.3 points. By hitting those strides against the tough opponents ECU has faced, there is only room for improvement. There is no reason that it shouldn’t be the team to beat in the AAC.

They way the schedule looks and the way ECU is trending three games in, Cincinnati looks to be the only team that stands in the way of ECU making a run at the championship in its inaugural season in the AAC.

The Pirates have the perfect situation moving forward. The team is comprised of many playmakers that have had successful careers playing side-by-side. The team has been battle tested and proved and will turn a lot of heads as they look for dominance in the new conference.