GREENVILLE — And just like that, the air was let out of the balloon. The Pirates began their three-game road stretch with an inflating 55-31 victory over North Carolina, followed it with a workmen-like 24-17 win over Middle Tennessee State and was poised strengthen their grip on their Conference USA East Division lead Saturday at Tulane before three missed field goals and a pick-six poked a hole in their balloon ride to the top of the division.
With its 36-33 triple-overtime loss to the Green Wave, East Carolina (4-2, 2-1) sank to second place in the East behind Marshall (4-2, 2-0), and now has to play the remainder of its conference schedule with little margin for error.
“It was a tough loss,” East Carolina head coach Ruffin McNeill said. “It was our third game on the road. A triple overtime loss is tough. It’s tough on the players and the staff. … Time ran out on us and we didn’t come up on the positive end of that.”
The Pirates may have run out of time against Tulane, but there is still enough of it left in their season. East Carolina now heads into the softer portion of its schedule, playing four straight conference opponents with losing records, and is hoping to have that balloon all patched up by the time it enters its season-ending showdown with Marshall.
East Carolina returns home this Saturday to face a Southern Miss team that is 0-5 (0-1 C-USA) on the season and hasn’t won a game since December of 2011. After that, it will take on FIU (1-5, 1-1), Tulsa (2-4, 1-1) and UAB (2-4, 1-1), who are a combined 5-13.

McNeill stands behind Harvey
Placekicker Warren Harvey missed a critical 42-yard field goal at the end of regulation that would have allowed the Pirates to avoid overtime against Tulane before he failed to convert a 34-yarder in the third OT session that paved the way for Cairo Santos’ game-clinching kick. However, on Monday McNeill stood by his kicker and said the job is still his.
“Warren Harvey is our kicker and we told Warren that at our team meeting, not just me but the team,” McNeill said. “We’re proud to have Warren on this football team.”
Harvey finished making four of his seven attempts against Tulane and is a perfect 6-6 from inside the 30 this season, but 4-10 beyond it.

Pirates at the halfway point
Though their 36-33 loss to Tulane was a disappointing way to arrive at the midway point in the season, McNeill took time out on Monday to shed light on some of the Pirates accomplishments so far this year.
“Offensively, after six games we’re No. 1 in the nation in completion percentage, 11th in passing yards per game, 11th in the country in third down efficiency, tied for fourth in fourth down efficiency and 38th in the country in red zone efficiency. Over the last four years we are No. 1 in the country in red zone efficiency,” McNeill said. “Shane Carden ranks fifth in the country in passing yards. Justin (Hardy) ranks second in the country in receptions and 13th in receiving yards.”
Defensively, ECU has achieved some pretty lofty marks as well. The Pirates rank third in the nation in run defense, 20th in red zone defense efficiency and 36th in total defense.
However, one crucial area the Pirates find themselves in the bottom of the rankings is in sacks allowed per game, which rose to 3.3 (114th in the nation) after Tulane took down Carden six times on Saturday.
The offensive line for the most part has been solid this season, but has shown vulnerability against the blitz as evident by Saturday’s game and its seven sacks allowed against Virginia Tech.
Despite that, McNeill said he has full confidence in the unit and went on to say that he believes that some of the statistics kept at away games may not be accurate.
“(The offensive line) has done a great job all year but they had a tough night the other night. When you play a team that blitzes a lot you have to account for some,” McNeill said. “Some of those sacks they were counting – I appreciate the stats, but go on our stats when you’re (looking) at tackling and all that, especially after away games – some of them were designed quarterback runs that they did a good job blitzing on.
“Come check with me (about stats) … We’ll have the true stats on that. … But how do I feel about the offense line? I feel great about them.”

Injury report
The Pirates sustained the loss of another key receiver over the weekend as it was announced on Monday that freshman standout Davon Grayson (17 rec, 168 yards, 4 TDs) will be out for the season with a knee injury.
ECU H-back Zico Pasut will also miss a significant amount of time as a result of foot injury.