GREENVILLE — It’s been looming for quite some time now, but East Carolina’s regular season finale showdown with Marshall is finally here.
The Pirates (9-2, 6-1) will travel to West Virginia this Friday to battle the Thundering Herd (8-3, 6-1) for Conference USA’s East Division crown at high noon on Friday, and if they can win they will also clinch home field advantage for the Conference USA championship game on Dec. 7.
“One of the things that everybody talked about was that it would come down to this game for the (right) to be the East Division representatives, and it is that,” East Carolina head coach Ruffin McNeill said. “… It’s a great opportunity for our school, not me, but for us. … If we’re fortunate enough to come back home again to Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium that would be fantastic.”
The last two years these two teams have faced each other in the final game of the season and both times the stakes were high. In 2011, ECU went to Marshall needing a win to clinch bowl eligibility, but fell 34-27 in overtime.
Last year the scenario flip-flopped as the Thundering Herd headed to Greenville needing a precious sixth win, but were denied as the Pirates sunk their postseason hopes by winning a 65-59 double OT shootout.
This year the stakes are even higher and McNeill said these are the types of games that he lives for.
“It’s been a game where every year there’s something on the line,” McNeill said. “That’s why you get into coaching, for the competition. When you’ve been around as long as (Marshall coach) Doc (Holliday) and I have and you’ve been in these kinds of contests before. iIt’s a very intense time, but it’s fun.”
Each team appears to be playing its best ball of the season as the Pirates knocked off instate rival N.C. State 42-28 on Saturday and arrive at this week’s contest having won five straight for the first time since 1999.
Marshall blew past Florida International 48-10 over the weekend to extend its winning streak to four.
East Carolina owns a 10-4 lifetime record versus the Herd and has won four of the last five contests.

Pirates Welcome back Williams
The Pirates defense received a huge boost this week as McNeill announced that star nose tackle Terry Williams has been reinstated to the team.
The 6-1, 322-pound junior played in the first three games of the year before being suspended for violating team rules in late September, forcing Williams to miss the next eight contests.
On Monday, McNeill said that Williams has redeemed himself and that his teammates voted unanimously to let him back on the field.
“Terry Williams has done everything I’ve asked him to off the field,” McNeill said. “… The only way he would be let back on to the field is by team vote and that’s the way it is here. The team voted to allow him to come back and be a part of it. It was on them. No coaches voted.
“If one person would have said ‘no’, then it would have been no. … He’s done everything we’ve asked and he’s been humbled by the process. He understands that it’s not about him – that’s the no ego – and it’s not about entitlement. It’s not your right to play on this team and he understands the concept of team because the ship kept moving and getting better without (him). … It’s not a one-man show.”
In three games this season Williams, who was not listed on the two-deep but is expected to play Friday, has tallied nine tackles and one tackle for a loss.