GREENVILLE
East Carolina is trying once again to take control of Conference USA's East Division.
The defending league-champion Pirates (6-4, 5-1) have won three straight league games entering today's showdown with Alabama-Birmingham at 3:30.
After easy wins at Memphis and Tulsa, the Pirates are back home for their final two games knowing that they can clinch a second straight East Division title and a spot in the C-USA championship game by winning out.
Coach Skip Holtz said that the Pirates have positioned themselves so that they don't have to worry about what's going on in other games.
"We're in a single-elimination tournament," he said. "We've put ourselves in a great situation, but it's all about finishing strong. Let's let everybody else worry about the projections and who won and who lost and who's in second."
Then again, a loss to UAB (5-5, 4-2) could change all that. If the Blazers win, they will move into a tie with the Pirates and create a jumbled division race. A win also would give UAB head-to-head tie-breaker advantages over East Carolina and Southern Mississippi.
And, the Blazers would become eligible for just the second bowl in school history, and first since Roddy White led them to the Hawaii Bowl in 2004. Not that Coach Neil Callaway is thinking about the postseason yet.
"But I don't want to be distracted by all the other talk about whatever," Callaway said. "We take care of our business, and we're fine."
The key matchup might be East Carolina's pass defense against UAB's revived offense. The Blazers rank last in C-USA in passing but have shown signs of reversing that, with quarterback Joe Webb passing for a career-high 348 yards and three touchdowns last week against Memphis. It'll be up to the Pirates' defense, from end C.J. Wilson to safety Van Eskridge, to keep UAB from generating any momentum in the air.
Webb also has accounted for totals of 845 yards and 10 touchdowns in the past two games, and he ranks third in C-USA in rushing (115.8 ypg) and second in total offense (288.8 ypg).
Holtz's team heard criticism when it stumbled against its tough nonconference schedule, losing early to West Virginia and North Carolina on the road, and to Virginia Tech at home in a nationally televised Thursday-night game. But Holtz pointed out that, aside from reaching the BCS, his program can still achieve all of its preseason goals.
"We're competing right now to win this division first, and then if we are fortunate enough to win the division, then to fight and compete for this conference championship," Holtz said. "That's what we set out.... How great it is to be able to talk about bowl games and conference championships and division championships in November -- to put ourselves in this position right now."
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