East Carolina has gone from struggling to alone atop Conference USA's East Division.
The Pirates (3-2, 2-0 C-USA), who lost two of their first three games, have won two straight and find themselves as the only unbeaten team in the division race heading into Saturday's trip to SMU.
It's why Coach Skip Holtz told his players they're in a good news-bad news situation after their latest victory.
"The bad news is, everywhere you go, not only are you the defending Conference USA Champion, but also the team currently in first place in the East Division," Holtz said. "We know we're going to get everybody's best shot. We know everybody is going to be fired up, emotional and ready to play against us.
"We need to make sure that from emotional, focus, attitude and preparation standpoints that we're doing all the little things we have to do in order to be a good football team."
East Carolina had lost consecutive games at West Virginia and North Carolina after a season-opening win against Appalachian State. But East Carolina responded by beating Central Florida, then followed by winning on the road against Marshall. The offense has improved slightly, scoring touchdowns in the second half for two straight games after failing to do so in the first three.
Holtz was annoyed, however, by the team's 10 penalties against Marshall.
"We've got to get those cleaned up," Holtz said. "We still have too many of those for being this late in the season. We're making the same mistakes, over and over and over. We have to continue to get better."
Note: East Carolina has added John Gutekunst as an assistant coach to fill in for Thomas "Rock" Roggeman, who is on medical leave with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.
The school announced the move yesterday, saying that Roggeman went on indefinite leave on Sept. 28.
Gutekunst will assist the Pirates with special teams, while Vernon Hargreaves -- who had coached special teams and defensive ends -- will now take on Roggeman's responsibilities with the defensive tackles.
Gutekunst spent six seasons as head coach at Minnesota and has had numerous assistant coaching stops.
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