Eight months ago Las Vegas told us that the Florida Gators were seven points better than East Carolina. The Gators made good on the Vegas line, eking out an eight point win over the Pirates in a bowl game but Las Vegas isn’t being too kind to ECU this go around. The Pirates are a 20.5 point underdog heading into their matchup this week against Florida and that has a lot of people in Greenville, North Carolina wondering what happened in the last eight months.
“We’re gonna go down there and we understand we’re probably the only people in America that give us a chance to win,” ECU defensive coordinator Rick Smith told the school website:. “I believe we can.”
Despite playing the Gators close just eight months ago, ECU is trying to replace one of the best quarterbacks and receivers in the history of the school in Shane Carden and Justin Hardy. The Pirates hosted FCS opponent Towson last week in front of 40,712 purple cladded Pirates faithful and escaped with a 28-20 win. This week, they’ll play in front of more than double that when 90,000-plus fans pack Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.
“We fell short last year. We’re ready to have fun and get to play in The Swamp,” linebacker Zeek Bigger said. “It’s a dream come true for a lot of people. Some people always wanted to do this, play at a big place with a lot of tradition and things like that.”
For one Pirate making the trip, this visit to Gainesville won’t be his first but it is one that he has dreamed of doing ever since he first strapped on a football helmet, he’s even going to be on the same sideline that he dreamed of standing on growing up as well.
Redshirt freshman offensive lineman Garrett McGhin grew up a few hours northwest of Gainesville in Tallahassee, Florida. Garnett and Gold were his colors of choice.
“I hated them as a kid; hated seeing them beat FSU and then my senior year of high school I got to go to the Florida State-Florida game at Florida State,” McGhin told GatorCountry.com. “That was kind of a big thing watching them play.”
The state of Florida is loaded with talent; too much for the big three schools to take each year. That leaves guys like McGhin looing for a home when their high school days are done. McGhin enrolled at ECU and took a redshirt his first year on campus. Playing for a legendary head coach in Ruffin McNeill has been eye-opening as he heads into his second year on campus, and while he feels slighted by the instate school he’ll face this year, he wouldn’t change the decision he made to attend ECU.
“It’s an amazing experience. There’s not a coach I would rather play for. He’s great, like another father figure to me,” McGhin said. “He’ll get on your ass if you do something wrong but he’ll praise you when you do something right. He’s earned his respect throughout this league and throughout college football.”
Most of the ECU Pirates will walk into Ben Hill Griffin Stadium on Saturday to take on the Florida Gators and they’ll look around in awe. This will be one of the biggest venues that they’ve ever seen and, for any first timer, the Swamp is truly a sight to behold. McGhin is an old hat at this though. He’s seen Ben Hill Griffin Stadium before during a game. He’ll see familiar faces in Raph Andrades and Camrin Knight on the field and somewhere in the mix with those rabid fans wearing Orange and Blue he’ll have his own contingent of fans consisting of friends and family.
“We live just two hours out from there and it’s definitely going to be a good experience for them to come and see me first hand,” McGhin told GatorCountry.com “At the end of the day they just want to see us win. They want to see us beat Florida and go 2-0 on the season.”
ECU has their hands full with the Gators but their confidence isn’t wavering.
“A lot of people outside our facility don’t think we can win it,” McGhin said. “So it will be great when we get to shock not only the people around ECU but the entire nation.”
I’ll be shocked if this game is close at halftime.