Associated Press
The college football notebook …
GREENVILLE ó The big-bowl buzz that began with two upsets of ranked teams to open the season is gone, done in by an overtime road loss to a struggling instate rival.
The challenge now for East Carolina is to keep that one game from beating the Pirates the rest of the season.
“I don’t think winning any one game is the important aspect this early in the season,” coach Skip Holtz said Monday. “I think how you react to the win or the loss is much more important than the game itself. We lost a football game, we can’t change that and can’t go back and have a do-over.”
The Pirates (3-1, 1-0 Conference USA) fell from No. 15 to No. 23 in this week’s rankings after a 30-24 overtime loss at North Carolina State that derailed all the crash-the-BCS talk after wins against Virginia Tech and West Virginia to open the season. Instead, the Pirates have to focus on reaching the league championship game they’ve narrowly missed in each of the past two seasons, a quest that resumes Saturday against Houston here.
ACC PLAYERS
GREENSBORO ó A pair of freshman quarterbacks are two of the Atlantic Coast Conference’s players of the week.
North Carolina State’s Russell Wilson and Miami’s Robert Marve were honored Monday by the league as its offensive back and rookie of the week.
They joined Georgia Tech offensive tackle Andrew Gardner, Miami linebacker Glen Cook, Wake Forest safety Kevin Patterson and Demon Deacons kicker Sam Swank in claiming weekly awards.
DUKE ON TV
ATLANTA ó Georgia Tech’s home game against Duke on Oct. 4 has been set for a noon kickoff.
The Georgia Tech-Duke game at Bobby Dodd Stadium will be televised on ESPNU, Georgia Tech and the network announced Monday..
Georgia Tech (3-1) is off this week after a 38-7 home victory over Mississippi State on Saturday.