Mike Houston and rebuilt East Carolina excited for opener
The first time Mike Houston took the field as East Carolina head coach, the opponent was NC State. The game was a mismatch. In hindsight, Houston knew that was going to be the case going into the 2019 season opener, which the Wolfpack rolled to a 34-6 victory in Carter-Finley Stadium.
A lot has changed for Houston and his East Carolina program since then.
“We were outmanned on that day in 2019, and we kind of knew that going into the season,” Houston acknowledged. “You can only do so much in the six months. You’ve got to develop as much as you can with what you have.
“It was a spotlight on where our program was at that time in comparison to NC State’s. Now, I think that there’s been a lot of work done in recruiting, development, and growth. There’s a handful of guys that were on that field for that game in 2019 that are going to be on the field Saturday and seeing how they’ve grown and seeing how the program has grown.
“It’s a different program.”
The one caveat Houston sees: NC State is also a different program than the Pack was in 2019.
“I watched a lot of ACC games this summer,” Houston noted. “I’ve seen the bulk of the conference and what NC State had last year and what they’ve got coming back, as we prepared for them.
“They have to feel that they have a realistic chance of winning the conference championship. We’ve got a good football team; I have no doubt about that. We have a big challenge Saturday and one that we’re excited about.”
Houston sees Saturday’s matchup as “a big one for a lot of reasons,” but revenge for the lopsided loss in 2019 is not one of them.
Whether or not East Carolina super senior quarterback Holton Ahlers is motived by a chance to beat the school that was a fellow finalist in his recruitment could be a motivating factor. Ahlers will have a lot on his shoulders facing a NC State defense that is stacked with potential All-ACC contenders.
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Houston noted that Ahlers commonly gets ahead on his film study during the offseason, “But I do think that he probably got into more serious study earlier than a lot of players did.”
“He’s excited about this matchup and, especially when you look at what we’re going against defensively, there’s a reason why,” Houston added. “This might be the best defense in the country that we face, and they have a lot of talented guys that are very experienced on that side of the football so it’s going to be a big challenge for him on Saturday.”
Houston added that NC State fifth-year redshirt junior quarterback Devin Leary ranks with the best quarterbacks the Pirates saw a season ago, including Cincinnati’s Desmond Ridder who was drafted in the third round by the Atlanta Falcons.
The tall order facing ECU though has the Pirates community pumped for Saturday.
“There’s a lot of excitement,” Houston said. “You can feel the buzz around Greenville. You can certainly feel the buzz around campus, and within our locker room and meeting rooms. Lots of hard work went into getting to this game week and getting the program to where it is as we start the season.”
