@ CHAPEL HILL

UNC 31, ECU 17 Final

• Dagger. Ryan Houston's second TD run makes it 31-17.

• Good drive by Pirates but they have to settle for a 22-yard FG by Ben Hartman

CHAPEL HILL -- North Carolina was waiting for its young receivers to emerge. Turns out all the Tar Heels needed was a visit from East Carolina.

No. 24 UNC beat ECU 31-17 on a breakout game from freshman receiver Erik Highsmith, who caught six passes for 113 yards and a touchdown.

Pressed to choose, some ECU football fans no doubt would still rate the team’s only victory in UNC’s Kenan Stadium, on Oct. 25, 1975, as the most special in school history.

The 38-17 win that afternoon by Pat Dye’s second team has a lot of best-ever competition, of course. But there’s little question that the circumstances surrounding the upset were memorable. A day before the game, ECU football patriarch and athletics director Clarence Stasavich died suddenly. Many Pirate fans didn’t even get the news until an hour or so before game time.

Staff video by Travis Long, Caulton Tudor and J.P. Giglio

Today's topic: Previewing ECU's trip to UNC on Saturday.

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — It was one year and six days ago that East Carolina upset then-No. 8 West Virginia, the highest-ranked opponent any ECU team had ever beaten.

That historic win seemed like, well, history on the Pirates' return trip to West Virginia on Saturday. The new-look Mountaineers overcame a mountain of mistakes and cranked out 509 yards of total offense to handle ECU 35-20 at Milan Puskar Stadium.

@ Morgantown, W.Va.

West Virginia 35, East Carolina 20

Fourth quarter

• ECU drives down to WVU 24 but turns it over on downs. That's all.

Staff video by Travis Long, Caulton Tudor and J.P. Giglio

Topic: The ACC's shoddy start and ECU's trip to Morgantown.

Caulton Tudor and Joe Giglio rehash a shoddy first weekend for the ACC and look ahead to ECU's trip to West Virginia. (Staff video by Travis Long, ... more

East Carolina takes an early lead, then holds off a furious ASU rally to beat the Mountaineers 29-24 in Greenville on Saturday, Sept. 5, 2009.

First Look: Staff photojournalist Shawn Rocco's raw edit from the game between Appalachian State and East Carolina in Greenville on Saturday, Sept. 5, 2009.