ECU’s loss, 16-7, to the Golden Eagles of the University of Southern Mississippi on October 6, 1990, in Ficklen Stadium was yet another unhappy chapter in a longstanding gridiron rivalry between the two schools. Prior to the 1990 game, ECU had only won three of the 15 contests. Making matters worse, there had not been a single victory in Greenville since 1976 when the Pirates gave the Golden Eagles a “shellacking,” 48-0. In 1983, the Pirates had their last victory over the Golden Eagles, defeating them in Hattiesburg, 10-6. Prior to 1990, the Golden Eagles were 6-1 in Ficklen Stadium, with the last six meetings resulting in Southern Miss wins. Even Golden Eagles senior quarterback Brett Favre commented, after the loss, that the Pirates needed to believe in themselves and be confident that Southern Miss was not invincible.
That’s right, the Brett Favre. Losing aside, one of the most memorable and historic dimensions of the 1990 game was that the Pirates lost to a Southern Miss team led by Favre. A native of Mississippi, Favre went on to an outstanding career as quarterback for the Green Bay Packers, winning the AP MVP award three years in a row (1995, 1996, 1997). He also led the Packers to two Super Bowl games, XXXI and XXXII. Between 1992 and 2008, his last year with the Packers, Favre started every game for a record setting streak of 253 games. Of the many excellent gridiron talents to have played in Ficklen Stadium, Favre was the only quarterback to have gone on to become a first-rate NFL star. Unfortunately, he was playing for Southern Miss.
The year before, in 1989, the Golden Eagles, led by Favre, easily defeated ECU, 41-27. However, in 1990, Favre’s contributions to the USM victory were less conspicuous: nine of the Golden Eagles’ 16 points came from three field goals, while a single touchdown run accounted for the balance. The 1990 game put Favre on the field but did not occasion a dazzling display of his talents. Yet still, for the home crowd, the bitterness of defeat was buffered by the fact that many would later recall having seen Favre play in Greenville. Otherwise, the 1990 loss to Southern Miss left the Pirates 2-4, in what ended up being a 5-6 losing season.
The following year was profoundly different for ECU and head coach Bill Lewis. In Hattiesburg, the 1991 Pirates crushed the Golden Eagles, 48-20, on their way to an astounding 11-1 season capped by a thrilling victory over N.C. State, 37-34, in the Peach Bowl. That final win, in Atlanta-Fulton Stadium before a crowd of nearly 60,000 and broadcast on ESPN, brought ECU much-needed and much-appreciated national attention.
Following that impressive winning season, Lewis was named coach of the year by the American Football Coaches Association and UPI. The Pirates ended the year nationally ranked, 9th, in both the Coaches’ Poll and the AP Poll. Unfortunately, 1991 was Lewis’ last season as head Pirate: the following year, he was hired away by Georgia Tech. On the other hand, Lewis’ departure was followed by ECU’s promotion of Steve Logan, one of the greatest Pirate football coaches of all time. Logan’s eventual success on the gridiron grew in part from the momentum established during the three-year tenure of Lewis, under whom Logan had served as offensive coordinator alongside Jeff Jagodzinski.
Sources
- “East Carolina vs. Southern Mississippi Program.” October 6,1990. University Archives # UA40.01.02.26.03. J. Y. Joyner Library. East Carolina University. Greenville, NC. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/27690
- Morris, Doug. “Southern Miss defeats ECU, 16-7.” East Carolinian. Vol. 64, no. 52. October 9, 1990. Pp. 10, 12. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/58236 and https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/58236
- Coggins, Rudy. “Pirates have tough task for Saturday.” Rocky Mount Telegram. October 4, 1990. P. 13.