Tulsa, obviously were overwhelming favorites. Man-man, they had a better team. And they also had the charismatic quarterback David Johnson, who could run any opponent ragged. On the other hand, the ECU was somewhat of an unknown quantity. It really seemed to boil down to who winked first?



So what was the turning point of the match? In an action-packed and an exciting match, expect to find many such exciting moments. One amongst them was Ben Hartman's steal resulting in a 36-yard field goal. Not sure what the Tulsa defensive line was doing. But people who saw the goal say that Ben caught them napping!

In terms of consistency throughout the match, it must be said that the defensive line of the ECU broke the back of Tulsa attackers. With their gritty and hard working approach to defending, injured ECU players playing in the defensive line gave it all, as if they were playing for their life.

The final nail in the coffin for Tulsa came through 63 seconds before close of play. A David Johnson move was intercepted, for the umpteenth time in the afternoon, and the ECU scored. It seemed that the strategy of Tulsa Golden Hurricanes revolved almost David, and once the opposition found a way to shut him out of the game, they could not do anything about it.

When the final hooter came through, the score line read 27-24 in favor of the ECU. What followed next were wild celebrations! ECU was obviously delighted with their first clinch of the coveted trophy. Coach Skip Holtz received the traditional Gatorade shower. Amongst other scenes, the most poignant one was that of running back Norman Whitely hopping on to a table and leading the ECU band.

So what does the road ahead have in store for ECU? First things, in light of this victory, ECU gets an opportunity to play against Kentucky in Auto Zone Liberty Bowl in Memphis on January 2nd, 2009. Look back mid-season ? The ECU were struggling with their form, and quite a few of their players had niggles and injuries. This was when Holtz took over. With him at the helm of affairs, there seemed to be a positive change in the air. Holtz spoke a lot on how they could win championships. Clearly, Holtz attitude seemed to have rubbed off on his players. And the proof is there for everyone to see?

Holtz for one seems to be pretty uncertain about his future with ECU. For some strange reasons, he feels that he could be fired by the management. ECU should also think of a way by improving their bench strength to ensure they give good rest to players so they could recover from injuries.