The East Carolina football team will have its work cut out for it next season in order to improve on last year’s disappointing 3-9 record.Coach Scottie Montgomery’s second team has been given a gauntlet of a schedule that includes games against a national champion, eight bowl teams and three opponents that finished 2016 ranked among the nation’s top 25.The upside of the 2017 schedule that was announced by the American Athletic Conference on Thursday is that for the first time in school history, the Pirates will be playing seven home games at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium. And that unlike the past few seasons, all 12 games will be played on Saturdays.The downside is that ECU will face some of its most difficult tests right out of the gate, starting deceptively tough season opener on Sept. 2 against defending FCS national champion James Madison. The Pirates will then travel to West Virginia on Sept. 9 before returning home to play ACC Coastal champion Virginia Tech on Sept. 16.Following a much earlier than usual bye week, ECU will begin conference play with back-to-back home dates against South Florida and defending league champion Temple — the only two teams in the AAC to post double-digit wins in 2016 and a trip to Orlando to play Central Florida.Things won’t get any easier in the second half of the season, which includes a visit to Greenville by BYU and three road games in the final five weeks — at Houston on Oct. 28, at UConn on Nov. 4 and a season-ending game at Memphis on Nov. 25. The final two home games are against Tulane on Nov. 11 and Cincinnati on Nov. 18.”While the challenge is obviously significant, the opportunity it creates is something we fully embrace,” Montgomery said in a statement. “We are thankful and blessed to be in a position to compete in front of Pirate Nation on at least seven occasions, which will play a critically supportive role as it always does. We’ll come out of the gate ready to go.”
