The setting sun cast long shadows on the field and gave an autumnal tinge to East Carolina’s gold pants. The stands had long emptied out by then for the most part, die-hards scattered among the purple chairbacks and concrete, the students deserting the Boneyard for the next fun thing on another Saturday night in Greenville, or maybe a nap to recharge first.
It was a sad scene with the Pirates well on their way to 0-3, the early scare they put into Virginia Tech fading from memory, feeling at that point like nothing more than a fever dream, a hallucination born of the early afternoon heat.