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GREENVILLE (AP) — Under normal circumstances, playing Virginia Tech is difficult enough to concern Skip Holtz. But the East Carolina coach expects even more urgency from the 22nd-ranked — and increasingly desperate — Hokies when they face his Pirates tonight at sold-out Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium.

Virginia Tech is clinging to a national ranking after back-to-back losses, trying to avoid its first three-game losing streak since 2003 and visiting a team that knocked off the Hokies last year by turning the tables on Tech.

"This football team will bounce back," Holtz said of Virginia Tech.

He just hopes to hold off that comeback for another week and deliver chip-on-the-shoulder East Carolina another program-validating victory over one of college football's elite teams.

There are plenty of reasons why this might qualify as a tricky situation for the Hokies (5-3), who are taking a break from their ACC schedule to make a rare visit to Greenville.

Their confidence might be shaken after consecutive losses to No. 10 Georgia Tech and North Carolina. And last year's 27-22 victory by the Pirates (5-3) — won by a blocked punt returned for a score in the closing minutes — has given them a belief they can beat Virginia Tech again.

"We had a tough loss, but I think what we are playing for is pride in each other and pride in the football team, and we just have to go out and try to get a win," Tech coach Frank Beamer said.

That will be much easier if the Hokies can hit a few big plays against an ECU defense that has been susceptible to them.

Ten of Tech's touchdowns have come on plays covering at least 30 yards. The Pirates have given up at least one scoring pass of at least 40 yards in five of their seven games against Football Bowl Subdivision teams, and in their last three games they have allowed TD tosses of 43, 80 and 96 yards, respectively.

"We cannot give up the home run ball," Holtz said. "I'd like to play one game where we don't give up a 30-, 40-yard play for a touchdown. ... We can't win a track meet. We're going to have to win a baseball score. We're going to have to win a low-scoring game, because we're not going to be able — no one is able — to turn and just take that ball and move it up the field on them."

Maybe not, but North Carolina showed last Thursday that it's possible to find some cracks in the traditionally tough Tech defense. The Tar Heels responded to their only deficit by going 78 yards in 16 plays and kicked a tying field goal with less than 3 minutes remaining.

A critical fumble by freshman star Ryan Williams moments later gave UNC the ball with plenty of time to kick a winning field goal on the final play.

"You have to move forward, and we have such a tough opponent coming up," Beamer said. "It doesn't take long for you to figure out you had better forget about North Carolina and start thinking about East Carolina, because this crowd can play."

This marks the Pirates' first home game against a ranked team since they knocked off then-No. 8 West Virginia in September 2008, the last in a run of three straight victories against top 25 opponents that also included the Virginia Tech upset.

The Hokies come to Dowdy-Ficklen for the first time since the Michael Vick-led group won 45-28 in 2000.

"It's going to be a great environment. It's going to be a great situation," Holtz said. "It's going to be a great challenge for our football program."