Last season, the Skip Holtz, Chris Johnson and the East Carolina Pirates ended the season in Hawaii with an exclamatory win over Boise State. They ended up winning by a field goal, but the game was not as close as the score indicated. The Pirates were winning 31-14 at halftime, and Boise State needed a couple late TD's to even tie it up.

That game must have been a sign of things to come. Even though ECU is without Chris Johnson, who rushed for 223 yards in that game, they are a much better team than people have given them credit for. After the first two weeks of the season, they have done something that no other team in college football has done; beat 2 ranked opponents.

After last week's 27-22 win over then-#17 Virginia Tech, ECU crept up to #27 in the AP poll, a position which is otherwise known as "others receiving votes". But after Saturday's dominant 24-3 win over Pat White and #8 West Virginia, ECU now officially has the two best wins in the country.

It's obvious now that ECU belongs in the top 25. But when moving an unranked team into the top 25, voters always have the issue of deciding where to put them. Last week, ECU wasn't a top 25 team. But now they've beaten 2 (supposedly) high-caliber teams.

USC, Georgia, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Florida, MIssouri and LSU are obviously all safe. They all won convincingly enough to at least stay where they were ranked, and all of them were ranked above WVU anyway. There's no way ECU could pass any of them, no matter how bad they beat West Virginia. Auburn, Texas, Wisconsin, Texas Tech, Alabama, Kansas, Arizona State all won convincingly enough to maintain their rank. But after #15 Arizona State is where it gets interesting, and where it looks like ECU might be able to slip into the rankings.

#16 Brigham Young and #17 South Florida both won close games over mediocre opponents. BYU needed a missed extra point to prevent OT against Washington, and USF beat Central Florida in overtime. That should allow Oregon and Penn State to leapfrog them into the 15th and 16th spots, respectively. #20 Wake Forest barely beat SEC doormat Mississippi, and the next 3 slots are upstarts like Fresno State, Utah, UCLA. Illinois already has 1 loss at #24, and #25 South Carolina will definitely drop down after a loss to Vanderbilt.

So where does that leave ECU? There's no doubt that they belong above any team with a loss. But considering the quality of ECU's wins, they also belong above teams that barely won their games, especially against non-ranked opponents.

If I'm voting, ECU jumps ahead of West Virginia, Brigham Young, South Florida, Clemson, South Carolina, Wake Forest, Fresno State, UCLA and Illinois, and slides into the #17 spot. If you're feeling friendly, let WVU come in one spot behind them. But with the quality of wins, there's no way ECU belongs lower than #17.

Where would you put ECU if you had a top 25 vote?