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Next test for Pirates

Ruffin McNeill championed on Monday his football team’s valiant attempt to upend the Florida Gators on Saturday night at The Swamp in an eventual 31-24 UF victory.

But just as quickly as his East Carolina squad has been forced to do this week, McNeill turned the page to this Saturday’s equally difficult trip to Navy.

The sixth-year head coach recounted at Monday’s weekly news conference the 1-1 Pirates’ resilience after twice taking leads on the Gators and then staging a last-minute rally that fell one big play short. Now comes a trip to Annapolis, Md., to take on the Midshipmen and their triple option, the second in a stretch of four road games in five weeks for ECU.