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GREENVILLE, N.C.(AP) The big-bowl buzz that began with two upsets of ranked teams to open the season is gone, done in by an overtime road loss to a struggling instate rival.

The challenge now for East Carolina is to keep that one game from beating the Pirates the rest of the season.

"I don't think winning any one game is the important aspect this early in the season," coach Skip Holtz said Monday. "I think how you react to the win or the loss is much more important than the game itself. We lost a football game, we can't change that and can't go back and have a do-over."

The Pirates (3-1, 1-0 Conference USA) fell from No. 15 to No. 23 in this week's rankings after a 30-24 overtime loss at North Carolina State that derailed all the crash-the-BCS talk after wins against Virginia Tech and West Virginia to open the season. Instead, the Pirates have to focus on reaching the league championship game they've narrowly missed in each of the past two seasons, a quest that resumes Saturday against Houston here.

As East Carolina's early success became a national story, Holtz said all the right things about not focusing on the hype and allowing the polls to take care of themselves. Now, coming off a loss, the Pirates face a similar challenge - though this time it's more about not dwelling on disappointment or falling into the trap of trying to prove to everyone that those early wins weren't flukes.

"They're very down, they're very somber, it's very quiet," Holtz said. "I'm not saying that's necessarily a bad thing, especially with the way we executed during crunch time. Maybe we can get our focus really zeroed back in."

Holtz hinted that his team might be worn down emotionally after starting with Virginia Tech and West Virginia followed by a pair of to-the-wire finishes against Tulane and N.C. State. During that stretch, the Pirates also lost several players to injuries - including starting linebacker Quentin Cotton (season-ending knee injury) and starting offensive tackle Stanley Bryant (knee) - forcing young players into the lineup in tight games.

Relief for some of that could come with the impending off week. But that won't fix the little mistakes that haunted the Pirates against the Wolfpack, who hadn't scored an offensive touchdown against a Bowl Subdivision team in a span of 13 quarters before last weekend. They failed to score on fourth-and-goal from the 1 with about 10 minutes left in the fourth quarter. They never trailed in regulation until they gave up the tying touchdown with 1:12 left, lost a fumble on their possession in OT then allowed Andre Brown to score from 10 yards out to end it.

It was a change from the way the Pirates handled late-game situations earlier this year. They returned a blocked punt for the go-ahead score with 1:52 left to beat Virginia Tech 27-22 in the opener, then came up with a TD toss from Patrick Pinkney to Jamar Bryant with 1:41 left to beat Tulane 28-24 on the road in the league opener.

"We can just continue to go through the motions and continue to let the little things slide ... and possibly get to another bowl game," Holtz said, "or we can make up our minds that we didn't like the way we played and watch the film and correct our mistakes."