You wouldn't have the pirate spirit that nearly brought down Dowdy Ficklen Stadium Saturday evening, without a healthy dose of homecoming tailgating.

Thousands of pirate fans, young and old, were spread out across ECU’s campus and around the stadium. From the delicious food that comes with the territory, to the unique creativity that comes with cornhole sets and other games you'll find, the homecoming crowd was out in force this afternoon.

We caught up with a few grads from years past in for the weekend, including former homecoming queen, Keri Brockett, "Of course the homecoming parade which we're still one of the only universities that still do that regularly and then we've got the game day activities where you can check out the campus to see all the traditional things we've done over the years and so, it's not only just a campus experience but it's a community experience."

Mitchell Savage says there’s nothing like it, "Purple and gold -- everybody here bleeds purple and gold it's not like Carolina, it's not like state, everybody here is die hard -- it doesn't matter if we win or lose, we're still back here the next week."