CHARLOTTE — Raycom could have billed it as the Irrelevant Bowl.

Though such a label had never before seemed appropriate for the East Carolina-N.C. State football rivalry, the 23rd showdown between the two had the exciting buildup of a Lawrence Welk Show.

Distractions carried the day.

With East Carolina coach John Thompson serving his last game on the sidelines, Pirate Nation's focus of late has been on the prospects of a new skipper.

Meanwhile, having endured the most disappointing season of the Chuck Amato era, Wolfpackers have had hoops on the brain.

The usual high stakes — bowl bids, winning records — were missing. So were the thousands of purple and red sweatshirts that were outnumbered by an abundance of vacant blue seats.

This wasn't the high-energy matchup that once made the game the state's showcase gridiron battle. Far from it.

Instead, it was the merciful end to a season both sides would just as soon erase from their collective pigskin memories.

Still, it's a matchup Thompson believes should be renewed on into the future.

"There was some electricity early," Thompson said following the Pirates' 52-14 loss. "It was exciting, very exciting.

"Everybody is disappointed in the crowd, I know, with both the records coming in here. That hurt the crowd a little bit, but they ought to keep this thing going. ...It is a great, great rivalry, and the fans were in it. I appreciate those who stayed. It could be really something special."

Years ago, the rivalry's stature didn't have to be defended. Instead, the annual affair was embraced as an integral part of the state's football culture, a can't-miss event for which it took months to properly prepare.

Players circled their calendars a year in advance. Fans planned weddings and funerals around it.

No in-state game matched the anticipation, passion, and drama of State and East Carolina.

"It's real important," linebacker Chris Moore said. "I know a lot of boys on N.C. State's side.

"I mean it hurts right now — the fact that we lost, and the fact that we lost to a team that was good. I give them credit, they were good. It just hurts playing an in-state team like that. It's a big rivalry game."

It just didn't seem like it Saturday.

Rivalries often are defined by geography and the closeness of competition. That the game was played on neutral soil compromised the atmosphere so severely that you might find Sunday School more raucous.

What's more, the final score provided painful punctuation for how distant the programs have recently grown apart.

"We got steamrolled by a very good team," Thompson said. "They took advantage of everything.

"When things go bad, they go bad. We tried the onside kick and they score. They took advantage of every situation."

For one half, East Carolina at least looked as if it would wage a spirited fight, the type of passionate effort that has defined the series in the past. The Pirates' defense played with a sense of urgency, forcing three turnovers and scoring a touchdown on a fumble by embattled quarterback Jay Davis.

But eventually, ECU folded like a cheap suitcase. True to the script the Pirates have rehearsed a gazillion times over the past two years, they shifted in reverse once the opposition pressed its foot firmly against the throttle.

East Carolina now must wait until 2007 before it gets another shot at State. The only certainty about the setting for that game is that the Pirates will be led by a different coach. Whether or not the game's meaning will have restored significance will depend largely on that new skipper of the Pirate ship.

The pressure on ECU AD Terry Holland to make a landmark hire just boiled over.