GREENVILLE, N.C. (WNCT) — As East Carolina’s spring sports teams begin their seasons, the football team is laying the groundwork for its 2023 campaign.

The Pirates will start the season with a trip to Ann Arbor, Michigan, to take on the Michigan Wolverines. It’ll be a big test for the Pirates; the Wolverines are looking to three-peat as Big 10 champions, and Michigan Stadium — known as “The Big House” — is routinely regarded as one of the most challenging environments in the nation for opposing teams to play in.

Of course, everyone remembers what Appalachian State did to Michigan in the Big House in 2007.

ECU head coach Mike Houston talked about the trip to Michigan on the WNCT Sports Talk Podcast on Thursday.

“We haven’t talked about it a whole lot yet,” Houston said. “I mean, (our players) know. I wish they weren’t back-to-back Big Ten champions with the best running back in the country coming back. There are certain venues nationally that are iconic, and certainly, that’s one of them, the Big House. … When you’re an athlete and you’re watching on TV, that’s one of the ones you remember. So it’ll be neat.

“Now, at the end of the day, we’re not going up there to go tour it. We’re going up there to knock ’em off. So that’ll be the focus. But certainly, that’s one that I’ll probably take the team to the stadium the day before just to kind of get that out of their system. I’ve done that a couple times at certain places where we’re going into a little bit more of a iconic venue. It’ll be a big one.

Watch the video above to see the full podcast segment with Houston. Click here to see more from the WNCT Podcast Network.