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Offensive report card: Skill positions reinforced
onSammy never seems to get roster shifts like Lewis and Mauney to defense. Very public so not sure how he doesn't include those in his analysis. He also missed the entire Gagg saga and the fact that Nations may not be the placekicker at all since he was not even second on the depth chart behind Verity as season's end.
Sammy is a great recruiting analyst IMO but would be much better at the big picture if he would either keep up more or ask some questions of more up to date media members or staff before going to press.
Reply to this comment on Charles: A direct link to the ECU athletic department's official box score is among the links at the bottom of each game story published by Bonesville. — Danny Whitford, Editor
Reply to this comment on like a box score for each game.
Reply to this comment on Excellent report, I always enjoy your insiteful work.
Reply to this commentNo banners for Bucs basketball just yet
onGreat writeup.ECU looking better. How do you think tonight's game will turn out?
Reply to this comment on Can someone please answer a question regarding the officiating of the SMU vs ECU game? When the officials decided (incorrectly, I believe) that the SMU QB did throw a pass while being tackled in endzone, why was it not intentional grounding? I have tried finding info on the web but have not been successful. Thank you!
Reply to this comment on Was surprised that so many first and second downs were run plays up the middle for us and then a long 3rd down for a certain pass play were Cinn. could just easily pass rush and sack HA. Too predictive; need to pass on first and second down. Was just concerned play calling was too predictive. No chance for our offence. But Go Pirates.
Reply to this comment on Not that it would have changed things, but I seriously question that ECU field goal in the latter part of the 2nd quarter on 4th and 5 deep in the Cinn. red zone. Yeah, they're "only" down at the time, 7-21, but there was ample evidence by that point to know that Cinn. was going to be putting up lots of points; you have to throw out the stats sheet in that situation and go for broke. For the same reason, I don't like the way Houston had them sit on the ball at the end of the half, especially when they were kicking to open the 2nd half.
Kudos to Mitchell for his game, the only bright spot on the night, hopefully a sign of promise for the future ground game in tandem w/ Harris. Still, I question a little why Houston didn't go to the air more; likely the answer lies in HA's numbers. The Cinn. d is super quick and aggressive, but HA was really off anyway. Given that, I was a little surprised that Garcia didn't make an appearance earlier, a better runner than HA. Houston is likely loathe to throw HA under the bus; Coach faced lots of picking between poisons last night, I guess.
...two schools of thought on that late faked punt and off tackle up the middle by Cinn. for a TD w/ 17 seconds to go. One is that if you don't like being embarrassed, then don't let the other dude embarrass you, and the Pirates got hugely embarrassed in general and on those two plays specifically. The other, of course, is that when you're dominating the other guy, what is the gain for willfully adding insult to injury, especially knowing that virtually every program has its ups and downs? Cinn. will not always be a playoff contender, and at some point in the foreseeable future will inevitably be the ECU in a game.
I was very gratified to see Houston calling Fickell out at the end of the game. I read today that Fickell said the faked punt wasn't a called play; $1 says he's lying through his teeth. We can be sure that the Cinn. game in 2021 in Greenville is already circled on the Pirates calendar, as well it should be.
There is no way to look at the last two games as other than a setback. The Pirates must collect themselves now, and go into Temple next week with a mind set on taking their frustrations out on the Owls.
Reply to this commentWave takes away ECU’s ground game in 38-21 win
onTwo steps forward (Navy and Tulsa), two steps back to a Georgia State kind of indifferent performance vs. a very mediocre team.
Reply to this comment on It kills me for us to to lose because of lousy officiating. We were ever bit as good or better as Tulsa, who I saw play a couple of times. They are a very good team. I hope some officials will get their walking papers soon.
Reply to this comment on Dramatic improvement on both sides. 100 yards of penalties for us. Cannot beat a good team with that many mistakes. Still we should have won and officiating killed us. BUT when on the road against a good team you have to take it from them and keep no prisoners....iow...NO QUARTER!
Reply to this comment on The pass interference call was legit; interference in fact was being called both ways the whole game, but the fumble overturn and pass completion calls after review were equally outrageous, the former particularly being called out on air by both announcers. Plain and simply, the Pirates undeniably got screwed out of a win by incompetent officiating in Tulsa. This is two weeks in a row now that Ws got stolen from ECU, the last one due to a bogus Celebrity Virus test result for Ahlers.
On the upside, starting wIth the Navy game, the defense is light years beyond where they’ve been in years. On the other side, Ahlers and his receiving weapons, especially Snead, were lights out, and Harris has developed into a major weapon out of the backfield. The OL is gelling big time. Houston and his crew deserve great credit for the turnaround happening in Greenville.
Reply to this comment on Houston is such a solid man and coach! Head up, you are on the way for sure. Total support for you and this team! Love the effort, wins will come.
And old wise coach once said in a rebuild, you lose big, you lose little, you win little and then you win big. Given the circumstances of this week and the opponent, couldn't be more proud. Deserved to win that one.
Improvement is evident. Culture is obvious. Just the entire organization is leaps and bounds above where it was. Go Pirates!!
Reply to this commentApparent false positive becomes negative for ECU
onYesterday's storyline is that the Pirates left too many red zone points on the field in the first half; HA's absence was the difference. MG played as you might expect for a freshman, skittishly, too quick to give up on pocket protection when it was there, but he also showed flashes of promise.
The OL, Harris and the d on the whole were definite bright spots; now they just need to get the dubs.
This false positive Celebrity Virus testing problem is total b. s.; Houston & co. work WAY too hard to be done in by what absolutely should be an entirely avoidable outside, arbitrary, erroneous factor.
OK, so we've agreed as a society to let the Celebrity Virus run our lives, effectively treating everyone like they're equally vulnerable (and yes, I know it's as much about the contagion factor as the actual virus, but still...); are there no allowances in the protocols for the not uncommon false positives?!! ...cannot imagine what it was like to be in in HA's shoes watching the proceedings yesterday.
Reply to this comment on Extremely happy for ECU's first win. I knew we had a chance too beat SFU, but had no idea that the game would go as well as it did. Feel really sick that I was unable to see the game and had to get details on Sunday morning.
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