East Carolina has no one to blame but itself for all the opposing receivers it has left wide open, its inability to run the ball and most of the other self-inflicted wounds it has suffered during the first three games of the 2017 football season.
But in a statement of how bad things are going for the Pirates, they can’t even catch a break with the things that are out of their control.
That became painfully evident last week when the American Athletic Conference adjusted the schedules of several schools to make up for postponements caused by Hurricane Irma. Now instead of coming up on a strategically-timed and badly-needed bye week, coach Scottie Montgomery and his wounded team will be heading to East Hartford for an AAC game against Connecticut on Sunday.
In one sense, the change could turned out to be advantageous in that ECU will now begin its league schedule against the team picked to finish last in the East instead of South Florida, the team that was the unanimous choice to win the division.
The Pirates will still play USF at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium on Sept. 30.
While their chances of actually winning a game and getting off to a 1-0 start in the conference are much more realistic against the rebuilding Huskies than the 21st-ranked Bulls, the mid-season schedule change presents ECU far more disadvantages than advantages.
Most of them deal with the Pirates’ readiness to play, no matter what the opponent.
There’s a reason Montgomery was so excited when he learned about his team’s early week off. He made specific mention of it back on media day in August when asked what he learned most about his rookie season.
“The best thing that happened to us last year was for me to be able to see what it’s like to have to go play N.C. State, South Carolina, Virginia Tech (in consecutive weeks),” he said. “Right then, immediately, I knew what it was going to take for us to do what was most important to us, the AAC title.
“There was a lot that came through some of those games that we just couldn’t get guys back and every time we tried to get them back they weren’t quite ready.”
Having a bye in Week 4, immediately following physically demanding nonconference tests against West Virginia and Virginia Tech, had the Pirates set up perfectly to get rested and healthy for the start of conference play.
Instead they’ll head to UConn uncertain of the status of nearly their entire secondary with Tim Irvin, Korrin Wiggins and Devon Sutton all limping off the field with injuries suffered during Saturday’s 64-17 pounding at the hands of the Hokies and another defensive back — Colby Gore — still involved in ECU’s concussion protocol.
Quarterback Thomas Sirk, who was also in the concussion protocol, figures to be available for Sunday’s game, which is being played on Sunday not Saturday because of stadium availability. But according to Montgomery, he’s already been adversely affected by the schedule change.
“The schedule change had a little bit to do with it,” the coach said after holding Sirk out against Virginia Tech as a precaution, a fact that turned out to be relevant because of starter Gardner Minshew’s struggles over the final three quarters.
“If we’d have had a two-week deal, he might have played. As soon as I heard that the potential of getting dinged would hurt him even worse, that changed things a little bit.”
It was the prudent move.
Better to have a healthy Sirk available for a game that, theoretically, represents a fresh start than one in which the Pirates probably weren’t going to win anyway because of the way their defense was giving up points.
As “difficult” as things have been to this point, to quote a term used by chancellor Cecil Staton this week in his appeal to ECU fans, things won’t look quite so bad if the Pirates can beat UConn and find themselves perched atop the division standings for at least a week.
That may not happen and even if it does, the prosperity isn’t likely to last long.
But why rush things?
There’s plenty enough time left in the season for anger, angst and the calling for people’s jobs if the team doesn’t start to show improvement and the losses keep mounting. Until then, why not cling to a little hope while there’s still a little hope on which to cling?
Ken Evans says
September 18, 2017 at 7:42 amIt looks like the hiring of the Athletic Director and the Football Coach are going to set the athletic department to levels not seen since the John Thompson era. That is very depressing to even think about how long before ECU football becomes competitive again
The Kidd says
September 18, 2017 at 8:48 amWith Skip, I think it was about 4 seasons after JT that we won the first title. With Bill Lewis (and Steve Logan), I believe it was about the same amount of time after Art Baker that we won the Peach Bowl.
Mike Wilson says
September 18, 2017 at 9:00 amThe Kidd
You right about title but you have to have winning seasons. Skip Holtz first season, he went 5-7 (one game from bowl eligible). That team lost 3 games with a margin of less then 10 points. That’s a building team or season. Now what we doing now with Coach Mo is nothing.
The Kidd says
September 18, 2017 at 9:45 amYep. With JT, I heard before the first kickoff that he was in over his head. With this team I don’t hear anything. I did hear that Rick Smith made a comment after the first game that everyone knew this was coming. That the guys didn’t want to get hit or something. Anyone else hear this? What do you think about the tech receiver saying he was surprised to see he was given a 10 yard cushion?
Mike Wilson says
September 18, 2017 at 1:50 pmWhen Rick Smith step down from coaching, I knew something was up. Coach Smith is a great Coach. He knows football very well.
No surprised about the 10 yard cushion because our kids lack confidence. Losing does do that to some players or scared to make a mistake.
Sports reporter stated ECU isnt playing “competitive coverage”
Richard Edwards says
September 21, 2017 at 11:46 amI came very close to not renewing my season tickets this year, but I decided to renew them on the hope that we would see some improvement and all of the encouraging stories about new recruits and transfer, etc.
Hate to be sour grapes, but it looks like two really bad hires have been made – the AD and football coach. I realize that we are not big money programs like most SEC teams, who can hire and fire short term, but IT IS REALLY IMPORTANT TO MAKE GOOD HIRES!!!
Ray Brown says
September 18, 2017 at 10:30 amThis year’s losses are tied directly the failed recruiting of ECU in the last few years of the prior coaches tenure. Not that he didn’t recruit some good athletes, but the fact that too few were college students and ultimately failed school work or simply dropped out because they could not keep up. One only needs to review the recruited classes and how many of them have left for reasons beyond any coaching staffs ability to retain.
When Smith said “everyone knew this was coming” he was talking about our current coaching staff itself who also knew.
It will take ECU three to five years to rebuild D1 players across the board no matter who is coaching.
Sad, but true.
Go Pirates!
Big D says
September 18, 2017 at 10:36 amAt a certain point when nothing is working, like giving up 600+ yards a game. Creativity is required. Like blitzing on every down, or switching positions and moving players from offense to defense. Going for it on 4th downs and using trick plays. I think Montgomery lacks imagination and is too old school to turn this around this year or even in the next few.
Richard Edwards says
September 21, 2017 at 11:51 amYou are so right Big D. Skip and Logan were quick to recognize a problem and make quick adjustments. They did not win the big games based on superior recruits. It was GOOD coaching.
Mike Wilson says
September 18, 2017 at 1:37 pmI stated this about 100 times, its not the players but the system. We landed ten grad players from major universities. I haven’t seen much of an impact from them. Its the system and not the players. Recruiting is a major issue due to the fact Coach Mo doesn’t take care of home. Eastern North Carolina kids are not signing to ECU. Logan landed every kid from Eastern NC.
Richard Edwards says
September 19, 2017 at 11:04 amSomeone please tell me why all I read during the spring and summer was the great talent that ECU has recruited, etc., but they need to get some experience, etc. One of the truly great things that a coach like Logan did, is he developed talent to its fullest potential. Can we hire Logan back? We desperately need him or someone like him. NO ONE ever did more with less.
Mike Wilson says
September 19, 2017 at 11:43 amYou totally right. The only thing bad about Logan was the relationship with the NFL scouts.
Mike Wilson says
September 18, 2017 at 2:09 pmEveryone lets close our eyes and clear our minds. Lets count to 10. Now we realize that we got our butt kick by VA TECH & WV combine 123 points to 37. Please tell me, why he still coaching for ECU?