Bonesville: The Authoritative Independent Voice of East Carolina

News & Features from ECU, the AAC and Beyond

  • Home
  • News & Features
  • Recruiting
  • Photos
  • Audio
  • Roundup
  • Comments
  • Legacy Archives

• ECU 2021-22 Hoops Schedule
• ECU 2022 Baseball Schedule
• ECU 2022 Football Schedule
• Recruiting: Football • Hoops

From the Anchor Desk
Defense groping for answers

October 3, 2017 By Brian Bailey 1 Comment

Tweet
Share
Share
Pin

East Carolina head coach Scottie Montgomery set an unofficial record on Monday with a news conference that lasted all of seven minutes and 11 seconds. That’s 431 seconds by my count. That included his opening comments on the South Florida game, a preview of Temple and questions from the media.

Quite frankly, as a media member, I’m not sure what else can be asked.

This is a program that has a defense, at this time, that doesn’t give this team an opportunity to win a football game.

That can certainly change, but as of right now this tumultuous season continues to spiral downwards. Only a shanked kick at Connecticut stands between the Pirates’ 1-4 record and a likely 0-5 start, as the Huskies would have had all of the momentum in that overtime that never happened.

ECU coach Scottie Montgomery roams the Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium sidelines before the Pirates’ AAC contest with USF on Saturday. (Photo by Bonesville Staff > View Photo Gallery…)

ECU continues as the nation’s 129th-ranked team in total defense. That’s 129th out of 129 teams.

I’ve asked Coach Montgomery about his defense twice since Saturday’s 61-31 loss to USF.

“I just think that the biggest thing that we have got to go out on the practice field and do is to execute, like I said, the junction points,” said Montgomery. “We are starting to get guys exactly where they are supposed to be. We had one-on-one situations on the perimeter, we had one-on-one situations on the inside, and they ran us over a couple of times. But I think that if we fundamentally get in better positions to tackle them it would have been different.”

The USF success on the Pirate defense doesn’t concern me as much as the UConn success from last Sunday. The Huskies simply were not that good offensively, but still rang up almost 600 yards of offense and certainly had a chance to steal away a victory late.

Coach Mo sort of agreed.

“I really do think that the speed, the overall team speed of USF, put us on our heels when we shouldn’t have been,” he said. “We should have been much more aggressive. What we are going to do in practice is try and give our defense as many great looks at speed, even from our No. 1 receiver, No. 2 receiver and No. 3 receiver. We are going to put as much speed as we can on the field and put them in space to make sure they can get to the spot.”

Speed shouldn’t be an issue this week against Temple.

The Owls have a new coach in Geoff Collins who is working to spread things out. Currently he doesn’t have anywhere near the same type of speed that USF has. Neither did UConn.

Montgomery was quick to point out that several Pirate defenders played well against USF. He said they played the way he remembers what Pirate football was like when he was a player at Duke.

“Defensively, some of those guys that show that toughness, the bright spot on our defense, were Aaron Ramseur, Alex Turner and Colby Gore,” said Montgomery. “I thought their speed placed our guys and it shouldn’t have. Our guys were on their heels, which made us a little bit more vulnerable to cut blocking. I thought the biggest story on our defense was at the junction points and usually all of them are junction points of cut blocks.”

Montgomery was asked about any Pirates that weren’t giving their best efforts. Coach Mo deflected the question away, saying he was only emphasizing the positives.

“It’s not more of a concern about the effort of others,” he said. “It’s more about me shining the light on guys that played with the true Pirate spirit. The ones that when I came and played against these guys [ECU] in 1999, those guys that were flying around. They may have not been the tallest or the biggest, and I want to recognize those guys because I thought that when they went against the opponent across from them every single snap, they tried to dominate the opponent.”

I believe one of the other disappointing parts of this season is that the Pirates aren’t playing tough in the fourth quarter. Even when they have been outmatched in talent in former years, ECU teams always played tough late.

There are certainly several winnable games left on the schedule. The offense can play with just about all of the teams left on the Pirate slate.

The defense has to turn the page and improve in all phases.

ECU 2017 Football Schedule & Scores

Related

Tweet
Share
Share
Pin

Filed Under: News & Features

Comments

  1. Richard says

    October 3, 2017 at 11:22 am

    I believe Brian Bailey hit the nail in this article. This is exactly what I have observed in all of the games that I have seen – and I’ve seen theme all. We have rarely had fantastic defenses, but when we have had good defense, we have won games. We have a winnable game this week – I hope lots of people show up and we get a win. GGOOO…PPIRATES!!!

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recent News & Features

Baseball News
Pirates walk off in 10th for sweep

Baseball News
Pirates continue roll

Baseball News
Pirates overtake Houston for 12th straight win

VIEW FROM THE EAST
Pirates grind to success

Baseball News
ECU edges Campbell, 7-6

Baseball News
Pirates clinch AAC crown

Baseball News
ECU captures series, boosts conference lead

Baseball News
Pirates take series opener with Bulls

ECU Recruiting News
Pirates aim high for interior line talent

VIEW FROM THE EAST
Pirates prevail at less than best

More News & Features

ECU Schedules

  • ECU 2021 Football Schedule
  • ECU 2020-21 Basketball Schedule
  • ECU 2021 Baseball Schedule

ECU Recruiting

  • Football Recruiting Class of 2021
  • Football Recruiting Class of 2020
  • Football Recruiting Class of 2019
  • Football Recruiting Class of 2018
  • Football Recruiting Class of 2017
  • Hoops Recruiting Class of 2021-22
  • Hoops Recruiting Class of 2020-21
  • Hoops Recruiting Class of 2019-20
  • Hoops Recruiting Class of 2018-19
  • Hoops Recruiting Class of 2017-18
  • Hoops Recruiting Class of 2016-17
Tweets by bonesville

Past Football Schedules

  • ECU 2020 Football Schedule
  • ECU 2019 Football Schedule
  • ECU 2018 Football Schedule
  • ECU 2017 Football Schedule
  • ECU 2016 Football Schedule
  • ECU 2015 Football Schedule
  • ECU 2014 Football Schedule
  • ECU 2013 Football Schedule
  • ECU 2012 Football Schedule
  • ECU 2011 Football Schedule
  • ECU 2010 Football Schedule
  • ECU 2009 Football Schedule
  • ECU 2008 Football Schedule
  • ECU 2007 Football Schedule
  • ECU 2006 Football Schedule
  • ECU 2005 Football Schedule
  • ECU 2004 Football Schedule
  • ECU 2003 Football Schedule
  • ECU 2002 Football Schedule
  • ECU 2001 Football Schedule
  • ECU 2000 Football Schedule
  • Historical Schedules

Past Basketball Schedules

  • ECU 2019-20 Basketball Schedule
  • ECU 2018-19 Basketball Schedule
  • ECU 2017-18 Basketball Schedule
  • ECU 2016-17 Basketball Schedule
  • ECU 2000-2015 Basketball Archives

Past Baseball Schedules

  • ECU 2020 Baseball Schedule
  • ECU 2019 Baseball Schedule
  • ECU 2018 Baseball Schedule
  • ECU 2017 Baseball Schedule
  • ECU 2016 Baseball Schedule
  • ECU 2015 Baseball Schedule
  • ECU 2001-2014 Baseball Archives

Recruiting Class Profiles

ECU Recruiting News
Pirates aim high for interior line talent

ECU Recruiting News
Well stocked Pirates enter fray for O-linemen

ECU Recruiting News
ECU faces uphill battle in hunt for tight ends

ECU Recruiting News
Pirates cast wide net for wide receivers

ECU Recruiting News
Loaded Pirates still courting running backs

ECU Recruiting News
ECU targets quarterbacks of the future

AAC Football Recruiting News
Transfer portal reshaping AAC football programs

Class of 2022 Defensive Report Card
ECU’s former weak link becoming big strength (updated)

Class of 2022 Offensive Report Card
Help is on the way for blocking corps (update 3)

American Athletic Conference Recruiting
Bearcats lead AAC’s early signing push

Class of 2022 In-depth Analysis
Surprises, depth highlight early recruiting haul

VIEW FROM THE EAST
‘What a difference a year makes’

Football Recruiting Report
Prolific receiver Webb may enroll early

Football Recruiting Report
Another gifted running back headed to ECU

Football Recruiting Report
ECU wins pledge from hotly recruited RB Gunn

Football Recruiting Report
Coveted lineman Sacra may enroll early

Football Recruiting Report
Pirates lure a star from DB factory

VIEW FROM THE EAST
Harrell on quest for unanimous effort

Football Recruiting Report
West Craven star Mims sticking close to home

VIEW FROM THE EAST
Pirates ready for preseason camp

Football Recruiting Report
Lineman built his future during COVID layoff

Football Recruiting Report
Norcross star on track for early enrollment

VIEW FROM THE EAST
Pirates pulling from portal

Football Recruiting Report
Big man Allen tapping into ‘nasty side’

Football Recruiting Report
ECU gets one of NC’s top D-line prospects

Recent Web Roundups

GREG VACEK'S WEB ROUNDUP
Sunday, May 22, 2022

GREG VACEK'S WEB ROUNDUP
Saturday, May 21, 2022

GREG VACEK'S WEB ROUNDUP
Friday, May 20, 2022

Writer Archives

  • Bonesville Staff
  • Brian Bailey
  • Sammy Batten
  • Bethany Bradsher
  • Brett Friedlander
  • Al Myatt
  • NFF
  • Greg Vacek
  • Danny Whitford

Recent Web Roundups

GREG VACEK'S WEB ROUNDUP
Sunday, May 22, 2022

GREG VACEK'S WEB ROUNDUP
Saturday, May 21, 2022

GREG VACEK'S WEB ROUNDUP
Friday, May 20, 2022

GREG VACEK'S WEB ROUNDUP
Thursday, May 19, 2022

GREG VACEK'S WEB ROUNDUP
Wednesday, May 18, 2022

GREG VACEK'S WEB ROUNDUP
Monday, May 16, 2022

GREG VACEK'S WEB ROUNDUP
Sunday, May 15, 2022

More Web Roundups

Copyright © 2022 Bonesville.net · Website by Seaport Webworks. · Log in · Privacy Policy