East Carolina coach Mike Houston dissected a highly competitive 21-19 loss to visiting Appalachian State at his weekly news conference on Monday, before turning his attention to the challenge of facing Liberty (3-0) on the road this Saturday at 6 p.m. (ESPN+).

“Talking about the other night, we had a great college football game, great setting,” said the sixth-year Pirates coach. “The stadium was electric. Really appreciate the fans and how Pirate Nation showed up. Energized about this team. You saw two really good football teams go at it.

“Obviously, there were some big moments for both teams throughout the game. Tough to lose that one. I went back and I’ve watched the film multiple times now. At the end of the day, the players played really hard. I thought we competed well, very physical. We put ourselves in positions to make plays. We had guys int he right places. At the end of the day.”

The visitors faced a 16-0 deficit at the end of the first quarter, but closed the gap to 16-14 at the half.

“App made some plays when they had to, and we didn’t make some plays when we needed to,” Houston said. “You get in tight ball games against really good competition and a two-point game, that doesn’t take much. You have one play that goes a different direction and you’re sitting here talking about a win against one of the better teams on our schedule.

“Hats off to App Coach (Shawn) Clark and his bunch made the plays when they needed to win the ball game. We’ve got to work to improve so we’re making those plays, making those catches, those kicks. We’re getting the stops, but we certainly had our opportunities. Everybody saw it, and when you look back at the film you’ll see even more.

“The thing is, you’ve got to move on from it. We have a big ball game this week on the road against a very good Liberty team. I talked to the players yesterday about not letting that one beat you twice. You can’t carry that one into this week. It’s really a reset and getting back to 1-0. Certainly, we have a great opportunity coming up on Saturday night.”

Jake Garcia

ECU quarterback Jake Garcia had seven interceptions in a 2-0 start. He only had one pick against the Mountaineers, but it came with under five minutes to go at the Pirates 27-yard line. ECU did not get the ball back.

“We want him to play free and aggressive, and I thought he did a lot of good things the other night,” Houston said. “We have a lot of guys that have to help him out. A couple times we had mistakes by running backs. Young guys trying to get some playing time, and they made a mistake in protection and all of the sudden he’s pressured, or a mistake in a pass concept where their presence would have affected the defense and the windows he had to throw in.

“Obviously we had some guys that need to make a couple of catches. I think that he’s continuing to progress. We need to get everybody to do their job to help the team.”

JDB and finishing drives

Houston brought in new offensive coordinator John David Baker from Ole Miss.

“I think he’s done a good job in all the games of having a really good opening script from something he’s seen on film that he thinks we can capitalize on,” Houston said. “I spoke to a group of donors Friday afternoon and they asked if I had any wrinkles and I said, ‘Just make sure you’re awake on the third play of the game.’ ”

Garcia hit Winston Wright Jr. for a 65-yard touchdown on the third snap.

“We thought that we could get them and have a guy wide open which we did,” Houston said. “We caught them in a two-high defense and Winston did a great job with the run down the middle and Jake threw a great ball to him to start the game.

“We had other drives throughout the game. To start the second half we had a stop, took the ball and drove it deep into App territory. The big thing, when you look at our drives the other night, is we’ve got to start finishing drives better. We had the ball down deep in their territory a lot throughout the game and never could get it into the end zone again so that’s the big focus now, just finishing.”

Liberty’s defense

The Flames are allowing 19.3 points per game thus far.

“Very athletic defensive front,” Houston said. “They play four inside backers, a couple of guys outside that all can run. They have a very athletic defense and some guys that can really run back there. They played a lot of man coverage last year.

“They’ve mixed up their coverages a little bit this year, but you see a very sound group. They play very hard. It’s going to be a challenge on Saturday night.”

Cooley, Salter

Wake Forest transfer Quinton Cooley is averaging 88.7 yards per game rushing for Liberty and Kaiden Salter. who initially signed with Tennessee, is throwing for 242 yards per game.

“I think the big one is Salter,” Houston said. “He’s what makes their offense go. Cooley is a great player. We’re expecting him to play Saturday night so unless we find out something different, that’s what we’ll expect.

“The quarterback is really the guy that makes them go. I think he does a great job managing the game and doesn’t put the ball at risk. When you’re running a lot of option type stuff, sometimes you can put the ball at risk but obviously he is a good operator.

“Cooley benefits from the standpoint of he’s a very talented player, but then you have other things that the defense has to account for. They can’t just focus on the dive back. That opens some things up. We’ve got to do a good job of taking care of all three phases.”

Coach Chadwell

Liberty coach Jamey Chadwell was 13-1 in his first season with the Flames. following a successful stint at Coastal Carolina.

“You can always count on them being a hard-nosed bunch and he’s done a good job everywhere he’s been,” Houston said. “We’ve faced him at multiple stops. They’re always going to be able to run the ball effectively. They’ll have a passing game off that.

“They’re going to be sound in all phases. He obviously has a very talented roster so the combination of the job that they do and the talent that they have makes them a formidable foe. I think Coach (Bill) Durkin does a great job with the offensive line. He’s one of the better offensive line coaches in the country and he’s got this bunch playing really, really well.”

Road Games

ECU is 1-0 on the road this season with a 20-14 win at Old Dominion.

“I think playing on the road is a challenge every week,” Houston said. “We’ve got a tremendous challenge this week with Liberty. We had a tremendous challenge last week at home. You’ve got to have the road warrior mentality. You’re not going to have Pirate Nation sitting up there dominating the stadium.

“I have no doubt we’re going to have plenty of Purple and Gold in the stands up there, but we’ve got to go in there and understand that they haven’t lost a game at home in two years, so they’ve protected home turf pretty well. You’ve got to go up there with the mindset you’ve got to find a way to overcome that.”

Former Pirate at Liberty

Linebacker Teylor Jackson saw action in 41 games at ECU from 2020 to 2023 before joining the Flames. The changes in ECU’s offense will keep Jackson from being plugged in to the new scheme.

“We changed all our signals after spring practice, so everything is new there,” Houston said. “Teylor is a smart player and knows our personnel very well, so I’m sure he’s able to help them as far as a scouting report.”