Some things matter more than football.

East Carolina coach Mike Houston hails from Frankin, NC, a town in the western part of the state about 75 minutes southwest of Asheville, which recently experienced catastrophic flooding from Hurricane Helene.

The last question at Houston’s news conference after a 30-20 home win over Texas-San Antonio in ECU’s American Athletic Conference opener Saturday was about the devastation in his native region. The Pirate coach shared that his mother and sister were safe.

He led off his remarks at a media gathering on  Monday with thoughts on the area where he grew up in Macon County and played football at Frankin High School.

“Before we get started, I know we talked about it a little bit the other night and still have a lot of thoughts and prayers with everyone in western North Carolina,” Houston said. “I’ve talked with a lot of family and friends over the past several days and it’s pretty devastating — some of the things that they’re going through in the Asheville, Chimney Rock and Boone areas.

“You’re talking about a situation that’s not going to get better any time soon. It’s probably going to be weeks for some families for water and power. Then there are a lot of families who lost their homes. There are a lot of people in our state that are going through some pretty tough situations right now. Pray for safety for the workers and everyone involved.”

The death toll had reached 30 in Buncombe County on Monday with more unaccounted for.

Some things are bigger than football. Sometimes it takes dire circumstances to remind us.

Irony

The 1999 ECU football team was recognized at the close of the first quarter on Saturday, One of the achievements of that group was a 27-23 comeback win over Miami of Florida in Raleigh.  The game was moved to higher ground because of flooding from Hurricane Floyd in Greenville.

The gridiron alumni of 25 years ago saw a stirring triumph over the Roadrunners that put the Pirates at 3-2 going into an AAC matchup at Charlotte (2-3, 1-0 AAC) on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. (ESPNU).

“We had a really good weekend in Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium this past weekend,” Houston said. “Really great crowd for family weekend. Appreciate Pirate Nation showing up, I think 41,000-plus. Really energetic stadium. Appreciate the student body again. The Boneyard was full again this week. Created a great atmosphere for the game.

“Very good UTSA team. They were every bit the challenge we thought they would be. I thought we showed some growth in a lot of areas. We still haven’t played our best, but I think continuing to progress and play better and did a lot of really good things.

“Obviously, we were able to do the things we needed to do in the second half, particularly the fourth quarter, to win the ball game. The biggest improvement after two tough, close losses to be able to win a solid game at home against one of the better teams in our league is a good weekend for us. 1-0 in the conference. That was our goal this past week.

“Another challenging game on the road this weekend against a much-improved Charlotte football team who got their own big win (21-20) down at Rice this weekend after they trailed the majority of the game. They were able to come back and win that game to go 1-0 in the league as well, so that creates a big matchup this weekend down in Charlotte.”

Thoughts on new offense

Houston brought in offense coordinator John David Baker from Ole Miss after a 2-10 season in 2023.

“I’ve had multiple meetings with Coach Baker this morning,” Houston said. “You do have to remind yourself at times, not making an excuse or anything just being real, that you have new coaches coaching together.

“You’ve got a lot of new players playing together, and we’re seeing some growing pains from that. That being said, we did some really good things on Saturday. I think we saw some explosiveness from our offense. I think we saw some growing up.

“Down 13-3, to drive and get a score up before the half, come out get a three and out, score, and then score again that shows growth, especially in the third quarter there. The things that I continue to see that are we have to do a better job in the details as a coaching staff and make sure we get those little things ironed out because that’s where some of the issues are coming from.

“That was a very good front we faced, but we created some issues ourselves — just communication stuff. We’ve got to be better. We’ve got to do a better job of teaching it. We have to make sure we’re simple enough that we’re not overcomplicating things and allowing our kids to play fast.

“Same thing over at receiver, making sure that the players really understand exactly how we want things done, because I do not think we have played anywhere close to our best. I think we are playing better, but I think we still have huge room for improvement and a very high ceiling. … We’re in a really good place, I just want to continue to see us grow and improve.”

Defense without Revel

ECU  was one snap from a second half shutout on Saturday in its second game without skilled corner Shavon Revel Jr., who is sidelined for the season with a knee injury.

“I think you have to be happy,” Houston said. “I thought that Andrew Wilson;Lamp and Dontavious Nash were very solid on Saturday. They both were tested, and I thought they both responded. I thought Dontavius did a really good job a couple of times. The 50/50 balls when he was alone, the play down in the endzone I thought was a great play, to separate the hands.

“Lamp got a big interception there at the end of the third quarter. I think they’ve got to have confidence coming out of that game, especially Andrew. Dontavius has been with us. This is his second year, so he’s a little more established as far as being comfortable here. But I think with Andrew, he comes out of that game with a lot more confidence. I’m very pleased with how those two guys played.”

Running game

ECU had 62 yards rushing against UTSA, 60 of which  came from graduate senior running  back Rahjai Harris.

“I see us facing one of the better run defenses we’ve seen all year,” Houston said. “That had something to do with it. But it’s the other things I just talked about that didn’t help us any. Some communication stuff with how we’re identifying stuff.

“All being on the same page. We’ve got to clean that up, up front. Then the backs, just trusting some stuff. I think with the combination of both, we will improve. We’ve got another challenge this weekend, Charlotte plays the run very well, so hopefully, we can see some improvement this week and be much better this upcoming Saturday.”

Grading Garcia

Miami/Missouri transfer Jake Garcia completed 17 of 35 passes for 294 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions. He also had a 3-yard keeper for a score.

“The one underthrow he had Saturday to Winston (Wright Jr.), I just don’t think he got his feet set,” Houston said. “The other throws on Saturday, I thought were really good. The one to Anthony (Smith) we connected on. The one to Chase (Sowell) we connected on, and then the one to Kelan (Robinson) I thought was a really good throw. Kelan’s got to do a better job of getting the DB’s stacked and he’s either got to make the catch or draw the pass interference call.

“Yannick (Smith) had a really outstanding catch when he was being held. I thought that was a really good throw down the sideline. I agree there have been some balls he has underthrown, but you don’t want to overthrow a receiver so it’s a big timing thing. We want to continue to work on that and take advantage of the matchups that we have.”

Niners won in Greenville

Charlotte won the first football meeting with ECU, 10-7, last year in Greenville.

“The focus this week is going 1-0,” Houston said. “It’s a league game, an opportunity for us to get another league win, so that’s got to be our focus. Our focus has got to be on us so we can play better this week than we did last week, and I think we’ve got to have the right mindset going down there on the road.

“It’s hard to win on the road. It’s going to be packed. There are going to be a lot of ECU fans there so it’s going to be a great atmosphere to play in. I think we’ve just got to have a great week of practice and have a great mindset going down there.”

Third Down Defense

ECU yielded 13 of 17 third down conversions in a 35-24 loss at Liberty in Week Four.

The ratio dropped to  seven of 22 for UTSA.

“I think part of it is what we talked about … some new guys in the lineup being a lot more comfortable and just being really settled with the game plan,” Houston said. “I thought playing more people, which we want to continue to do, I thought we stayed fresh.

“I thought we played with a lot of energy and physicality. I showed a little cut-up to the team of the physicality that our defense played with Saturday is exactly what we want. We had great pursuit of the ball, but I thought we played with a different edge Saturday.

“I thought that impacted the receivers and quarterback in the fourth quarter. When you’re worried about who’s coming from where and the attitude they’re playing with, I think your hands get a little bit close to your chest and you drop some catches which we saw there in the third quarter.”

Confidence factor

Winning builds confidence.

“You’ve done it,” Houston said. “Certainly, we created some adversity. You’re sitting there getting ready to lose the lead. Our defense responded by getting the fourth down stop, then we were able to get the thing going back in our direction field position-wise to lengthen the lead.

“I think that whole sequence shows a lot of growth. I think the third quarter shows some character and growth in our offense. I think there are a lot of positives we can take from our win against a good football team.”

Purdie and Blake

Deshawn Purdie completed 10 of 15 for 183 yards at Rice, with two TDs, both to Omega Blake as the 49ers rallied after trailing, 10-0, at the half.

“O’Mega had a great game the other day,” Houston said. “That’s probably the difference in them winning and losing. That’s probably the one thing. They’ve been a little up and down since the injury to the starter. (Trexler) Ivey and Purdie both have shown flashes of playing really well.”

Ivey completed eight of 21 for 54 yards with a pick before Purdie subbed in.

“You look at the game the other night at Rice,” Houston said. “Ivey starts and plays the first half. Purdie comes in the second half and throws the ball very well down the field. I think that’s his strength, throwing the ball down the field. He threw two touchdowns to O’Mega and then the first down to O’Mega.

“Ivey is a veteran. He’s played a lot, good game manager. He does well with the football as far as taking care of it. I think their offensive line has improved this year. They have really good running backs and tight ends. They have O’Mega and some other guys that are good skill kids. The guy running and operating the offense is going to be key for them.”