Pirates in a routine — sort of — with another Thursday nighter

East Carolina interim coach and defensive coordinator Blake Harrell explained the difference between consecutive Saturday games compared to back-to-back Thursday night games as the Pirates are dealing with at the moment.ECU downed visiting Florida Atlantic, 49-14, last week on Thursday night and are in the midst of preparing for an American Athletic Conference matchup at Tulsa this Thursday night (7:30 p.m., ESPN).

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“Good to be back in another game week, right back at it without a bye week here,” Harrell said at his news conference on Monday. “In some ways, you did have seven days, but in some ways, it’s a short week. Coming off a Thursday night game, Friday is a wash. We met and did winners dinner on Friday. Saturday was our required day off of the week.

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“Then practice (Sunday) afternoon, practice again (Monday) morning. We’re right back into game mode. Today was a Wednesday-type practice for us. Situational football, third down football. Then tomorrow will be more a Thursday, clean it up, focused Thursday type practice.

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“Then a walkthrough Wednesday, which will be a Friday, and then get on the plane. You get to this time of year when you got a back-to-back Thursday game. In those Thursday games, they can throw you off a little bit what day of the week it is. The Pirates are focused on the task at hand.

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“Fired up for Tulsa, going 1-0 this week,” Harrell said. “As we talked in the locker room the other night, the 1-0 means something extra special this week. It’s not just about getting to six, but it happens to be getting a sixth this week. It happens to be what six wins means for this program, for these seniors and the players in our locker room.”The Pirates, 5-4 overall and 3-2 in the AAC become bowl eligible with a win over the Golden Hurricane (3-6, 1-4).

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“Obviously, we want to go win out, win a bowl game, and all that,” Harrell said. “But as we’ve been preaching for the last three weeks, you can’t worry about two weeks from now. You got to worry about today. You’ve got to worry about practice this morning, having a great lift, going to class, winning the day there, coming back fpr meetings this afternoon nnd winning the day there.

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“It’s always about what’s in front of us now. Right now, our opponent is Tulsa. It’s the biggest game of the year because it’s the next game. It’s the one we have this week. That’s how we’re always going to focus on things throughout this program. It’s going to be about the next opponent — the biggest game of the year.”

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The Pirates are favored by two touchdowns.

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“We’re not ever going to overlook anybody,” Harrell said. “It’s always going to be the biggest game of the year, most important game of the year because it’s the next one. It’s a chance to get a win. You only get so many chances to do that, so many opportunities.

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“We’re going to make sure we take full advantage of that. Our guys have been locked in, on a mission. Just really proud of them, the way they’re attacking this thing and the way they go about their business. They keep everything right in front of them and focus on the day. Just proud of those guys for doing that.”

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Tulsa bye week

The Pirates have had mixed results this year with extra time to prepare. Two weeks lead time was followed by a 45-24 loss at unbeaten Army on Oct. 19. With five extra days to get ready for FAU, ECU had a dominant performance.

Tulsa last played on Nov. 2 in a 59-21 setback at Alabama Birmingham.

Harrell said the situation is what it is. It’s up to the Pirates to be ready.

“We talked about it this morning,” Harrell said. “We talked about, ‘Hey, we had practice yesterday afternoon.’ We obviously didn’t want to practice on Sunday morning, but you practice yesterday afternoon, turn around, quick practice this morning. Nobody cares. Nobody cares if you have a quick turnaround. Nobody cares if they have a bye week. Nobody cares if it’s on another Thursday game. Hey, we get to have a Thursday game.

“We get to go play it this week. That’s more of the mindset we take. I did think coming off a bye for us, we had 12 days going into FAU, had a chance to get fresh. But that’s the big thing right now.

“You’ve just got to keep your players fresh mentally and physically, so they can go play on Thursday night. After this, when you get nine days, you get a chance to catch a breath a little bit. But we can’t worry about the things we can’t control. It’s always control the controllables. Right now, you got to take advantage of each and every minute with urgency, intent, and purpose to go get a win this week.”

Deep passes

Michigan State transfer Katin Houser has thrown five scoring passes in each of the games since Harrell took over for Mike Houston.

“I think that’s a really good job of Katin and those receivers doing a really good job of hitting balls down the field and taking advantage of it. I think Tulsa flies around, plays really hard, some cover three, some man coverage there, four-man front. … They’re going to play hard. We’ve got to make sure that it’s more about us, and that’s what we talk about.

“I couldn’t tell you who’s calling the plays this week. Is it Coach (Steve) Spurrier (Jr., offensive coordinatpr) ? Is it the head coach (Kevin Wilson)? Who’s going to play quarterback? What exactly they’re going to do on defense with a bye week? They’re going to tweak it a little bit.

“We tell our players, Yeah, we respect the heck out of our opponent. They’re a good football team. But it’s more about us and how we go about our business and approaching each and every day. That’s been our main focus.”

Taking effort on the road — with advice from Ruff

Harrell wants the effort and execution that characterized the recent wins at home to be duplicated Thursday night on the road at Tulsa.

“It’s a home game, away game – you still got to make sure we’re bringing that same effort, same energy, staying together, doing the things we need to do to win a football game,” Harrell; said. “I thought last Thursday, you worry about we come off Temple and we had such great energy on the sideline, and I was worried about going to game two. We’d lose a little energy there. I talked to Coach Ruffin McNeill during the bye week, and he talked to me about that.

“I was like, ‘Hey, Coach, How do you maintain this?’ He talked to me about some of those things. Then we got off the phone. He called me right back. He said, ‘Hey, I forgot the most important thing.’ We had a great conversation about a lot of different things, about Pirate Nation and just our team and different stuff. He said, ‘I forgot the most important thing. Just continue to be yourself.’

“That’s what we’re going to continue to do. It doesn’t matter, home game, away game. We’re going to go attack this thing, continue to be us, and make sure we’re ready to ride.”

Value of player participation

Harrell was able to get a lot of players into the Homecoming game, a factor that boosts team morale.

“It’s so huge in a lot of ways,” Harrell said. “It’s so big for your locker room. I think 30-something guys played defensively, a bunch of guys played offensively. Every guy feels like, Hey, he contributed in that game. He was in Dowdy in front of Pirate Nation, and he contributed to a win.

“Now if it’s 20 snaps that he got or 10 snaps that young man go, that can help him build on for the future. He got game reps instead of practice reps. Those are huge. So that was good to see.

“At the end of the third quarter there, we had a discussion with the offensive coaches. We’re going to run the ball, get to the fourth quarter. And Coach (John David) Baker (offensive coordinator) said, ‘if we would go ahead and slide the second team offensive line in, get some of those guys in.’ I said, ‘Let’s wait a series.’ … I didn’t want to get sloppy in the fourth quarter. We played really well. And I said, we’ll do it the next series. I didn’t realize we’re getting ready to go on a 16-play drive and go stick one in the end zone.

“And then FAU held the ball for about another 15 plays there. So they eat up almost the fourth quarter. I think we only had three possessions in the second half. But it was really good to get those guys in at the end of the day.”

Defensive coordinator, offensive awareness

Harrell was asked about his take on the potential of the offense from his viewpoint as defensive coordinator before his role was expanded to include the head coaching responsibilities.

“I just talked to the guys about this,” Harrell said. “Their effort, our energy, and our mindset right now is the biggest key. All those things are in the right direction. Really the execution piece and converting this or doing those little things, until you’re playing with great effort and you have that extra gear and you’re playing with that mindset and that confidence.

“Some of those things, they aren’t as big. But now that you have those things, now you can focus on, Hey, don’t take a false step here, or cut off the right foot, all those types of things.

“Offensively, they’re just hitting on those things and playing with a lot of confidence. Once a football team is rolling with some confidence, you see big plays happening on both sides of the ball.

“That’s what’s happening offensively right now. They’re rolling. They’ve got things going. The other thing is going on is, now both sides of the ball have confidence in each other. Hey, offense has the defense’s back, defense has the offense’s back. Special teams goes down and makes a play. So all three phases are rolling together. And that fourth phase, the sideline is right in there as well.”

Tulsa quarterback

Kirk Francis has completed 59 percent of his passes for Tulsa for 1,249 yards with seven TDs and five interceptions.

“Coach Wilson is a former offensive line coach, so they do a really good job running the football,” Harrell said. “They’re going to find different ways to run duo, and counters and stuff like that in there. But the pass game is a little bit more just air-raid like as far as, we call it, choice.

“The wide outs have a choice to go deep, or if you’re on top, they’re going to sit down. I think Francis does a really nice job of throwing those guys open. He’ll take off, and all of a sudden, he’s going to sit it down, and then he throws it where your defenders can’t get to it. He does a really nice job of that.

“We can’t just drop in zones. We got to drop and actually match receivers. You almost have to have a defender under and over the top of a receiver, but at the same time doing a really good job in the pass rush and see if you can affect him there.

“I think when he gets his feet set back there, he’s really comfortable as a quarterback. When you make him move around, maybe you have a better chance to get him off the spot, and off his tempo there.”

Enjoying new role

Harrell has new responsibilities, and he has enjoyed his expanded role.

“It’s been awesome,” Harrell said. “I’ve really enjoyed the last three weeks, and hopefully get an opportunity to do this for a long time. I just really love the men in our locker room, our coaching staff, and the way everybody’s going about their business and handling their business. It’s showed up on game day.

“You find yourself watching all phases more, watching more practice film. I tell you what it does, too. You see certain things, maybe Tulsa’s defense is doing something that you want to make sure we’re not giving away or vice versa.

“Or I go talk to the offensive coaches like, ‘Hey, what you did there really makes it tough on the defense.’ This is how the defense looks at it from a perspective there.

“Have you ever thought about this? We’re feeding each other out there, feeding back and forth off each other, and what will give us a chance to win, an opportunity to win. Just really enjoying every day. But our mindset right now is like, ‘How can we take the next step, get the next win, and go beat a Tulsa team out there?'”

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