East Carolina football coach Blake Harrell emphasized the need for better consistency after the Pirates slipped to 0-2 with a 27-24 loss at home to Appalachian State on Saturday.
ECU was coming off a 48-10 setback at Alabama, which is No. 10 in this week’s Associated Press poll.
The Pirates were favored by a touchdown over the Mountaineers, but never recovered from a missed 33-yard field goal on the first series and a turnover at the ECU 12 that allowed the visitors to go ahead to stay early in the second quarter.
Old Dominion (1-1) will host the Pirates on Saturday at 6 p.m. (ESPN+). The Monarchs were giving 2.5 points on the early line despite a 44-21 loss at Virginia Tech on Saturday.
ECU had 187 yards rushing in its first home game after being limited to a net of two yards by the Crimson Tide.
“We’ve seen flashes, but we’ve got to be more consistent from down to down to down,” Harrell said. ” … We’ve got to keep going forward. Two steps forward, three steps back. We can’t let that happen.
“We’ve got to be more consistent as a football team. We’ve got to be more consistent as a program throughout a game.
“We have a chance to go up 14-0 early in the game, we’ve got to make it 14-0. We can’t be, ‘Hey, we missed a field goal. We got seven. Now we go turn the ball over, let them back in it. We let them off the hook on third down.’
“Those are the steps back I’m talking about. If we just go down, we put the ball on the end zone first drive, put the ball in the end zone second drive, get another three and out. … Think about the pressure that puts on the other sideline.
“We just reversed that and it was our own fault. … Give the other team credit, but we’re in control of that. We’ve got to take care of business there.”
Quarterback competition continues
The Pirates will continue to evaluate Mitch Griffis and Emory Williams at quarterback.
Griffis played the whole way against Appalachian. He completed 21 of 37 for 230 yards with two TDs and one interception. He lost the ball on a strip sack that led to the go-ahead score for the Mountaineers.
“Mitch plays the game one way,” Harrell said. “He’s foot on the gas, full speed ahead. … I feel comfortable with that, feel comfortable that we have another guy, too. Emory Williams will do the same thing. He’ll play the game the same way, full throttle ahead. That kind of gives you comfort knowing that you’ve got two guys that can help you be successful.”
The duo will continue to compete.
“Mitch and Emory continue to work their tails off, continue to support each other,” Harrell said. “Mitch has obviously got to do a better job at quarterback. Emory is earning his opportunity, too, and I think it’s coming. We’ll see how this week plays out.
“I really enjoy being around both young men. You have to play who you think is going to give you an opportunity to win. We talk about that every week. Every week there is competition within our position rooms.
“If one guy doesn’t want to do his job, the next guy does, that’s the guy that’s going to move forward and we’ll kind of see how that one plays out and see who gives us the best opportunity to win this week.”
Third downs
ECU was 0-for-9 on the third down conversions at Alabama. That figure improved to 2-for-13 against Appalachian, leaving considerable room for improvement.
“The biggie is to stay out of third and long,” Harrell said. “The first third down of the game was third and one and we got that, no problem. The other third down we converted was a third and three.
“The third and eights, the third and tens, the third and twelves, we’ve got to stay out of. We need to stay on schedule. That’s the biggest key to third downs.”
Third and long is desirable on defense. ASU was 5-for-15 on third downs.
“The biggest key defensively to winning third downs is to keep them off schedule,” Harrell said. “We’ve got to do a better job of that.”
Regional rivalry
ECU will meet a regional rival for the second straight week.
“Regional games have kind of lost their importance in college football because of your mega conferences, so to speak, or your big conferences spread across the country,” Harrell said. “The regional rival games … are huge for fan bases, huge for recruiting.
“Our fans can travel there. We’re going to recruit Virginia. We’ve got a couple kids committed from Virginia. They’re going to recruit North Carolina. I’m sure they have guys committed from North Carolina.
“A lot of the players know each other. A lot of our fan bases know each other. It’s fun to play those games. It’s huge for both the town of Norfolk and the town of Greenville when we get an opportunity to do that.”
Brandon Best update
Center Brandon Best is in his fifth year of college football and his first at East Carolina after earning first team All-Conference USA at Kennesaw State in 2025. He left the game against the Mountaineers.
“Brandon got hurt, midway through the game there, maybe second quarter,” Harrell said. “Karson (Jones) went in and played center, which he has done some this season. We’ve been practicing for that rotation early in the preseason camp.
“Wasn’t sure if Brandon needed to be our center or Karson and Brandon’s kind of been the guy. He was out of practice today, fully dressed, didn’t go through, still got a little swelling. Looks like an ankle sprain, high ankle sprain.
“That position, he’s a tough kid. He’s resilient. He wants to be out there. He came back in the game the other day, played late in the game when it’s on the line, so it matters to him.
“His toughness is what we need as a football team. We need more guys like that. I fully expect him to be back and be ready to go by Saturday.
“It’s a position where you’re not having to go full speed cut. You can wrap that thing up and it’s pretty much like a work boot on there and just kind of snap the ball and come off the ball. He did a really good job.
” … I pointed out to the team this morning, the touchdown that Michael Allen had down there, he’s finishing his guy in the end zone.”
Wide receiver room
Harrell gave an update on wide receiver Landon Sides, a transfer from North Texas, who has yet to play with a hamstring ailment.
“Landon was out there today,” said Harrell on Monday morning.
Sides was projected to play last week but had a relapse.
“Late in the week, he felt it a little bit,” Harrell said. “Late Wednesday’s practice, it grabbed him a little bit. Thursday we held him. Friday we held him — just kind of giving him 48 hours. Went through warmup, still felt it a little bit.
“We’ll ease him back in this week. We’ll be cautious with it again. See if we can get to Saturday and see if we can get him to game day. And that’s where Landon’s at.
Receiver Brock Spalding, the lone returning starter on offense, has yet to play.
“Brock’s starting to feel better,” Harrell said. “Brock’s moving around better, not quite out practicing, but you just watch him jogging around and moving around. You don’t see the pain on his face. I think that one’s going in the right direction as well.”
Looking at ODU
The Pirates have met the Monarchs 12 times on the gridiron since 1934 and own an 8-3-1 lead in the series. ECU won, 20-14, in Norfolk in 2024.
“They’re coming off a 10-win season,” Harrell said. “Coach Ricky Rahne does a great job up there. … They’ve got a great environment up there. It’s a night game. It will be our first night game. It’ll be a tough environment to play in.
“Offensively, what you’ll see is kind of what everybody knows as the Tennessee offense. There’ll be some tempo, have some pace to them, super wide splits, run the football. Still, you’re thinking like hey, they’re spreading you out the throw the football, but they’re really kind of spreading you out to count the numbers. A little bit like we’ve done in the past.
“It starts with their quarterback (Quinn Henicle). He had a 76-yard touchdown run (at Virginia Tech) where he just kind of reads the backside. Squeeze too hard and he pulls it in and takes off.
“The tailback’s really good, No. 3, Devin Roche and then receivers, Josh Rodriguez and J.J. Harrell are both guys out there. They do a good job throwing it to No. 8. That’s Rodriguez, just kind of throwing the choice ball or the go ball to him. He made some plays against Virginia Tech (3 catches, 89 yards).
“Defensively, they present a lot of problems, a lot of issues. They’re going to be three high safety. They had guys kind of rolling down, coming from everywhere, kind of an odd front, three-down front.
“No. 10, Koa (Naotola) is back. He seems like he’s been there for, I don’t know, seven years, but he’s back, does a really good job at middle linebacker.”
Homecoming
ECU offensive line coach Alex Huettel spent the previous three seasons serving in that capacity for the Monarchs.
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