There are two halves to a game. You gotta play both o&d.

An ugly win is still a win. ECU was the beneficiary of a terrible no-call on the Gamble interception, as L-M clearly interfered. Temple was bailed out on the Pirates’ onside kick recovery by a “review” penalty call. Both teams showed why they are where they are - records wise. On the plus side, ECU receivers seemed to get better separation from coverage on several plays which could have put the game away for ECU. Unfortunately, the passes on those plays were woefully late coming out. Other passes were dropped. It was good to see Brock on the field again, albeit briefly. Hope he was limited by design. Tyler Johnson showed a flash of promise, but needs to keep BOTH hands on the ball. Kudos to the O-line and T.J. for a fourth, consecutive, 100+ game. The Pirate defense continues to be tough on the run, although once again, a nimble qb gave them fits, several times. The secondary was adequate. Bottom line, the Owls were kept out of the end zone, and that’s good. Going forward, Mitch Griffis could have Joseph, Sides, and Spalding on the field at the same time very soon. I would love to include Melvin, but he seems to have disappeared. With a tight end on the field to keep the run game moving, the offense just might push performance to another level. I thought the onside kick call was genius, but the “non punt” fourth down call was kinda dumb. All that did was tell Temple you didn’t think your offense could get the yards. Still, this will keep our opponents honest, knowing Coach Harrell will think “out of the box”.

I apologize for not being able to type worth 2 cents.

I'm surprised no one has related the defiance fatigue in the 2nd half at Memphis to the American conference having them play and travel 3 games in 12 days.

His flaws notwithstanding, Griffis plays with a spark that I don't see in Williams. I don't see what happens in practice, but I'd be very surprised if he didn't reclaim the starting position last Thurs. They need to to work into the playbook rpo's and designed runs for him; that would definitely benefit everything else offensively. (A Spalding return would too; Sides reminded me of him last Thurs.) Re the d, the secondary has been suspect from the beginning, but at least the run d is exceptional. Every game remaining is entirely winnable, provided they stop sabotaging themselves.

Yes, the Pirates could be 6-1. Sadly, ECU hasn’t performed well enough to be 6-1. It’s on the Pirates, not the opponents. Lack of discipline, poor tackling, sputtering offense, turnovers, inferior pass defense, not to mention some poor decisions from the sidelines, have all contributed to the 3-4 record. Just when the offense wakes up and plays all four quarters, the defense collapses against Memphis. The Tigers have a good offense, but ECU’s defense, including coaching, appeared to be lost for almost all of the second half. Other than Alabama, ECU has beaten themselves in every other loss. Going into the eighth game of the year, the Pirates are unsure of the QB1, unsure of which offense will show up, and now are really concerned about the defense. On the plus side, T. J. Engleman and Landon Sides appear to be hitting their form. Maybe Sides can help Ray Ray get more single coverage looks. Let’s hope the Pirates find some more answers quickly, or Temple will enjoy Halloween in Greenville.

Honestly, it never felt like the Pirates would win this one (to me, anyway), even after they were up at the half. The whole tone and tenor of the game felt eerily similar to their unhappy contest vs. UAB. Another frustrating Blake Harrell head scratcher was his Mike Houstonesque management of the ball to end the 1st half; ECU managed to get the fg only as a gift from the offsides Memphis OL. I do give Coach credit for calling for the 2 point conversion in the 3rd quarter, and the Pirates rally at the end of regulation also showed some resilience that I wasn't expecting. The Pirates qb switchout seems to have been the right move; they need to fully exploit Griffis' running ability with designed runs and rpo's. It doesn't look like he has a terribly strong arm for downfield stretch passes. Engleman and Sides had big nights. The latter is a find; they're both bright spots. It's really unfortunate that Spalding still hasn't made an appearance; ECU misses his playmaking. What's both frustrating and a source of hope all in one is that 3 of the 4 losses could've been flipped by a single play or two (as could've the ODU win, admittedly.)

Football is a funny game. The Pirates are a couple plays away from being 5-2, but with the 2nd straight OT loss on the road we sit at a disappointing 3-4. On offense inconsistent QB play continues to be our Achilles heal. The defense could not get to the Memphis QB so he had ample time to pick apart our secondary. Hopefully we can improve on our weaknesses and make a positive run down the home stretch and win maybe 3 of the last four. But we will need better play all around, including play calling by our coaching staff to do this.

Give credit to the Memphis offense, which absolutely abused the Pirate secondary in the second half. Memphis dropped as many TD passes as were caught, while the flat footed Pirates could only chase. The Pirate defensive staff was out-coached, particularly at crunch time. The offense showed a lot of grit, but on a night where you needed to score touchdowns, the Pirates had to settle for several field goals (credit N. Perez). As for Griffis, the last pass in OT didn’t have a chance, as Landon Sides never saw the ball coming. Still, in many ways, the offense made progress. Next week will be tough, as the season could be slipping away if the Pirates can’t figure out a way to win.

Sure, the offense is anything but dependable, but Thursday night's epic collapse on national TV was about Blake Harrell and his DC puking all over themselves; full stop. The defense had played lights out for over 58 minutes in that contest, until coaching cut the legs out from under them by putting them in a prevent that they simply could not execute, evident from the first play, and the coaches failing for whatever inexplicable reason to revert back to the defensive schemes that got them to the very precipice of a win. ...and then, as if that wasn't bad enough, Coach's bonkers reaction after UAB stunningly tied it was to do his best impersonation of Mike Houston, and bury the rock for ECU's final 35 (or whatever) seconds of possession, instead of trying to advance it 35 or 40 yards to give them a chance to end it in regulation with a FG. While I've been a fan of Blake Harrell, it's no wonder that he didn't analyze the game in his opening remarks; plain and simply, his choke directly cost the Pirates that contest.

As bad as the defensive collapse by the Pirates was, it wouldn’t have mattered if the Pirate offense had showed up for four quarters. UAB shouldn’t have been within a single score, given the Pirates fumbled away at least three points, and had nine other possessions to pad the score. The ability to be consistent seems to have alluded the Pirate offense through the first half of the season. It’s as if the Pirate offense has a single blast of energy, and once that surge is over, it’s over. The most ardent fan can’t predict a single “lock” for the Pirates for the remainder of the season, given the inability of the offense to play four quarters, and now witnessing the total collapse by the defense during UAB’s final drive in regulation.

I completely agree with all the previous comments about the terrible coaching decisions. If this continues I can see the AD looking for a new coaching staff for the 2027 season.

The Pirate offense is just too predictable. We don't stretch the field usually running between the tackles or going with the short passing game. UAB made adjustments and we did not. A very bad loss that lays squarely on the coaching staff..

“We couldn’t get the plays made that we needed to make,” said ECU coach Blake Harrell on the ECU radio network of UAB’s late 96-yard drive. “We hadn’t let them in the end zone all game." That's because Coach and/or his DC mysteriously decided to abandon the defensive schemes that made ECU so lights out effective until UAB's end-of-regulation two minute drill, and go into a soft "prevent" defense, which monumentally failed. This embarrassing collapse, an entirely avoidable loss, sits squarely on the coaching staff.

This is a tough loss for the Pirates, but you could see it coming. The offense hasn’t played a complete game against FBS competition this year. The fragility of the concept was on display when the Pirates couldn’t pick up one yard - on two tries, which was caused in part by the absence of Melvin. His injury seemed to shut down the passing game, which allowed UAB to stuff the box whenever they wanted. The Pirate O-line, which did such a good job early, really got pushed around in the second half. You could see signs early that the Pirate defense might be in trouble. A dropped pass, and a penalty, likely took at least ten points off of the board for UAB. Although the defense came up with numerous stops throughout the remainder of the game, the same error by the D-line, rushing past the quarterback, occurred numerous times. This allowed UAB’s offense to stay on the field, score some points, and keep the Blazers in the game. As for the last drive in regulation, what a shambles. Allowing receivers to roam free behind you, over-rushing the qb, and POOR TACKLING, all paved the way for UAB. The Pirates should have won this game. Take nothing away from UAB. They played hard throughout, and made the most of every Pirate mistake. But those mistakes are the key. When you aren’t an overpowering team on your best day, you can’t afford many. Going forward, let’s hope O’Halloran, Melvin, and Williams, are not seriously injured. QB1 took a nasty hit in OT, which I think lead to the INT.