The difference in the celebration dinners says so much about what was missing. Blake gets how much more significant it is than a meal, to sit everyone down together. It’s in part what creates the always talked about culture winning teams have. I noticed the gang tackling increased after he took over. That feeling that everyone is on the same page when playing together now.

Arrgh.

I cannot imagine that a Mike Houston coached team would have purposefully and aggressively played the two minute drill at the end of the first half, and they were duly rewarded for it with the made long field goal; there's a refreshing difference with Coach Harrell.

That was one of the worst officiating crews I have ever seen. The 71 yard Touchdown was reversed on a highly questionable holding penalty for example. Even the announcers thought it was ridiculous. Meanwhile they got away with several. The intentional grounding after they jumped offsides made no sense to me.

Give credit to the Pirates for the ‘W’, but not for how they got there. After two impressive wins, the Pirates were unruly and undisciplined for much of the game. At times, the Pirates performed as badly as they ever have this year, self-destructing time after time. Fortunately, Tulsa had the same problem. No matter, 6-4 is 6-4, with a chance to win out. The Pirates who played last night won’t get there. North Texas and Navy are much better than Tulsa. The Pirates better leave the chippy attitude in the locker room, and focus on cleaning up the unforced errors and penalties.

I think North Texas and our Pirates are evenly matched. Their defense looked capable enough against Army to be challenging for our men. Plus them having homefield advantage the Tulsa game feeling like a must win for Bowel eligibility. I'm hoping for strong finish wining last three games but think Thursday is our best chance at 6 wins.

"...a winning season isn't out of the question" is understating it, in my opinion. Tulsa is poor; ECU should take them handily. North Texas appears to be mediocre only, and Navy, now on a two game losing slide, including a not very good Rice team, might also prove to have earlier been a bit of a paper tiger. I try to keep reminding myself that the competition that of the past two games was poor, but Houser's accuracy, seeming comfort under center and even his running ability, is a source of genuine optimism, especially with two years of eligibility runway remaining ahead of him. This might the start of something big for Pirates Nation, finally.

The team is playing with heart and intensity and a free wheeling spirit that was not previously present. Harrell obviously has taken the shackles off the offense and is letting Baker call the plays he wants to call. Houser is playing with poise and not making mistakes and the offense can showcase the speed talent we have at receiver positions. 5-4 with 3 games left.......a 6th win and bowl game is now likely and winning out not to far fetched to hope for at this point.

There’s no denying the improvement of the Pirate offense with KH as the trigger man. Ten quarters after the change, Houser is leading the offense in the manner to which it was advertised. I don’t think he has the arm strength of Garcia, but he is displaying an accuracy which belies his time standing on the sidelines. Although there is still some room for improvement, the ‘O’ has clearly rallied around him. I have to wonder, if Coach Huston had made the change during the CLT game, would he still have his job? The competition level clearly has been in the Pirates favor for the last two games, but you can’t ignore the improvement in overall team performance going back to the second half of the Army game. What seemed impossible at the end of the first half of Army, a 6-6 season, is clearly in play. Dare I say it, with the current level of performance, a winning season isn’t out of the question. And, if the current staff somehow runs the table, they deserve a shot at leading the Pirates in 2025.

I think what Harrel said after the game was telling in the post game on field interview. He gave credit to the seniors on the team. Told them that when they finish their careers they will only remember what happened in November. It’s true that I only remember that as well from my last year of high school ball, when we had a 3 game winning streak to end our season. The team was loose and having fun right from the start. It’s what has been missing for years. What a revelation Houser is, wow how was he on the bench? Saw maybe one throw off target. Can they score like that vs Navy? If he gets us into a bowl game Blake should keep the job.

I was there for the opening of the Homecoming game to go by Alpha Phi house, and see National Anthem The band, the music, the players, the pirates, the dancers, the cheerleaders. Thank you. Love, Elizabeth Anne Temple, B.M. 1992, M.M. 1994, ECU.

Congratulations to the Pirates for winning a game while under the duress of Coach Huston’s firing. It seemed Coach Harrell had decent control of the in-game responsibilities thrust upon him, while having to perform as DC from the sideline, not in the press box. Overall, a solid team effort. The Pirates are still dropping passes and committing silly penalties, although they did settle down in the second half. Coaches and players seemed to keep the emotions in check fairly well, although going forward, I hope the Pirates will be a little less chippy. With another Saturday off, hopefully the Pirates can keep the momentum going against FAU in what could be one of two winnable games remaining on the schedule. The Pirates have doubled the win total from last year, and while that isn’t an acceptable milestone, I wasn’t sure the team would win another game following the Charlotte game. A bowl game is still possible. Let’s hope the Pirates can finish strong.

Trick plays? The one that comes to mind wasn't this year; it was run last year, late in the last game of the season, vs. Tulsa, when ECU was leading late in the 4th quarter and perfectly poised to achieve a rare in-conference win, but then they decide to do a direct snap to the RB for the one and only time of the season, it's fumbled on the exchange, Tulsa recovers, and the Pirates pull their 10th defeat of the season out of the jaws of victory. With the modern Pirates, it has kind of been one debacle after another.

I don’t think Steve Logan will be coming out of retirement. Trick plays are great when they work. But, the key to Coach Logan’s magic was, the “tricks” were treated as just another play in the book. You could see anything at any time. Logan also assessed who the best players on the team were, and put them all on offense. He knew ECU couldn’t field enough quality to man both sides of the ball. His approach was to outscore each and every opponent, and he wasn’t bashful about saying so. My hope is that Coach Harrell finds a way to fix the defense, or at least restore some order to the effort. It’s one thing to be worn down by the offense’s ineptitude, but quite another to be outclassed for the full sixty minutes. The offense, to me, was predicated on an intermediate length passing attack which would cause defenses to move a defender off of the line, thereby giving the run game a chance. NO ONE fears our offensive line when it comes down to a trench slugfest. If we could find ways to get the ball to the few consistent receivers we have, the run game will improve. Far to many dropped passes have put the Pirates behind the chains, coupled with momentum-killing turnovers which have killed potential game-winning drives. For the remaining five games, whoever the best 22 are, put them on the field and give them a chance. Dumb down the playbook if you have to, but let’s achieve some consistency on both sides of the ball.

He also couldn’t identify or recruit D1 QB’s. Two years with two different QB’s each season that couldn’t get it done. How many games did I watch thinking how much better it would be if we had the other team’s QB? Holton doesn’t count as playing for the Pirates was his childhood dream. Often an underdog, he wasn’t ever able to get the team to outperform expectations. I didn’t see very much creativity either. Name your favorite trick play this year?