Failed to mention SCU's scoring guard had 20 points, anytime he wanted to score, he did. We had no answer to stop him.

One of our Pirate football players is receiving an award tonight from the Chesterfield County Va Education Foundation (cefva.org) for outstanding tenure and accomplishments as a HS football coach and AD for 29 years+. The Bravo Award is being presented to Ted Salmon who played FB for ECU from 1968 through 1971. Ted was inducted into the VA HS Athletic Hall of Fame in 2015. Great recognition for an ex-Pirate footballer and long-time HS coach from the Richmond Metro area.

“I think we just got to … maximize our possessions.” I’m sorry, but that’s a very lame understatement of the offensive challenge against Navy. True enough, but lame. The Pirates rank as “pitiful “ on offense, among ALL FBS teams. The Pirate offense has hung the Pirate D out to dry numerous times this year, including the FAU game. Only the almost perfect performance by the defense, timely special teams work, and a very accurate Andrew Conrad bailed out the offense. Navy routinely eats up the clock on offense, even if a defense can keep them between the 20 yard lines. It’s a big ask to expect the Pirate D to keep Navy out of the end zone all day. The D must use scheming to be effective, not having the personnel to line up in “base D” an go toe-to-toe for 25-30 minutes a game. Coupled with the inability of the Pirate O to repeatedly sustain drives to within scoring distance, this could be ugly to watch. Navy won’t panic and go for it on suicide fourth downs like FAU did. Quite the opposite, I expect the Pirates will have to earn every trip inside the Navy 40 yard line. I would love to be wrong, and watch the Pirate O take the heat off of the defense for a change… one can hope.

Great write -up. Thanks for your work, Sammy

I think that the Pirates have a legit chance to win out due to a) the defense and b) a "cooperative" late season schedule. ...so, while taking a 3-win streak (far from guaranteed, of course) into the offseason would normally be grounds for hope for the near term future, that prospect is muted in this case, based on what they have for an offense, being a problematic OL and Q, and a questionable receivers corps, with the notable exception of Sowell. My opinion is that that have several legit backs with remaining eligibility that just need some basic blocking. I also fear losses to the portal; will Sowell be a flight risk, to a place where he could showcase his talent? What about key defensive players, who might be tired of their unit having to do all of the work? Interestingly, the broadcasters yesterday several times stated that the Pirates have the AAC's no. 1 incoming recruiting class; if so, let's hope that the bulk of it is on the offensive side, and they're quick studies.

Green and bonds. More please!!! Clearly best of the backs. They can get yards In bigger numbers than 47 as I see it. Look at the stats, and just look at the burst by comparison. Harris is 5th out of the group IMO. He just doesn’t seem to have “it”! We desperately need a QB , portal?? Yeah for a win but frustrating to watch. I agree, this was a good win but easily could have been a blow out.

Credit the young men under Blake Harrell and his Staff for continuing to step up, time after time. Credit young Conrad, who, like all kickers (and d-backs), require a short memory. He was pure money yesterday. I don’t bet, but I will bet somebody made some “ca-ching” on his performance. He should be considered for a player-of-the-week award of some kind. Never curse a win, no matter how frustrating the journey is to on the way to the reward. But, once again, the offense disappoints Pirate Nation. On a day when the defense turned the Owls over time after time, it seemed as if Coach and the OC themselves lost confidence in the offense to produce meaningful drives. If that’s not the case, then the play-calling for the final 21 minutes was absolutely p!$$ p@@r. Maybe Flinn staring down the post route for another interception became one too many mistakes. Or, perhaps the continued frustration in the run game was just too much. Fortunately for MH and DK, Andrew Conrad stepped up, BIG!!!

More Bonds and Green!!! Enough said!

I think (not sure) that Jeter was recruited in large measure for his "athleticism," which for q's is code for agility and running quickness and speed, which is not the case with Flinn, who has some running ability, but far more in the manner of a fullback, where contact is part of the package, whereas Jeter would presumably have a greater propensity to escape and avoid more and heavier collisions. What I wonder is if Jeter just isn't showing Coach enough; I guess that I've become a paranoid Pirate.

I believe the rule for a qualifying redshirt year is not participating in more than four different games in the season. If I’m correct, Jeter could have played last Saturday. However, with the OL problems in general, and a Tulane defense tracking him down, that would have been a lot to ask of him. Also, with no creative plays left in the offensive playbook beyond the first quarter, I don’t know what he could actually accomplish.

"We have had to intentionally hold [Raheim Jeter] to a degree because we do want to protect the redshirt." Really?? ...even despite the major impact that the portal is having, where guys switch teams at the drop of a hat?? If Jeter's showing signs of life in practice, I totally, totally do not get this.

I agree that getting rid of Coach Houston isn’t the thing to do. However, a come-to-Jesus meeting should have already occurred with the entire offensive coaching staff. With few exceptions, the offense is about where it should be at the start of camp, not three-quarters thru the season. The offensive line is struggling to achieve mediocrity, even after a major personnel shuffle - which itself occurred far to deep into the season. When your blind side tackle is so lost as to be left in his stance on a must-have, crunch time pass play, in the 36th quarter of the season, that’s not progress. Did it result in a sack, no, but only just barely. The most glaring fault in all of this, is how wrong the preseason evaluations were. No one was saying stupid stuff like, “watch out Michigan”, or predicting another eight win season, but we were promised respectability. The offense isn’t delivering. Only the defense has managed to roll with the punches, maintaining a very decent level of performance for almost every game. The defense is the only reason we’ve been close in several games, although the UTSA game was a setback. There hasn’t been any good explanation for the offensive futility demonstrated by the Pirates, or why some new scheme hasn’t been put in place that as a unit, the offense could execute. Pirate Nation deserves that much.

To compare Houston to these coaches is at best very short sighted. We were in and WON a bowl just last year!! Hello!! Keaton Mitchell, a Houston recruit! How is he doing? Pointless to say but if you could go back and look at the roster under Montgomery, not even close. We have been competitive and lost in close games most of the season. Compared to the folks you sighted, we were not competitive and regularly got blown out. Look around the country and wake up. Many programs with far more resources than us are struggling. It’s ultra competitive. This coach understands and I believe continues to learn what it takes in the ‘ new’ environment of college football. Fire him?!?! Like we did McNeil?!?! Stay positive. Wake up. And if you can’t do that then please just stay silent.

ECU has hung on too long with losing coaches. Montgomery should not have survived his first year for example and was kept for most of 3 despite going 9-26. Thompson was here for 2 at 3-20. In both those cases it was obvious that it wasn’t working out. Neither one was able to improve the roster or achieve any depth past the starters. This is looking like a similar situation in that no one realistically can see this getting better in 1-2 more years. College success requires a great recruiter and Houston doesn’t appear to have what todays players want.

At this point, what's personally most vexing is what Coach's plan is for the offense in the future, which has shown virtually no improvement this season; what's needed is a complete overhaul, with a possible exception of the running backs roster; does that mean that the best we can hope for is maybe four wins in 2024?? Earlier in the week, Coach invoked Tulane's bad record from three seasons ago, trying to draw a parallel with ECU's situation today. Really?? How does that work?? Yes, TU went 2-10 in 2021, but they had Michael Pratt under center, the cornerstone position. God bless Alex Flinn and Mason Garcia, but neither have evidenced the remotest hint that either would be better than a very mediocre D1 quarterback on their very best day behind a competent OL, which unfortunately, and in fairness, they absolutely don't have today. Is Jeter the answer? How would Coach know, since he's given him no live action time? I can hear it now; "Oh, the NIL! We're so poor! It's our circumstances!" Etc., etc. If that's true (which I categorically reject), then ECU should admit to it, stop throwing $2.4M at a guy who in his 5th season showed up with an offense that is today ranked 127 out of 130 FBS teams, and step down to the FCS ranks.