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.

The outtake from the effort displayed by the Pirates is tangible proof the team hasn’t quit. On the defensive side of the ball, too many key starters are out for the defense to really lock any offense down. It’s no secret that the D-line is undersized, and DC Harrell must rely on schemings to put pieces of the puzzle in the right place for the Pirates to be effective. Kudos to all the young guys who have accepted the “next man up” challenge. The defense almost pulled off the upset single-handedly. Yes, at the ultimate crunch time the Pirate D couldn’t get off the field. That doesn’t diminish Saturday’s effort. Unfortunately, the Pirate offense, for the second week in a row, could offer only one quarter of productivity. Oddly enough, but for a sailed pass over the head of JJ, the Pirates could have taken a 14-10 lead to the fourth quarter, even considering the under performing for 45 minutes. I saw the effort exhibited, no question. Alex Flinn said that the Green Wave defense made some adjustments - well, YEAH!!! Tulane came in ranked as high as #21, is the top-ranked non Power Five team a/o today. What would you expect? That sums up the 2023 Pirate offense in a nutshell. Nine games played, and not enough improvement to muster a drive to get close enough for a field goal attempt - on a day in which a couple of field goals could have been enough to seal the deal. Nine games, and we can’t figure out something to advance the ball during a 45 minute run. What a disappointing bookend to a more than decent, defensive effort. I wish I could say it was a surprise, but…

Players and coaches have pride, they will play to win. I can think of several examples of years past were the league officials always made questionable calls against our pirates and other teams when playing UCF, Tulsa and Cincinnati when they were ranked, seemingly protecting the prospects bigger financial bowel payouts.

I don’t want to get rid of Houston. He is about the best ECU can do, and I don’t believe he’s done anything to warrant dismissal. However, the offensive line coach’s job might be in jeopardy. To be fair, that would depend on what he walked into earlier this year. It’s possible both Mogridge and Houston knew at the beginning of fall camp that the o-line would be mediocre at best. Still, with the declining performance of the OL roster, I’m not expecting much improvement for the remainder of the season. It would be a pleasant surprise. The effort from the players is still there, so the coaches haven’t lost the team. That’s a GOOD thing. The talent evaluation process for the offense needs some retooling. Here’s hoping for better outcomes in November.

To fire this coach would be an absolute error. Good coach, great man. Don't be so short sighted. The challenges we have are real. He remember, inherited NOTHING but an a complete mess. We have a young team, 17-20 year old young men for the most part. Schools and programs all across the nation, some with crazy resources are also struggling. It's an ultra competitive environment out there, perhaps more so than ever before. Houston is a winner. He'll win here too. McNeil used to say 'you can't microwave it'. No need to rehearse what we lost last year to the pros, graduation, etc. That's been discussed. Holtz used to say, you lose big, you lose small, you win small, you win big. A process that takes time. Not a fun season for us, granted, I've been frustrated myself. I still believe in Houston. Let's not make foolish decisions here again please. McNeil had a tuff season about this same time in his time at ECU and the same silly stuff was said about him and then, we did the most ridiculous thing ever, let him go and we went straight to the bottom! Houston is learning on the fly somewhat in the 'new' college football environment and we need to be behind him IMO> McNeil also used to say, 'when you are winning, they want you to write a book, when it's not going well, nobody thinks you can read' - I expect to see us improve and finish well. This season of challenge will pay dividends going forward. Many examples could be illustrated for it, Tulane would be a good one to look at. Check out their history. A good coach, just like ours and now, they are the class of our conference. Deep breath, upward and onward!!

"I’m beginning to wonder if the offense can muster any momentum for next year." Bingo; that for me has become the biggest single question. While on balance, the offense was marginally better yesterday than it has been (certainly a low bar), it has not shown an improvement trend this season. Neither of the two Q's who've played look like the answer; Jeter should now be given a dress rehearsal assessment for next season. Given the roster fluidity that the portal has created, the question of redshirt eligibility burning has largely been overcome anyway. The university has invested a LOT of money into football; at this point, I think that the institution owes its stakeholders a conversation with Coach that he find a way to field a bowl eligible team next season (another low bar) as an ultimatum.

Unfortunate that the Pirate defense had one of its worst performances at the same time of the offense’s partial awakening. I don’t think the ultimate outcome would have changed, but it could have been interesting. I’m sure the injuries to key secondary personnel contributed to the busted plays. On the “O” side of the ball, Gerald Green was a welcome sight, going north and south, with some urgency. It looked as though more designed runs were called yesterday, than any other game this season. While certainly not gang busters, I believe it was the best run game of the year, when you consider the competition. QB Flinn had a few designed runs which, for the most part, he did well. Also, on several pass plays, he chose to escape and get what he could running the ball. You can argue some of those choices, but again, I see improvement. Obviously, the forth down sack deep in Pirate territory was really stupid. You have to pick a target and give one of your guys a chance to get a first down. With respect to the passing game, Flinn continues to be inaccurate on many passes. Surely, the o-line problems with protection contribute to the problem. However, the interception in the end zone was strictly on Flinn. If he leads Johnson to the front pylon, there’s no chance of the defender going through Johnson and making the interception. Maybe we don’t get the TD, but for sure we get to reload. Losing Calhoun to injury during practice didn’t help, as he has been a decent target this year. At this point, any sort of improvement is welcome. Some change in the play-calling is welcome. I try to take heart in the fact that only six of the listed 22 OL are upper-class men, with just one senior. For this year, it’s bad. Sadly, I don’t see any real improvement occurring. I’m beginning to wonder if the offense can muster any momentum for next year. One last point… remember when Coach said the injury to Javious Bond wasn’t “significant “? Does anyone know why we haven’t seen him? More questions than answers… the story of the 2023 season.

He has changed D coordinator once, perhaps a new OC is needed