Totally agree with Coach Houston on the critical importance of a balanced offense. BTW, that was my great Uncle Jim who made the infamous 12th-man-tackle against W&M's QB in the '77 Oyster Bowl. Never did a man bleed purple as deeply as Uncle Jim. A true legend.

Cannonball maybe?

Akron has a take away pencil. That seems very strange to me. We get so few turnovers that I can't remember what our turnover item is. What is it?

"Bigger is not better, better is better" -Jerry Moore

I thought it was just me that thought the offense was slow. During a few handoffs I thought I was watching slow-mo!

Fair enough. Really my comments were a reaction to the "taking a step backward" theme. There may be some value to having a Gardner-Webb or two on the slate (like everyone else), but if it's unhelpful to make judgements based on a sample size of two FBS games (which I more or less agree with), it's equally unhelpful to overstate a decisive win over a weak lower tier program.

Nice article after the beat down from Navy. Great perspective and 100% accurate. Long way to go, but we have the right man for the job. Go Pirates!!

What is delusional is trying to make an assessment on this team after three games! No one knows how good NC State and Navy are at this point of the season. As for me I will wait until the end of the season to make an assessment. My metrics for success this year....improved fundementals... tackling, blocking, turnovers, ball control, penalties, defensive stats, offensive stats etc. I think everyone knows that this programs was destroyed over the past 3 years. Let's wait and see where the program is at the end of the season before making premature assessments that have no positive influence on what this team has to overcome.

To say that ECU has taken a step back implies that last week’s victory over a very weak FCS team had meaning. Well, OK, I guess, if that’s the depth at which the program exists, so that’s the low bar you want to measure it against. As for yesterday, that Navy would rack up points with their difficult to defend option run by very good athletes was to be expected, but ECU’s inability to get untracked offensively against a smaller team is pretty bothersome, and any suggestion that Pinnix’s absence mattered is delusional; the OL continues to be the biggest problem, followed by overall team speed, on both sides of the ball. Truly, Rome wasn’t built in a day, but based on the two “legitimate” games they’ve played to date, there’s no evident difference between this year’s Pirates edition and last year’s.

On the bright side: It looks like UMDs offense got Scottie Montgomery'ed against Temple..,.

OMG...i feel like we watched two different games....I know some may say I am biased, but they have no idea how I see my daughter Shelby Martin without rose-colored glasses. Did anyone watch the ESPN televised match? The commentator, basically sighted Shelby as the deciding factor in the game, how she is so dangerous to the opposing team, as she is an attacking setter who hits like an outside, plays excellent defense, one of the top setters currently playing - it goes on and on....Seriously, is Greenville in its own time-space continuum? A place of made up facts and statistics...now I have a headache - what the hell is wrong with ECU and their puppet press????

It was a great match, and the Pirates showed no sign of quit in them when it looked as though they were not going to get a victory after the 2nd set. Huge win!

"We have to win the customer service game." How 'bout removing "customer service" from that assertion?! ...or how 'bout this: "Win, and they will come." The math is really very simple.

Throughout history, Pirates have always had to deal with storms.

I agree with Irish Spectre>. Fumbles at the goal line has been a ECU problem for some time now.