"Yet, with quarterback Katin Houser slinging passes to a deep receiving corps and a defense that’s stiffened..." Actually, the running game (also by formidable committee, like the receivers corps) has become every bit as potent as the passing game; the Pirates have become extremely balanced. None of the above cited opponents prticularly excite me, but drawing VA Tech would probably be best for the program, as a regional (used-to-be) rival. They may end up doing better; one game at a time, as Coach rightfully preaches, with Saturday beig a HUGE one.

I expected Temple to give the Pirates all they could handle on the road in Philly; I did not expect the thorough beat down that the Pirates delivered, and on both sides of the ball. Credit to ECU for their dominating two-way performance vs. a definitely improved Temple edition, keeping themselves in the mix for the conf. post-season. The Pirates would do well to remember the unhappy results of ECU's last two meetings with Charlotte. Hopefully it's a payback game; not a trap game.

Congratulations to the Pirates on playing their most complete game this year. Good to see the Pirates pound the Owls with the running game while sprinkling in well-timed passes that kept Temple off-balanced all day. The defense played aggressively through all four quarters, holding Temple under 250 yds. The Pirates defense made very few mistakes, and appeared to visibly frustrate the Owls. Hopefully, this effort will carryover to next week’s contest with Charlotte. Go, Pirates!!

Does any other college/university have more grads in MLB than the Pirates (8 players, 1 manager)

Coaches picked the Pirates 10? or 5th? It is listed both way in this article. Title line says 10th, list of teams with comments at bottom has ECU 5th. Which is it?

Wiliam, we at Bonesville have also noticed the disadvantages of the new Google AdSense algorithms. We're looking into changes we can make to our AdSense advertising profile. Thank you for your input. — Danny Whitford, Editor

Im sick an tired of not being able to read the articles on this website due to pop up adds. So I'll look for another way to get my info....goodbye Bonesville

Your summary is labeled “MONDAY”, but it appears to be the same as SUNDAY’S summary.

Thurs. night overall I thought the Pirates looked solid, particularly Houser and a very good running game that allows KH to do his thing. Temple came very close to beating Navy last week, and at home upcoming I think will give ECU everything it can handle. Memphis stunningly losing to UAB last night says that ECU very definitely has a legit chance to compete for the top of the league.

Winning is always good, whether it’s accomplished in a nearly perfect fashion, or when it looks as ugly as sin. This year, the Pirates seem destined to keep us guessing. Flashes of offensive power, sprinkled with stupid penalties. Interrupting a strong rushing performance with “cutesy” wrinkles that seem to serve one purpose, be a “cutesy” wrinkle. We must also accept that Houser can put very little “touch” on his passes, strictly fastballs. That’s ok, if you structure the route trees to protect him from needing to throw a “touch” pass. Not easy, but doable. Nice to see Coach Harrell push the running attack when it’s working. The Pirate defense is worrisome, being porous against the pass, thereby negating solid performances against the run. It appears some players can’t even identify the player they should cover, much less maintain coverage. Tulsa didn’t have the skill set of Tulane, yet exposed the Pirates defense on several occasions. This prevented the Pirates from putting away Tulsa far earlier in the second half. With 7 games in the books, the Pirates have a chance to finish the season strong. On paper, only Memphis looks out of reach. The Pirates certainly have the “potential” to run the table, but have failed to show up against quality opponents. A 9-3 record, given the success of Memphis so far this season, would go far to heal some of the disappointments in 2025. The Pirates can’t afford to look ahead, and must really focus on what is immediately in front of them.

The TO on the fake punt was odd… second-guessing?? Too bad, as you pointed out, the fake worked perfectly. I thought the sideline-initiated fiasco at the goal line was simply stupid. Houser got the Pirates offense to the line quickly, as he has been taught to do, thereby freezing the Tulane defense. The sideline sends in a sub, causing the penalty. If you were writing a script, you couldn’t make this up.

What a very odd game, including many critical, first-game-of-the-season type mistakes by both teams, particularly Tulane; truth be told, and not to take anything away from ECU's defense (which manhandled TU's run game), but in some ways, TU itself was ECU's best defense. Yet the oddest miscue of all was when ECU called timeout on itself in virtual simultaneity with a fake punt on a critical 4th down play that worked perfectly, only to be nullified by the TO! ...never seen that before; it was painful to watch. In the end, Tulane's ability to pass and ECU's inability to do so was the difference in this one. Re the latter, Houser was generally not well protected, and ECU could not pressure Retzlaff. This would've been a quality win that TU sort of tried to hand the Pirates.

Stop me if you’ve heard this before, “Offensively, we couldn’t get it going. Didn’t think we had great energy in the first half.” Once again, the Pirate offense spent the first half sputtering as Tulane’s speed rush punched the Pirates offense in the mouth. It seemed as if the Pirates o-line had not prepared for Tulane’s defensive calling card. That’s hard to believe, considering every assessment of the Green Wave defense points to their rush abilities. What is also hard to believe is why the Pirates offense took so long to exploit the known Tulane vulnerability, run defense. I think Coach Harrell forced the issue on JB. Also, no mention of of Engleman in the article, who provided a spark when he was playing. What can’t be ignored are the penalties. The bonehead award goes to the offensive sideline staff, who sent out a substitute AFTER Houser had the offense in formation at the goal line on a third-and-one, drawing a delay-of-game penalty. The Pirates were lucky the referee stepped in because the center, thinking he heard the snap signal, snapped the ball. The Pirates followed this debacle with a pitiful pass to the flat which Tulane completely overwhelmed. Settling for a field goal to tie the game up, proved costly. The defense certainly had its’ good moments, keeping the score close in the first half, and getting a three-and-out to start the first half. However, the Pirates made Retzlaff look like an MVP, never solving the Tulane passing scheme. At times, including Tulane’s final drive, the Pirates looked foolish in coverage, or should I say, non-coverage. It’s very apparent the Pirates are not a good team. They can be, at times, but too often the “good” comes after digging a hole too deep to climb out. 6-6, maybe 7-5, looks to be all we can expect this season, unless immediate, sustained improvement comes quickly. Coach Harrell’s efforts have put some fire back into the program. It might take longer for the fire to translate into the level of success desired by Pirate Nation.

Great win for the Pirates, considering last year’s game against Army, and last week’s game with BYU. The Pirates offense started hot, and for most of the game seemed capable of moving the ball against Army. A couple of QB errors ended chances for more points. Let’s hope KH can clean these up over the bye week. The Pirates offense came up empty in the second half, despite moving the ball fairly well. I give credit to Army for fighting back. The Pirate defense came up lucky early in the game, thanks to Army dropping two touchdown passes. For the remainder of the game, minus Army’s 2nd half opening drive, the defense played well. However, they need to clean up the breakdowns in the secondary, which would have given at least twelve points to Army. Clearly, the highlight of the game was the gutsy call by Coach to fake the field goal. With the offense unable to finish, the field goal unit executed the fake perfectly. The Pirates would have been happy with a first down, but Pearson got a couple of great blocks and took it to the house. The score was huge for the defense, which now had a large cushion. Overall, not the prettiest win ever, but a solid win. I don’t think this effort by the Pirates will be good enough against Tulane, and other teams. However, if the Pirates can find a way to finish more drives on offense, and clean up the secondary breakdowns, they have what it takes to play with anybody in the conference.

It’s no sin to lose to a better team, and BYU was the better team. The Pirate defense didn’t have the answer for the balance and discipline of the Cougars offense. Losing Teagan Wilk certainly didn’t help. He should know better. The Pirate offense, once again, was its’ own worst enemy. Houser’s two picks were killers, no doubt. You can’t do that against any team that’s playing as well as BYU. However, more disappointing to me was the lack of discipline displayed by the Pirate offense. Pre-snap penalties should be few and far between by the fourth game of the season. Coach Baker doesn’t run a tight ship. The same problems that stopped the Pirates against NC STATE are still problematic. The “correctable” problems haven’t been corrected. The Pirates have performed well enough, at times, to show they can compete against good teams. The lack of consistency and discipline make the Pirates a mediocre team. With Army coming next Thursday, it could be a very ugly night. I hope the coaches and players dig deep to find some answers. The Army game needs to be the pivot point for the season, going forward. If the Pirates don’t play well against Army, I see a largely disappointing season ahead. Opponents don’t have to beat you when you’re beating yourself.