The Purple Haze -- ECU Pirate diary

olympia · July 14, 2013

Skip Holtz has left for greener pastures in Florida, so ECU admin reached out to me to take over the reigns of the program.

We have a 40 presitge, below average by most standards. We play in Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium which was recently expanded to hold 50,000 capacity (doubt we fill it any time soon).

Our staff includes:

OC Kimble: yellow developed QB and WR. Brown develop RB and OL. Green motivator,RB scout. Yellow gameplan $450,000

DC Holcomb - brown deveoping DL, LB, and DB. Green game planner. Yellow scouting DL and LB. Brown on DB $500,000

ST Lynch - brown scout, red motivation and development

I'll evaluate their performance this year and also be looking for replacements that better fit my style. We know we can't out recruit the big boys so we coaches who can develop the players and also design better gameplans.

Wake Forest is our annual out of conference rival who we will play every year (funny since they've only played 8 times historically -- with Wake winning 6 times. ECU had a better record against NC State (11-16)

We will also play Akron and Rutgers this year in addition to Conference USA Schedule. We are predicted to place 5th in the conference. Marshall and Memphis are the top teams in the East where we play.

olympia · July 15, 2013

first season - 2006

week 1: AKRON

We hoped it would be a good morale booster, and a chance to show off. It turned into a nailbiter due to costly turnovers and 2 failed 4th down conversions inside the 10. But in the end, the Pirates emerge victorious 17-10.

QB Eason was 20 of 28 passing for 273 yards. He also ran for a score. Our running game was not too good as Turner had 44 yards on 18 carries. HIs back-up Seurer ran 9 times for 28 yards but had 2 fumbles. Jackson led our receivers with 7 catches for 104 yards. TE Rivers added 3 catches for 62 yards. In all, 10 players had catches for this balanced attack. On the line, we had one KRB and 4 pancakes all by different players. Defensively, our ILB Green had 9 tackles, 3 stuffs. Ward (DE) Sowell (DT) and Hoambreacker (DE) had 2 sacks apiece (6 for the team). SS Swenson had an INT and 5 tackles to earn player of the game honors 28,711 attend the game

Week 2: @ Rutgers

We travel to New Jersey where we are only 2 pt underdogs. My pregame speech has the team ready to play and we roll to a 30-10 half-time lead as Eason connects with Evans 4 times for touchdowns! We are content to run clock and play back-ups in the 2nd half en route to a 33-16 upset win.

452 total yards to 235. Eason was 10 of 16 for 171 yards and 4 TD's. Cherry came in reserve and threw 7 of 8 for 128 yards. Eason also had 70 yards on 7 carries, while Turner mustered 72 on 27 carries. Paul gets 116 receiving yards on 4 catches. Evans catches 5 balls for 84 yards - remarkable that 4 of those 5 were scores! TE Rivers did not have a big receiving day, but delivered 3 pancakes. Most exciting for us was ZERO turnovers! Defensive star of the game was SS Swenson with 5 tackles and 2 INTs. ILB Green 5 tackles, 3 sacks! 3 other players had a sack apiece (6 for team). Ward had 1 in limited playing time.

will the momentum carry over into conference play or will our early luck run out?

olympia · July 16, 2013

Week 3 - @Tulane

we travel to Tulane for first conference game. Our defense is ranked #2 nationally against the pass, but will be tested in this one

nothing went right in this game and Tulane blew us off the field 37-13. QB, Eason was hurt early and the back-ups were pitiful Our running game was non-existent. Eason came off the bench in the second half trying to spark a rally but was not able to do much (ended day 6 of 17 for 76 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT; also ran for 72 of our 101 yards). Only bright spot was the linebacker play of Green who had 14 tackles, 3 stuffs. Ward also tried to play thru his pain and racked up another sack (3 for the team) - nothing to celebrate seeing as how the #2 defense gave us 327 yards in the air and 252 on the ground. Lots of holes we have to try to plug after this embarrassment

Week 4

3-0 Southern Methodist vs 2-1 ECU -- we are 1 pt underdogs at home

Team came out more fired up and wanting to play hard for their injured comrades. Turner was reeling off long runs one after another. Back-up QB Willaims finds Evans in the end zone to take the early lead SMU comes back to tie the game in the 2nd. We get an interception at midfield with under a minute to go, the ECU coaching staff roll the dice and send in Eason to see if he can work some magic. The move catches the Ponies off guard and Eason hits Jackson in stride and he wins the footrace to the endzone as time expires.

We take that momentum into the lockerroom - and come out with the same fire. Williams returns as QB and connects with Jackson for a 73 yard TD strike! Eason begs to go back in during the 4th quarter on a critical 3rd down play - once again, he strikes gold hitting TE Rivers for a 37 yard TD, with a 31-7 lead, ECU empties the bench and hopes to give some younger guys some experience. That worked well for 8 minutes, but then SMU scores 3 times in the last 2 minutes to make the score look a lot more respectable (and closer than the game actually was). ECU wins 31-24 and can celebrate a solid team performace (last 2 minutes notwithstanding).

We are about where I expected at this stage of the season. Our defense is really carrying us and the offense has been adequate when our dual threat QB Eason is healthy. He has a talented receiver corps to throw to -- just need to work on the O-line to give him better protection and open some holes for running backs (who need all the help they can get)

olympia · July 17, 2013

per a request I got on PM, here's a look the Conference USA

Eastern Division - where we play

Marshall is the cream of the crop. best talent and resources right now. They are easily the favorite to win it all this year (49 Presitge)

MEMPHIS - the Tigers are not too far behind Marshall. They have a veteran team that could make alot of noise this year. (42 presige)

UAB is a top 3 team (41)

ECU falls middle of the pack here in the east. I think we match up well with the middle/lower tier teams and hope to surprise a few folks and at least finish 3rd in the east - if not win it all. :-)

Central Florida and Southern Miss are the bottom dwellers in the east. Surprising for So Miss with their history of upseting SEC teams.

WEST:

TULSA is the pre-season favorite in the west

Tulane and Texas El Paso are rated just behind prestige.

Southern Methodist is just a notch behind them

Central Texas and Houston bring up the cellar - however, both these teams have talent and this division could be WIDE open and I wouldn't be surprised no matter who wins.

My quick analysis tells me the EAST is stacked at the top and ECU will have to work hard to crack the top 3. The West seems to be a notch behind the east, but the teams show more parity top to bottom. My plan is to get the best talent I can in here and close the gap between us and teams like Marshall, Memphis, UAB. With our defense playing well, we need to use our dual threat QB to just not make mistakes and see if we can steal a few close games. MY true goal for year one is win 6 games and get to a bowl Anything else is gravy,

olympia · July 21, 2013

ECU at Tulsa (2-2)

Tulsa is one of the preseason favorites in Conf USA, and the coaching staff works overtime game planning with injuries and acedemic suspensions. We are down to just 2 DT's and 3 DE's, so we make a rash decision to work in some 3-4 defense to give them some rest and put an addititonal playmaking linebacker on the field.

The offense jumps out to a 10-0 lead on the arm of Eason who hits Evans for a 63 yard TD strike. The defensive switch is causing Tulsa fits and we add a FG right before the half (13-0). Bobby McCord returns an interception 28 yards to put the Pirates up 19-0 as we miss the 2 pt try. Tulsa finally got a drive going to cut the lead to 19-7 and that is where the scoring stops as both defenses stood tall in the 4th qtr. It wasn't pretty but a Nice win for ECU. Eason 4/11 for 114 yards and a TD.

I was surprised the 3-4 switch actually worked since it is not compatible with our normal 4-3. I think it just totally caught Tulsa off-guard and the extra backer messed up their short passing attack.

Central Florida (1-4) vs ECU (4-1)

we are 10 pt favorites at home.

a 2nd qtr outbreak allows ECU to take care of business and win 23-3. Eason has TD tosses to Paul and Rivers. Turner (130 yards) and Simms (74 yds) help us control the ground game. Green and Swenson carry the D (8 tackles, Swenson an INT). Crowd continues to grow little by little as 28,728 attend/ Still a long way from getting a 45.000 sellout but we'd love to at least draw 30k for the next home game. First, we get a bye week to heal some injuries.

We can use that time off since Memphis comes to town next!

olympia · July 22, 2013

Big game against rival Memphis who is in first place in the East right now.

36,723 watch Memphis rout ECU out of the state 26-0, Eason went down early, and the Tigers ate up the running game. Our defense got 8 sacks!! 3 by Okobi who was on fire. Too bad nothing else went right for us.

ANother big game

Southern Miss vs ECU

only 26,000 show up for the game between #2 and #3 in our division. I guess they expected another beatdown, but they were sadly mistaken! It may have looked that way when So Miss ran a kick off back for a score and 10-0 lead, but Eason found Jackson for a 60 TD pass before the half. In the 2nd half, Eason went down to his 3rd injury of the year and was replaced by Billy Cherry - Cherry threw 2 TD's (Rivers and Evans) and ECU wins a shocker 21-10!

SoMiss QB Bortz only completed 16 of the 46 passes he threw and that proved to be the difference brought on by intense pressure -- 5 sacks and 5 hurries, led by Ward, Okobi, and Green. Player of the game was WR Jackson who had 111 yds and a TD on 4 catches.

that gives us 6 wins on the season so maybe we make a bowl game. We remain 2 games behind Memphis in the CU east. So Miss and Marshall are 1 game behind us at 4-3. The west is led by Houston at 4-1 and SMU at 4-3

Next up is HOMECOMING and the opponent will be UAB, followed by the team I call the Beast of the East.....Marshall

olympia · July 25, 2013

I'm trying to move aong a decent clip to get caught up on the past years I already have in the books: If you'd rather have a quick sum of the season or something different, I'm not opposed.....just let me know

HOMECOMING WEEK

crowd in excess of 31.000 for Homecoming against UAB

Eason was getting the job done with 107 passing and 62 rushing yards until he took a finger to the eye and had to leave the game with a 13-0 lead. Cherry and Williams struggle to get anything going and Turner was slowed down too - UAB makes a 4th qtr comeback against our weary defense, but we hold on for a 19-14 win. After Eason left, we did not complete a single pass, ending with 107 total passing yards. Turner picks 133 rushing yards. ILB Green leads with 11 tackles, OLB Young picks up a sack and an INT> once again we force 25 incomplete passes (40 att), so we have some good coverage going on out there.

Memphis lost to UTEP and now we are only 1 game back. Memphis has Central Florida as their only remaining game, we have preseason fave Marshal without our starting QB

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ECU at MARSHALL

We get rolled 27-6 at Marshall. QBs combine for 8 of 26 and 120 yards. Turner gets 75 rushing yards, but overall yards for the team comes in under 200. Ward picked up 2 more sacks for us, but not enough to stop their juggernaut which gained almost 500 yards. Marshall lived up to the "Beast of East" moniker that I gave them

sad part is Memphis lost their game too, so we could have tied for first in the east (though would lose the tie-breaker). We end in a 3-way tie for 2nd with Marshall and So Miss. Houston at 5-2 leads west, followed by SMU at 5-3

We have two out of conference games to close out the season. First is Buffalo who are 2nd in the Mid-American conference and our cross-state rival Wake Forest. We are 6-3 right now, so bowl eligible. But we need to have a good showing in these games to prove we belong (and maybe get a better bowl).

olympia · July 27, 2013

ECU vs Buffalo

30,766 come out to see 2 teams that are second in their respective leagues. Buffalo sports a 5-4 record while ECU is 7-3. Vegas puts even odds on the game (they are better talented, but we are at home and a better record)

we hold them to 239 yards and pick up 349 en route to a 17-14 victory (wasn't that close as the Buffs add a TD as time expires) Eason 14 of 26 for 176 yds and 1 TD. Turner rushed for 113 yds. Swenson picks up another player of the game award with 8 tackles and another INT> Last game of the season will be ACC celler dweller Wake Forest who has not won a game all year. To start the season we wanted to stay close with a power conference team, now even if we win, it will lose some of the shine since they are winless

ECU at Wake Forest

ECU travels down the road to Wake Forest -- Wake is 2 pt favorites at home

We settle in for a defensive battle and its 3-3 at the half. Our defense is ranked #15 in the nation and the coaching staff seems willing to leave things in their capable hands; however, they are exhausted by the 4th Qtr, forcing some liberal substutions. We need a big break if we expect to score as Wake's defense totally outclasses our offense - especially with our star WR Jackson and 2 top Olinemen on injured reserve. That break comes with 8 minutes to go in the game when Eason hits speedster Keenan Paul in stride and he outraces the Demon Deacons 64 yards for the only TD of the game. After a turnover, we go nowhere but kick the 49 yard FG for a 10 pt lead. Our defense bends but does not break and they miss a couple FG tries. Even though our offense goes 3 and out most drives, Collett keeps pinning them deep with great punts and making them drive the entire field - our exhauted D makes their stand once they cross mid-field each time and we hold out for a galliant 13-3 victory!

for the game we are outgained 362 - 292, but get the job done when it counts. Eason a miserable 13 of 30 for 194 yards but the key one was the 64 TD to Paul. Turner 20 caries for 61 yards. The other backs combine for 23 yards on 20 carries. We just could not get any rhythm going. Swenson leads the defense with 8 tackles, 2 stuffs, and a key interception to earn yet another Player of the Game. Young and Wells chased their QB 6 times, but only got to him once.

Anytime you beat a rival, especially one from a BCS conference, it is cause for celebration

olympia · July 28, 2013

Award Ceremony Our WR and kick returner Najeh Evans gets FOY honors for Conf USA and Swenson first team all Conf at SS <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="36405" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>what does F.O.Y stand for?</div></blockquote> Evans and TE Rivers get 2nd team all conference, DE Bill Ward is 2nd team (8 sacks). 3rd team: Center Hetherington, FB Harris, Kicker Nkwneti. LB's Green and Young. ECU wins Coach of the Year we end up with 14th ranked Defense on the year (#23 against run)). We end the regular season ranked #41 by the computer and #62 RPI -- .492, and .407 SOS (#117) -- on and the offense is ranked 77th Houston defeats Memphis 33-20 to win the conference championship. For all our hard work, we are rewarded with a trip to lovely Hawaii and a bowl game with Utah State

olympia · August 2, 2013

to answer my own question, FOY may stand for Freshman of the Year?

Hawaii Bowl 8-3 Utah State vs 9-3 ECU -- ECU is 4 pt favorites!

we came out fired up and played a solid game. 17-7 halftime lead on the strength on Turner's 2 TD runs. Utah State got to within a TD in the 3rd qtr, but the defense took over in the 4th quarter, and the offense put up 21 unanswered points as we win 41-14!!! Eason 16 of 29 for 202 yds and a TD. Turner 30 carries for 126 yards and 3 TD's and player of the game honors. 50,000 - largest crowd of the year

Conf USA goes 3-3 in bowl games. Memphis over Central Michigan 23-14, ECU 41-14 romp of Utah state, Marshall 38-10 over Troy. Southern Miss played well in their 16-10 loss to Texas A&M. SMU was routed 45-3 by Virginia. Houston stayed with #24 Boston College expect for one quarter. 34-24 final score.

Florida State outlasts Ohio State 52-46 in overtime to win the National Title.

If you have a favorite team you want me to follow, let me know.

olympia · August 5, 2013

we end up with C for Team Performance. D for talent. C for recruiting. B for board expectations B for prestige. And C+ overall. Prestige moves up 1 point (nice record, but OOC games were very weak)

our budget goes up $20,000 to 1,870,000. Vandy offers a job, which is interesting but we started here for a reason.

we get 58,000 for recruiting

True to my word, we replace the offensive coordinator. Special Teams coach opts for greener pastures too.

I made a list of 5 guys who would upgrade our offense:

I opt for Freddie Green as the new OC as the same price -- he is still yellow at Game Plans but very good at developing QB and WR. We'll see how that works out, and maybe try to upgrade a better planner in a couple years if the talent level rises.

For Special Teams, Dan Shaffer costs me a lot of money as I outbid Missouri for his services. He is blue game planner and motivator and green at development and scouting. I had to double what I paid last year for special teams - which means we will have to cut services somewhere else (I'm thinking west coast scouting)

in transfers, we gamble but miss-out on a 4 star QB; however, we are happy to announce Soph Fred Humble, a 3 star QB from Colorado will be moving to ECU. He has a 99 work ethic and is very durable. His 70 passing rating should improve under the tuteldge of Coach Green this year while he sits out.

In other good recruiting news, DT Harold Truex's dad called from Ohio, Mr Truex is an ECU alum and would love to see his son wear the purple and gold. We can always use a good DT, so Harold's name goes to the top of the recruiting board.

This will be my first attempt at recruiting for a smaller school like ECU, and I realize a lot of the strategy I used at Tennessee may not work as well.

My plan is to try to upgrade key positions with 3 stars and stick mostly with 2 stars as back-up plans (Don't think we're in a position to attract 4 stars yet. However, if there are any that shows interest, I'll certainally try. For now, I'd like to get a 3-star first string across the board (which may take a few recruiting classes). That would put us in position to beat most the teams in conference.

olympia · August 6, 2013

I needed to upgrade almost the whole team, so I cast a large net. My main focus was both lines and the defensive backs.

it took to week 12 for us to sign a player

it was nerve racking, waiting for some guys to sign up, but worth it

DT Harold Truax - 3 star, will be a beast for us if he can makes grades

CB Chad Craig - 3 star, should develop into a good cover corner

C Ben Eason - 3 star, expect him to start and anchor the line

ILB Terrance Hickerson - 3 star, has big shoes to fill

CB Robert Russell - 3 star, should be decent cover corner

we also lost 4 guys this week that we were counting on, so switched to Plan B on those.

week 13 - filled in some holes and replaced the guys who signed elsewhere

WR Charlie Cash - 3 star possession receiver

OLB Alonzo Fitzsimmons - 3 star balanced.

SS Bobby Tyler - 3 star, good athlete and I'm hoping for big things

OT Chas Trejo - 2 star NC boy. Adequate, but not the impact player we need

here is the complete class:

Truax is the cream of the class. Need more top 500 players to join us!!

OLB Alonzo Fitzsimmons, 3-stars

Cummings (Burlington, NC)

National Rank: 881, Regional: 156, Position: 67

current 41 / potential 65

ILB Terrance Hickerson, 3-stars

Rutland (Rutland, VT)

National Rank: 975, Regional: 172, Position: 64

Current 46 / potential 61

WR Charlie Cash, 3-stars

Rockville (Vernon, CT)

National Rank: 762, Regional: 138, Position: 104

current 43 / potential 63

C Ben Eason, 3-stars

Timber Creek (Erial, NJ)

National Rank: 885, Regional: 158, Position: 27

current 37 / potential 67

CB Chad Craig, 3-stars

Hightstown (Hightstown, NJ)

National Rank: 890, Regional: 160, Position: 81

current 43 / potential 63

DT Harold Truax, 3-stars

Eastmoor Academy (Columbus, OH)

National Rank: 463, Regional: 77, Position: 32

current 38 / potential 71

CB Robert Russell, 3-stars

Gateway Regional (Woodbury Heights, NJ)

National Rank: 1098, Regional: 194, Position: 109

SS Bobby Tyler, 3-stars

St. Joseph's Prep (Philadelphia, PA)

National Rank: 998, Regional: 175, Position: 33

DT Richard Caldwell, 2-stars

North Duplin (Calypso, NC)

National Rank: 2003, Regional: 374, Position: 80

OT Chas Trejo, 2-stars

Crest (Shelby, NC)

National Rank: 1467, Regional: 268, Position: 110

FS Steve Gold, 2-stars

Holmes CC (MS), Princeton, KY, HS - KY

National Rank: 1580, Regional: 399, Position: 59

OG Vaughn Smith, 2-stars

Dudley (Greensboro, NC)

National Rank: 1396, Regional: 250, Position: 95

QB Derrick Martin, 2-stars

Bandys (Catawba, NC)

National Rank: 1276, Regional: 224, Position: 105

olympia · August 10, 2013

I was proud of my first effort with ECU recruiting; however, found that it was only middle of the pack here in Conference USA.

WE had the #77 ranked class in the nation.

Marshall was ranked #47 (and signed three 4-star players)

In the west, UTEP was ranked #49 and Tulane #59

IN the east, our class landed just behind Memphis (#70) and So Miss (#73) and just ahead of UAB (#79).

So 4th of 6 teams in the east and 6th in the 12 team conference. Outside of Marshall who raked in some 4-stars, the players we signed stack up well with the others and may have been ranked lower only because the other teams signed a half dozen more players than us. Add in the QB who will transfer in, and I think we are building a good foundation, especially on defense.

olympia · August 16, 2013

for the 2007 season, we have Colorado State, Cincinnati, Rutgers, and Wake Forest as our OOC games

Col State vs ECU

we expected to struggle against a powerful team, but we won easily. We put up some points, but we can't give much of the credit to the offense. Our Juco SS Gold struck gold when he picked off a pass and ran it 65 yards for the first score. Then as time was running out in the half, Bobby McCord picked off another pass and ran it 75 yards to give us the 14-0 lead. The 3rd qtr was scoreless until the end, and our offense finally found the end zone - Santana Hampton hits Turner in the endzone. CSU finally gets on the scoreboard with a TD pass - that must have angered our defense because the next time out MLB Bellamy stuffs Muster in the end zone for a safety! We tack on a FG to win 26-7.

We gain 401 yards and hold them to 301. Our offense seemed inept, getting 2 of 13 3rd down conversions. Our QB's threw 4 interceptions, but our defense picked off SIX!! (McCord had 2). We also sack their QB 7 times. Strange choice for player of the game: DT Kent Smith who had 4 tackles and 2 sacks (I would have thought McCord who had 3 tackles and the pick 6). But we are not going to complain - we beat a team that was better than us even if only 27,725 came out to watch our home opener. We invited a CB from PA into watch the game. I hope he was impressed with our style of play with all the picks and decides to join us next season!

injury report: WR Paul tears a rotator cuff and is out for a month. CB Evans breaks a toe and will miss a game or 2 while he nurses it.. We have 7 guys with grade issues, but only 84 hours of extra study hall for the year (I assign 40 hours, 10 each to the 3 starters, and then spread the others to the reserves. Some of these guys are pretty smart so maybe they'll just buckle down and get it.)

ECU at Cincinnati

we expect a stiff challenge and are 2 touchdown underdogs.

we play tough and take a 10-7 first quarter lead, but the size, speed, and depth of Cincy takes over and they wear us down for a rout. 30-13

we got outgained 459 to 292. we gain 49 yards on 32 rushes and 10 of 25 passing for 243 yards. Just could not get anything untracked - and show we are not quite ready for prime time The defense played decent with an interception and 2 fumble recoveries. Linebackers Young and Bellamy both with 10 tackles

in week 3, we start our conference schedule with SMU

olympia · August 25, 2013

in week 3, the Conference USA flexes a little muscle in non-conference games, Memphis beats Virgiinia, Houston over NC State, and the big one - UAB knocks off #17 Colorado.

3) ECU at SMU (we are 3 pt underdogs)

SMU jumps to a 21-6 halftime lead as they bombed us deep for 2 scores then ran a 79 yard INT return for another. We regroup in the lockerroom and decide to run the ball more after 3 ints/ Bradford and Turner each dive into the endzone to give us the lead. Then Hampton finds Cash to put the game away as the defense played much better as the game went on and we score 25 unanswered points to win 31-24. hard fought road win, but we'll take it,.

week 4

ECU 21 - UTEP 10

UTEP runs the ball down our throats to open the game - and a 7 pt lead. ECU responds with a nice drive and SantanaHampton finds FB McCants in the endzone to tie the game. El Paso was stacking the line (we avg 1.4 yards per carry), so we open up the offense a bit in the 2nd half. Hampton connects with true freshman Cash twice, 46 and 36 yard TD passes/ We took the redshirt off of freshmen QB Martin, and Hampton is starting to feel a little pressure and has responded with a good game.

we have big games with Memphis and Marshall back to back

olympia · August 27, 2013

ECU vs MEMPHIS

after struggling the last couple games, the Pirates came out fired up. 24-6 halftime score and we did not let up. Final Score 38-16

Both QB's threw a pair of TD passes - 2 to Evans, 1 to Cash, and 1 to TE Nickerson (but only 120 yards each too). We are outgained 415 to 325, but the defense kept them out of the end zone for the most part

ECU @ Marshall

We got run off the football field in this one. Nothing was working offensively or defensively - final score 41-9

In other games of interest, Navy beats Notre Dame 24-21 (Irish suffer 3rd loss of year and drop to #10). Stanford hands USC their 2nd loss of season 24-21, dropping Trojans to #9. UCLA jumps to top spot with 23-20 win over Washington State

olympia · August 30, 2013

3-5 So Miss at 5-2 ECU (we are 2 pt favorites at home)

sloppy ugly game@! Our offense looks inept out there - picking up 12 first downs for the game. We stuggle to get any drives going, and turnovers kills us early. On the other hand, our defense keeps us in the game and it's 3-3 at the half. In the 2nd half, we block a FG but SoMiss connects on their next drive to go up 6-3. After a 10 yard sack, the SoMiss secondary blows coverage allowing Hampton to find Evans for a 97 yard TD strike and our first lead of the game. Miracle? Not so much as the 4th qtr opens with a SoMiss 37 yard TD pass. Hampton is sacked 7 times and throws 4 int's (2 other QB's try their hand but have zero effectiveness). AS So Miss is just trying to run out the clock, we get a fumble recovery with 2 minutes to go and life. Cherry replaces Hampton at QB and finds Flowers in the endzone with 24 seconds left!!

ECU wins in dramatic fashion 17-13. We have 275 total yards of offense and hold them to 225. we had 40 rushes for 40 yards, the passing game was ok except for sacks and ints - that is unacceptable. Gutsy win, but we will take it any way we can get it.

Memphis knocks off Marshall putting ECU atop the Conference USA east standings!!

injuries mount up after that game - QB, 2 OLBs, 2 CBs, and starting SS are all out with injuries and a few others are questionable for next wek

4-5 Tulsa at 6-2 ECU (we are 7 point favorites)

we have a 2-1 time of possession lead but trail on the scoreboard 9-6. Defense is playing well, but our offense continues to struggle. To tell how bad, Turner has 15 carries for 6 yards. In the 2nd half, Tulsa's offense takes over and wins the TOP battle - our offense is terrible on all fronts and the defense is totally worn down compounded by the injuries,

final score 12-6 loss. ECU should hang its head in shame for this embarrasing home loss. As a coaching staff, we have to do a better job of getting the team prepared and motivated each week.

we pick up 55 yards on 40 carries. Pass for 217 yards but 4 ints and 4 sacks. Just not much to be happy about

only saving grace is that Marshall lost at home to So Miss! We are still one game in front of the standings -- bad news we travel to UAB and will be huge underdogs. Memphis, UAB, Marshall, and SO Miss are all tied at 4-3 in 2nd place for the East behind us. Central Florida is 2 games back in a very tight race

6-3 ECU at 6-4 UAB -- 11 point dogs on the road

we stay close but still go down to defeat again. 16-10. shut out in 2nd half for 2nd game in a row. 5 int and 4 sacks and held under 100 yards rushing as team yet again. Sad state of affairs and I'm sure we will be looking for a new OC at year end.

Memphis and Marshall both lose so UAB and ECU tied for first. Marshall, Memphis, CFU, and So Miss all tied for second place 1 game back. UAB should win the tie-breaker as we have 2 non-conference games left

olympia · August 31, 2013

1-9 Rutgers vs 6-4 ECU (3 pt favorites at home)

once again inept offense and a stout defense that keeps us in the game. So boring, I hate to write much detail. 0-0 at half time. Teams trade FG's in 3rd qtr. We kick the go ahead FG with 12 minutes to go and win 6-3.

12 of 30 passing. 45 total rushing yards. Our offense is in need of much help (and a new OC anyone?).

Boring was a bad adjective in hindsight. We know our offense is struggling and we are playing old school hard-nosed defense. That defense is keeping us in games and allowing us to pick up some wins. There is no way we can win a shoot-out right now --- but that might change next year when our transfer QB Fred Humble steps under center.

winless Wake Forest comes to ECU for their annual rivalry game.

final score 20-10, ECU is victoriuous!! Turner is player of the game with 98 yards rushing. Freshman QB Martin returns from injury to throw 238 yards and 2 TD's. That should ensure our 2nd bowl appearance

end of season awards and bowl game are next

Theheel · September 4, 2013

7-4 is not a bad record for ECU, and it is something to build on if you can find an offense next season. Definitely a bowl team, good luck in it!

olympia · September 9, 2013

7-4 is not a bad record for ECU, and it is something to build on if you can find an offense next season. Definitely a bowl team, good luck in it!

The QB that I got as a transfer should set the world on fire!!! His stats were excellent (especially for this league). The question remains if the line can block for him to give him time to throw and if he can develop some chemistry with the WR's......but I'm excited to see how it works out.

olympia · September 14, 2013

awards: Conference USA - first team: N Evans WR (1058 yards, 7 TD). DE Bill Ward (14 tackles 8 sacks) 2nd team: DT Keith Smith 23 tackles, 7 sacks, 6 stuffs. CB Bobby McCord (25 tackles, 5 int) 3rd team: RB Marvin Turner (863 yards, 4 TD). FB McCants. OT Spoon 6 RB, 11 Pancakes. CB Dwight Evans 24 tackles, 11 passes defended, 4 int 6-5 Tulsa takes on 7-4 UAB in conf championship - and Tulsa pulls the upset 28-17 Clemson over Va Tech, Florida over LSU, and Texas over Colorado in other championship games we draw Fresno State in the Hawaii Bowl Hawaii Bowl - our defense is able to keep the game close (6-3 at the half, we tie the game for a short time and only trail 13-6 going into the 4th quarter). Freshman QB Martin goes down with an injury and Hampton gets his time to shine --- and this time he steps up big!! 37 yard TD pass to Shannon Jackson to tie the game, then a 65 yard bomb to Evans to put us in the lead with 5 minutes left in the game!! Fresno State drives down the field but the big Pirate Defense is stingy in the red zone -- 3rd and 7 on the 13, they complete a 6 yard slant so FSU settles with a FG with just over 2 minutes to go in the game -- they must think our mostly inept offense will go 3 and out and they get a chance to win it in regulation. They were right as we lose 4 yards on 3 plays and punt with a minute to go. Fresno picks up yards in big chunks in their hurry up offense against our prevent defense. 3 straight first downs put them in Pirate territory -- Another quick pass, another 15 yard gain. They hurry to the line and the QB spikes the ball trying to stop the clock - just not quick enough as the horn sounds! ECU escapes with a huge 20-16 win. <blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="36405" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>Oklahoma beats UCLA 40-31 to win the national title</div></blockquote> Michigan hands Syracuse their only loss of the season to claim the 2 spot. Followed by Purdue, Texas, UCLA, FSU, Syracuse, Va Tech, Iowa, Auburn

Theheel · September 14, 2013

Nice bowl game win for the Pirate program and 9-4 is a very good season. How close did you come to top 25? Must have been close. Good job coach.

Jayhawk_Football · September 29, 2013

I think the game needs serious tweaking to correct the offensive stagnation that comes with manually playing through games. It's ridiculous, youd think conference USA was the NFL with hyper effective defenses. In the end it ruins the game for me. Which is sad because almost a decade later there are no alternatives for college football games. Imagine a Football Manager type franchise designed for CFB.. one can dream

olympia · November 30, 2013

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Theheel" data-cite="Theheel" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="36405" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>Nice bowl game win for the Pirate program and 9-4 is a very good season. How close did you come to top 25? Must have been close. Good job coach.</div></blockquote> I think we ended up around 30-40, I can't find in my notes anywhere the actual ranking. There have been a few times we knocked on the door of the top 25 in my tenure, but not quite broken through. and I agree to a point about the offenses Jayhawk_football. It's very sporadic to say the least. It seems the teams will rack up more yards and points if I sim the game rather than actually play it myself. I have a rock star QB that transferred in for the next year, so I'm looking forward to seeing what he can do. For the upcoming season, we replace our OC and ST asst coaches For OC, we lost our first 2 choices but end up with a young up and comer - Lee Canady. The Oregon State alum is a student of the West Coast offense, and creates excellent game plans. He has a great eye for QB's and average to poor for other positions. He is an average (yellow) developer of his players. We are hoping his schemes will be enough to confuse the DC's of Conference USA and win us a few more ball games as we realize we won't be able to out-talent them for a couple more years. we spent money on our coaching staff and the alumni are expecting that it pays off. We have the best staff in CUSA bar none. Decent in player development but very good at the X's and O's. Marshall for all their talent finished 8th last year and kept out of bowl games -- partly due to inferior coaching perhaps In other good preseason news, we get aggressive on the transfer front and go after 3 players in positions of future need, We manage to secure 2 of them!! OT Scottie Berry and DE Matt Sunde -- both will shore up our trenches next year (missed on a RB) We have road games to #23 Boston College and Kansas, so we will find out if our new QB is the real deal or not (maybe asking a lot to make his first starts in such hostile environments). In addition to our normal conference schedule, we also have a pair of ACC cross state rival games with Duke and Wake Forest.

olympia · December 2, 2013

Season opener at #23 Boston College

BC rips us in the first game 55-17. Tough way to break in the new offense, but we decided to start with a strong opponent to see what we're made of. Hopefully we learn and improve each week

week 2 at Kansas

Kansas game was much closer - in fact we led 17-10 at the half. Second half, their depth and quality took over and KS wins 25-20.

bright spot for us: Our new QB Fred Humble was 33 of 52 passing for 472 yards, 2 TD's and no ints!! Receiving: Evans 164 yards, Cash 132 yards, Paul 94 yards on 6 catches each. OG Schuh continues to impress, 2 KRB, 2 pancakes

Defensively Bellamy 9 tackles, a sack and couple stuffs. We sure could have used a turnover or a big stop in the 4th quarter

we get an open date to prepare for our first conference game and first home game of the year as Houston comes to town. An 0-2 start is not where we wanted to be, but we showed some good improvement against a good Kansas team, and we will have to play very well in Conf USA if we expect to make a bowl game now

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