WRAL Sports Fan

Finishing out the season

With two games left it is entirely possible the the Pirates could end up 8-4 or 7-5. I don't want to count my chickens before they hatch, but if that happens it is kind of hard to be nearly as negative as some seem to want to be about the state of ECU football. Of course one can point out that ECU has been inconsistant, has had defensive lapses, that the level of football in C-USA is significantly below that of the even the ACC etc. etc. But regardless of all that a 7 or 8 win season is something a heck of a lot of other schools would love to see. I think the glass is half full.

RE: Finishing out the season

Agreed

RE: Finishing out the season

I agree that our current situation is much more positive than negative. However, I am concerned that there is far more to our overall football program longterm than our current or future win/loss record. Just look at who we have beat and who we weren't even competitive against. We have won the games against .500 teams or worse. Teams of any decent caliber or record have embarrassed us. I feel that the level of quality teams in CUSA has dropped (especially next year) and ECU should win or at least be able to compete each and every year for the conference Championship. However, even that's simply not going to get it done if we want to break the Top 25 barrier or even be considered a "honorable mention" like Tulsa and UCF are currently. We are going to have to win some of the "big boy" games we continue to schedule outside the conference. And currently, I don't see ECU's program improving to that level as when Holtz and Logan were coaching. I feel our talent level is the same and will remain the same as it always has been. It has been the coaching ability of the previously mentioned coaches that enabled us to beat ranked teams and take care of business in CUSA and rise to the level of a Top 25 program. I feel this coming bowl game will determine a great deal of what our program can be under Ruff. Is ECU going to be able to compete with a decent team (whoever is in the bowl will have a winning record)and actually win the game -- or are we going to get embarrased on national TV like we did last time in DC. I will reserve my final judgement following that final bowl game. I certainly have hope that Ruff's team can finally rise above the mediocracy we have been seeing over the last couple of years and prove evident that we are moving in the right direction with this program. Because if it doesn't happen, like it or not, we are stuck with Ruff at least for the next 2 years.

RE: Finishing out the season

With two games left it is entirely possible the the Pirates could end up 8-4 or 7-5. I don't want to count my chickens before they hatch, but if that happens it is kind of hard to be nearly as negative as some seem to want to be about the state of ECU football. Of course one can point out that ECU has been inconsistant, has had defensive lapses, that the level of football in C-USA is significantly below that of the even the ACC etc. etc. But regardless of all that a 7 or 8 win season is something a heck of a lot of other schools would love to see. I think the glass is half full. 

- Posted by lazydawg58

I agree with you lazydawg. I am not trying to be negative, but realistic.

With the exception of App St. who I don't count because they don't play division one football and have 25 less scholarships then we do:

The teams we have beaten this year are 11-39. No team has a winning record. The closest team would be Houston at 4-6.

Our two remaining teams have a combined 6-14 record as both have losing records. You would think that we would win these, but I have seen us blow it before.

Here is my problem with the 8-4 record. It is not a reflection of how good we really are. We have had some good teams that went 8-4 or 7-5 under Logan and Skip. The thing is we were competitive with the good teams even if we lost. You would get an occasional blow out, but that was fairly rare. We are getting raked over the coals by teams that are .500 or better. They aren't just beating us, they are destroying us. I need to look back, but I think we have been blown out twice as much in these 3 years under Ruff than the 10 years combined we had under Logan. I count dozens of missed tackles a game, many of them arm tackles. I see no fundamentals or discipline in our players, which is a reflection on our coaching. Our secondary is the worst that I have seen since John Thompson.

I agree with Cooper, we have regressed from Logan and Holtz. We have the talent in place, just not a good staff. Although I love Connors and Doll and hope if there is a change that those guys can stay.

We are just mediocre at best and it is hard to celebrate an 8-4 season when all we did is beat a bunch of cream puffs. This is the easiest schedule I remember ever in ECU history. I actually think we could have easily finished the season at 11-1 if we had a good staff. Ruff is a good man, but being a good man is only part of the equation. He is missing the strategic half as a head coach.

RE: Finishing out the season

I just saw this afternoon from watching "College Football Live" that there will be a whole new BCS Bowl system in place starting with the 2014 season. It includes 6 total bowls -- the 4 "playoff" bowls towards the national championship, but also includes 2 additional BCS-type or major $ bowls to be played New Year's eve or day. The big news is that the two additional bowls WILL INCLUDE (one team)the highest ranked team from the 5 smaller tier conferences: CUSA, Sunbelt, BIg East, MAC and one other ? This is huge for the "little guy" conferences and allows one team for sure to be apart of the "big boy" bowl and $ without the current stipulations and exclusions. Therefore, I see it even more important in the near future for ECU to be able to have a respectable and possibly ranked football program.

It goes back to my previous thread and what "tcoutouzis" said about just being mediocre. I can't speak for all ECU fans but personally, I have much higher aspirations and expectations for ECU football than to be just satisfied with a winning record against bad CUSA (Division I want-a-bees) teams and possibly a CUSA Championship. And it's going to take ECU winning some of the "big boy" games and our bowl games to get us to that next level of respectability. From what I've seen the last 3 years with Ruff -- I'm just not convinced we are headed in that direction. However, winning out this season and WINNING our bowl game against a decent team will be a good start in the right direction.

RE: Finishing out the season

With two games left it is entirely possible the the Pirates could end up 8-4 or 7-5. I don't want to count my chickens before they hatch, but if that happens it is kind of hard to be nearly as negative as some seem to want to be about the state of ECU football. Of course one can point out that ECU has been inconsistant, has had defensive lapses, that the level of football in C-USA is significantly below that of the even the ACC etc. etc. But regardless of all that a 7 or 8 win season is something a heck of a lot of other schools would love to see. I think the glass is half full. 

- Posted by lazydawg58

I agree with you lazydawg. I am not trying to be negative, but realistic.

With the exception of App St. who I don't count because they don't play division one football and have 25 less scholarships then we do:

The teams we have beaten this year are 11-39. No team has a winning record. The closest team would be Houston at 4-6.

Our two remaining teams have a combined 6-14 record as both have losing records. You would think that we would win these, but I have seen us blow it before.

Here is my problem with the 8-4 record. It is not a reflection of how good we really are. We have had some good teams that went 8-4 or 7-5 under Logan and Skip. The thing is we were competitive with the good teams even if we lost. You would get an occasional blow out, but that was fairly rare. We are getting raked over the coals by teams that are .500 or better. They aren't just beating us, they are destroying us. I need to look back, but I think we have been blown out twice as much in these 3 years under Ruff than the 10 years combined we had under Logan. I count dozens of missed tackles a game, many of them arm tackles. I see no fundamentals or discipline in our players, which is a reflection on our coaching. Our secondary is the worst that I have seen since John Thompson.

I agree with Cooper, we have regressed from Logan and Holtz. We have the talent in place, just not a good staff. Although I love Connors and Doll and hope if there is a change that those guys can stay.

We are just mediocre at best and it is hard to celebrate an 8-4 season when all we did is beat a bunch of cream puffs. This is the easiest schedule I remember ever in ECU history. I actually think we could have easily finished the season at 11-1 if we had a good staff. Ruff is a good man, but being a good man is only part of the equation. He is missing the strategic half as a head coach. 

- Posted by tcoutouzis

I'll give you Logan. But Holtz didn't impress me that much. He never lost fewer than 5 games in any season at ECU. He had the advantage of being compared most immediately with the Thompson era. Prior to 2005, when the ACC's raid of the Big East led to that league's raid on C-USA (which is apparently still going on) ECU played in a tougher conference. The league has been in decline ever since, and ECU is going down with it. I'm not sure any coach can overcome that.

RE: Finishing out the season

The big least or cusa has never been "tough". ezwho?

RE: Finishing out the season

I have to hand it ECU. They have done the job in their Conference.

RE: Finishing out the season

Well ECU hasn't faired well in their OOC games against the BCS conferences. I think what the pirates need to do is try to schedule as many games as they can aginst ACC teams. I think if they keep plugging away they might be able to do better than 500 against them. :)

RE: Finishing out the season

Well ECU hasn't faired well in their OOC games against the BCS conferences. I think what the pirates need to do is try to schedule as many games as they can aginst ACC teams. I think if they keep plugging away they might be able to do better than 500 against them. :) 

- Posted by lazydawg58

They may want to pick on somebody else. In the last three years they are only 1-5 against ACC teams. That's the only thing keeping the ACC's non-conference record respectable.

RE: Finishing out the season

Well ECU hasn't faired well in their OOC games against the BCS conferences. I think what the pirates need to do is try to schedule as many games as they can aginst ACC teams. I think if they keep plugging away they might be able to do better than 500 against them. :) 

- Posted by lazydawg58

They may want to pick on somebody else. In the last three years they are only 1-5 against ACC teams. That's the only thing keeping the ACC's non-conference record respectable. 

- Posted by Ken D.

Who should they play in your opinion?