UCF vs ECU Game thread ⚔️🖤💛

[PhDee]

I think TW needs to take some heat for trying to blitz as much as we did on critical downs. We weren't getting enough pressure which left the secondary on islands that they couldn't handle. Gotta hand to to Ahlers though, he was locked in.

Deserves credit, but he literally threw every pass within 1 second for 6-8 yards, that's all he did and we made no adjustments.

ECU receivers are huge and strong.

We are outplayed on both OLine and DLine.

ECU is bigger and stronger on both lines. We look small out there except for Lee Hunter

 

[KnightNite]

We deserved to lose. ECU was the better team. Enjoy the CCG Cincy and Tulane.

 

[PhDee]

JRP throws 3 INT, 1 lost fumble and 0 TDs. I don't think they were fully his fault, but what a shit show.

 

[Colonel Mortimer]

As bad as Plumlee and the offense played, they could've played amazing and we still would've lost. What a disastrous performance by the defense.

 

[PhDee]

I see what the issue was. ECU's receivers and TE are 6'3, 6'2, 6'4, and 6'4, averaging like 220lb. That's why we lost.

If our DBs played the line of scrimmage, Ahlers would have just thrown lobs on every play, so TWill played the DBs back.

And that's why Ahlers threw quick passes on every play.

Combined with 4 turnovers by JRP gives us no shot.

What a WR corp by ECU.

 

[Yaes]

ECU is winning up front.

They won pretty much all night! I thought we looked bad on both sides of the ball.

 

[Yaes]

one notable twitter fan was spot on Plumlee and putting up stats on doormat Temple

He can’t beat any a average defense

That certainly seems to be the pattern that is developing.

 

[major.tom.foolery]

I hope the kids are embarrassed on the flight home

Guess they won't be flying coach...there was none of it tonight

 

[mattropolis]

Good teams win their home games. Good teams win some on the road. Very good, Great and elite teams win a lot of road games.

Last week 8 ranked teams lost. All 8 were road games. Road games separate good and great teams.

We‘re 4-1 at home and 1-1 on the road. What will we become…I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

 

[mattropolis]

I see what the issue was. ECU's receivers and TE are 6'3, 6'2, 6'4, and 6'4, averaging like 220lb. That's why we lost.

If our DBs played the line of scrimmage, Ahlers would have just thrown lobs on every play, so TWill played the DBs back.

And that's why Ahlers threw quick passes on every play.

Combined with 4 turnovers by JRP gives us no shot.

What a WR corp by ECU.

This is also his 5th season (in a row) as a starting QB. As they say, ”He’s a crafty veteran.” That’s a lot of experience.

 

[mattropolis]

Wtf how come we have so much trouble on the road. Like to kno where the Def hold was cuz that was a late flag

8 ranked teams lost last week. All 8 games were on the road.

 

[mattropolis]

Going to go change my shirt and sit in a different spot on the couch for the 2nd half. It’s obvious my setup was flawed in the 1st half.

When I first read this my brain saw…”Going to change my shorts and shit in a different spot on the couch for the second half.”

 

[mattropolis]

This is worst defensive showing all year. Worst part is that they aren’t giving up huge plays, but long, taxing drives all night eating up clock.

ECU finished 10/15 on 3rd and 4th downs.

 

[CBlackwellRN]

58 degrees when the game was over, and 38k fans in attendance. Doesn't sound that cold, nor hostile.

I was at the game. You are correct. Stadium was 1/2 empty and the weather was cool and crisp, not cold.

 

[mattropolis]

I think we’ll be better next year. Recruiting is good and pretty sure JRP can’t play worse.

People have to remember, he’s basically in his sophomore year playing QB, and the last time he played QB was three seasons ago. He’s also playing his sophomore season at a new school, with a new coach, new coordinator, and new teammates. That’s just the reality of the situation.

 

[AuburnLegacy_1]

People have to remember, he’s basically in his sophomore year playing QB, and the last time he played QB was three seasons ago. He’s also playing his sophomore season at a new school, with a new coach, new coordinator, and new teammates. That’s just the reality of the situation.

People need to understand he was 21-15 as a starting quarterback in high school. He never won a state title. Hell, he never won a championship at any level as a quarterback above middle school. He is at UCF only because he lost his job at Ole Miss, where he had a losing record as a starter. He doesn't know how to read defenses. He doesn't know how to pick advantageous matchups. He doesn't know when to throw the ball away. He has been outplayed by Jeff Sims, Malik Cunningham, and Hilton Ahlers--all of whom, UCF has made look like NFL prospects.

 

[ECUPittfan]

I will tell you all we played our best game in the 4 years Houston has been coach. I think everyone was surprised at how well we played. We should be 6-1 but we played not to lose. We would have beat 90% of the teams in america tonight. You just caught us at a bad time I think. Good luck and will miss the games against UCF, it was nice rivalry.

 

[KnightLife1]

Once again we are shown how awful this OL is.

The OL didn't commit three interceptions and a fumble all in the red zone. AND the OL did their job in getting us to the red zone on each of those occasions. That's a possible 28 points lost.

The OL may not have played a great game but I believe they played a respectable game. Turnovers, WR drops, predictable play calling and a porous pass defense were much bigger issues tonight.

 

[jtGoldenKnights]

Deserves credit, but he literally threw every pass within 1 second for 6-8 yards, that's all he did and we made no adjustments.

ECU receivers are huge and strong.

We are outplayed on both OLine and DLine.

ECU is bigger and stronger on both lines. We look small out there except for Lee Hunter

They played to much “bend” in the bend don’t break defense. They would be 6 yards off the receiver on a 3 and 4 and ECU would run an easy slant pattern. I didn’t understand that at all

 

[Terrorizzertz]

Well JRP usually follows up a bad Games with a great game let's see if the trend follows into next week against Cincy

 

[knight_tracker]

I will tell you all we played our best game in the 4 years Houston has been coach. I think everyone was surprised at how well we played. We should be 6-1 but we played not to lose. We would have beat 90% of the teams in america tonight. You just caught us at a bad time I think. Good luck and will miss the games against UCF, it was nice rivalry.

ECU dominated in every phase of the game... Well Played. From a UCF fan this is not what you expect or want to see in your 7th game of the season. This is on coaching.

 

[beelit47]

ECU dominated in every phase of the game... Well Played. From a UCF fan this is not what you expect or want to see in your 7th game of the season. This is on coaching.

Gotta think the kids were believing the hype and reading their press clippings

 

[muckdawg24]

Props to ECU, they played lights out. The groans at the bar were loud. It's hard to not go insane when you see play like this. It defies logic. Reality is setting in for me and our offense is just not there. Granted it was a road game but when you forget how to play football its a mental issue and partially to blame on coaching. Send them to the shrink for a consult to help them focus.

 

[Colonel Mortimer]

I can’t believe everybody is focusing on the offense when their QB ended up 30-36 and the D only got one stop the entire game when ECU started playing conservative. How are you supposed to win when the other team has the ball all the time and is scoring on every drive?

 

[ECU_Drummer]

This is also his 5th season (in a row) as a starting QB. As they say, ”He’s a crafty veteran.” That’s a lot of experience.

This isn’t wrong.

Ahlers now has the all time TD record for ECU and (I’d have to check) the AAC. He’s been around for a while, for better or for worse. Hometown kid who’s dad is the PA announcer for ECU. The story kinda writes itself.

He hasn’t always been great. Relied much more on his legs in prior years (see last time we won against UNC). WR #5 (CJ Johnson) was his teammate and favorite target at one of the local high schools so they obviously have some chemistry. I don’t think UCF was able to see Isiah Winstead (#11) last year, but putting CJ in the slot worked wonders because that’s a deadly matchup. Once UCF could figure out CJ, Ahlers could focus on Winstead. This is of course when we weren’t running (our RB corps is a bit light right now as we’re missing the “thunder” component of our “thunder and lightning” backfield).

ECU’s offense has been jekyll and hyde this year. Donnie Kirpatrick has had some very rough and questionable games calling O plays, but he’s also had some great ones as well (see NC State and now UCF).

This team could very easily be sitting at 6-2 if they had a competent kicking game early. I’m convinced we’ll never figure out Navy, that ship has sailed for me.

For context, this team has been digging out of a hole that was apparently as deep as the earth’s center thanks to the Scottie Montgomery years. My first years as a Pirate fan (2007-2010) were pretty favorable and our games against UCF were always competitive. It really sucked seeing the competitiveness die down a bit on our end, and for obvious reasons I’m glad the series ends the way it did last night.

Go do damage in the Big 12.

 

[mattropolis]

Six ranked teams lost yesterday. All six lost on the road. Eight ranked teams lost last weekend. All eight lost on the road. Just saying we’re not alone. Need I say “I sense a trend”, and throw up a cautionary tale on why you should stay as far as possible from signing 2-for-1’s as possible (unless you are the 2).

 

[Boston.Knight]

Six ranked teams lost yesterday. All six lost on the road. Just saying we’re not alone.

As long as JRP and the offense has it figured out at home, we all good bro! Remember GOL’s squads? Good game, bad game, good game, bad game. So tell me what’s next ? 😀

 

[Knight59]

JRP great against weak teams. Unfortunately, looks lost when we aren’t winning big.

Seems to be a pattern with our QBs the last few years.

 

[Gwoz]

Six ranked teams lost yesterday. All six lost on the road. Just saying we’re not alone. I sense a trend, and throw up a cautionary tale on why you should stay as far as possible from signing 2-for-1’s as possible (unless you are the 2).

#14 Syracuse @ #5 Clemson
#20 Texas @ #11 OK State
#24 Miss St @ #6 Alabama
#17 Kansas St @ #8 TCU
#9 UCLA @ #10 Oregon

#7 Ole Miss @ LSU (98k fans) (who will now be ranked at 5-2)

UCF @ ECU 'Hostile' 50% full stadium

 

[Knight59]

I can’t believe everybody is focusing on the offense when their QB ended up 30-36 and the D only got one stop the entire game when ECU started playing conservative. How are you supposed to win when the other team has the ball all the time and is scoring on every drive?

Perhaps not have your QB turn the ball over on 4 drives, three that would probably have produced points.

 

[akahotsizzle]

Team loss except for Boomer. Really everything looked pretty poor.

• JRP looked too hesitant to run when he could've.
• Even when JRP had time, he seemed to be scanning to find basically nobody open and then he would get caught by the D. Was coverage great or was JRP just not reading anything all night?
• OL is a mess and I think this is where we lose in the BIG XII. Seriously, it's going to be ugly. Get ready for the L's.
• #2 kept beating our guys to the edge, which I think was very much expected, but the DBs seemed to underplay him, taking too shallow of an angle constantly.

Overall I have to put this one on the coaching and the turnovers. ECU had their guys ready and my goodness they executed. Nearly impossible to overcome three turnovers.

Sucks that Baker couldn't really go but I wasn't able to listen to the call, just watching, so maybe they said something about that? And I am still wondering how/why Gamble gets out-touched by Holler so much. Is Kemore that much of a doofus that Holler can just outwork him?

What a series with ECU. Hurts to come out the loser of it, but they earned it, props to them. Now GFY 😆

 

[KnightLife1]

Gotta think the kids were believing the hype and reading their press clippings

Some in this room were certainly believing the hype, despite my sounding the alarm about our defensive Achilles heel against underneath passes, including yourself:

beelit47:​

KnightLife1 said:
To what do you attribute the two long scoring drives by a weak Temple offense?

The first couple of drives in every game are very scripted and designed to throw off the opposong defense. We adjusted and reeled off 56 unanswered points

 

[KnightNite]

They played to much “bend” in the bend don’t break defense. They would be 6 yards off the receiver on a 3 and 4 and ECU would run an easy slant pattern. I didn’t understand that at all

Yep, I don't get it either. Isn't the best defensive strategy to force a punt as soon as possible? Seems like "bend but don't break" leads to clock eating drives and a gassed defense.

 

[mattropolis]

Definitions based on being a G5 program and our results since becoming a football program in 2004, instead of just having a football team. Opinions will differ but this is what I roll with.

12 or more wins = Elite (You won your conference title and played in a major bowl). Example = 2013, 2017, 2018

10-11 wins = Very Good (You probably won your conference title but are not in a major bowl). Example = 2007, 2010, 2012, 2019

8-9 wins = Good (You beat who you should beat at home, and probably were => .500 in road games. Play in some schlub bowl. Doubtful you played for conference title. A bad year for your program should be “good”). Example = 2005, 2009, 2014, 2021

7 wins or less = You’ve got problems. You still might have played in some schlub bowl. Example = 2004, 2006, 2008, 2011, 2015, 2016, 2020(***6-4 Covid season. Only played 9 regular season games. Probably would have ended up “good”***)

So in 18 seasons this breaks out as:
3 Elite
4 Very Good
4 Good
7 You’ve got problems

I’ll have to slightly modify some of these definitions in the future, as being in a major conference means you have better bowl tie-ins and a greater margin of error to get in bowls.

I’d love to see this applied to all teams that have been playing FBS football since 2004 to see what percentile we’d fall in as a program. In fact, I’ve given myself this assignment and when I complete it I’ll let you know what it shows.

 

[BlakNGoldAllDay]

Seems like no matter our style, our defense gets gassed. People blamed Heupel and DG for scoring too fast. Now our offense sputters and defense is gassed. I’d rather we score 40 with a tired D than 13. Not sure about anyone else.

 

[beelit47]

Some in this room were certainly believing the hype, despite my sounding the alarm about our defensive Achilles heel against underneath passes, including yourself:

beelit47:​

The first couple of drives in every game are very scripted and designed to throw off the opposong defense. We adjusted and reeled off 56 unanswered points

I wasnt wrong, we made adjustments except for last night. Its a bad habit to get into

 

[KnightNite]

2020 we were 6-3 before getting destroyed by BYU. If you scale that to 12 games we're 8-4 in the regular season and 8-5 overall. I'd say that (barely) qualifies as good.
That makes all of the "You’ve got problems" seasons over 5 years ago and all but 1 under GOL (the other being Frost's first year).
I think this year we end up in the Good category as well, but was hoping for Very Good prior to last night.

 

[Colonel Mortimer]

Perhaps not have your QB turn the ball over on 4 drives, three that would probably have produced points.

And still ended in an L, that's my point.

 

[Knight59]

And still ended in an L, that's my point.

Gotcha.

 

[SkiDog291]

Shoulda woulda coulda....Congrats to ECU. Time to move on. That series is done. On to the next chapter. I hope this is a wake up call and we get jacked up for Cincy next weekend. I'd rather lose to ECU and knock off a ranked AAC team the following week. Coaches and the team need to be razor focused this week. If we lose I doubt there will be chance we play for the ownership of the league.