Coach Hawkins' Journey to the Top: Volume I | The Problematic Pirates

[jpfine]

Pirates defeat Vandals in good defensive-showing from both teams

Corey James, The Greenville News Published 7:29 p.m. ET October 13, 2018

After a three-game trip on the road, the East Carolina Pirates came to Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium to face off against the Idaho Vandals of Tier 8. The game between the two was the first-ever meeting and the Pirates were able to get the upper hand in the series, as they defeated Idaho, 24-7.

"I think we played well," said Hawkins, "but we weren't able to get a lot going early on and late on, too. We had some chances, but we weren't able to capitalize and, ultimately, I think we scored far less than we could have."

In addition to the lack of an ability to capitalize and score more often, the Pirates lost their star in Corey Crawford early on in the second quarter. Crawford went down with a strained shoulder and, according to Hawkins, he will be back for the next game against NC State on October 27.

"If we had a game next week, we would be able to have Corey back. The injury actually didn't restrain him from coming back, we just decided that we'd rather be safe than sorry and sit him out for the rest of the game." After his visit in the locker room, Crawford came back out in street clothes and hung out near Hawkins throughout the rest of the game. "Yeah, he hung out with me for the rest of the game. Corey is one of those guys who, if not able to actually play, will do anything to help out his team. He ended up helping our waterboys late in the game."

The player of the game for the Pirates was Jerome Anderson, who had 7 tackles and 2 sacks.

With Crawford back for the next game, the Pirates will head to Raleigh, North Carolina to face off against NC State for the fight for the Victory Barrel.

Idaho Vandals at East Carolina Pirates
Oct 13, 2018 1 2 3 4 F Idaho (2-4) 0 0 7 0 7 East Carolina (5-2) 0 10 14 0 24 Top Performers PASS: Joseph Humphrey (IDHO) - 18-28, 230 Yards, 1 TD, 1 INT RUSH: Corey Crawford (ECU) - 14 Rushes, 63 Yards, 1 TD REC: Mike Ryan (IDHO) - 4 Receptions, 83 Yards	Team Stats Comparison IDHO ECU First Downs 9 20 3rd Down Efficiency 2-8 9-14 4th Down Efficiency 0-2 2-3 Total Yards 213 470 Passing Yards 230 151 Rushing Yards -17 182 Penalties-Penalty Yards 3-15 0-0 Turnovers 1 1 Time of Possession 7:58 20:02
Scoring Summary SECOND QUARTER SCORING IDHO ECU 5:40 (ECU) FG: B. Manson, 47 Yd FG 0 3 3:10 (ECU) TD: C. Crawford, 10 Yd run (B. Manson kick) 0 10 THIRD QUARTER SCORING IDHO ECU 3:20 (ECU) TD: M. Charles, 2 Yd run (B. Manson kick) 0 17 2:00 (IDHO) TD: E. Patterson, 61 Yd pass from J. Humphrey (E. Benson kick) 7 17 0:07 (ECU) TD: L. Johnson, 8 Yd pass from J. Parks (B. Manson kick) 7 24

[jpfine]

Tier 8 Conference Standings Update

Tier 8 Conference Standings - Updated: Oct 20, 2018
TEAM	REC	PCT	CONF	PF	PA	STRK
East Carolina	5-2	.714	10 pts.	169	147	W2
Old Dominion	4-3	.571	5 pts.	191	180	L1
Idaho	2-4	.333	4 pts.	121	168	L3
Eastern Michigan	2-4	.333	4 pts.	132	181	L3
New Mexico State	1-6	.142	0 pts.	153	246	L6
UTSA	0-8	.000	0 pts.	169	316	L8

[jpfine]

The Battle for the Victory Barrel goes the way of the series underdog, the ECU Pirates

Eve Hansen, The Greenville News Published 10:22 p.m. ET October 27, 2018

The Victory Barrel, which is given to the winner of the game between in-state foes, NC State and East Carolina, was awarded to Coach Brian Hawkins and his Pirates, after a 34-10 win against the rival Wolfpack.

"I think we all came to play tonight," said Hawkins. "Both teams wanted to bring the Victory Barrel to their trophy case for the year, and I think it was a hard-fought effort between the two. With everything going so poorly this year in the third tier for NC State, and with this series going poorly for them the last couple years, it wasn't surprising to see them put all of their eggs in the basket and fight for the barrel. However, I think the better team came out as victors tonight, and I'm glad we were able to bring the Victory Barrel back home for the fourth consecutive time."

The Wolfpack were only able to put up 10 points on the board, and the only touchdown for them came after a poor error by Josh Parks, when they were running a speed option play. Parks tossed the ball right into the defender's stomach, and he took back the other way, all the way to the house. Other than that, the offense wasn't able to get much going, as the ECU defense held them to just 82 offensive yards, and 107 yards total.

After a week of rest time, the Pirates were able to have star running back, Corey Crawford, on the field, and he put up a whopping 172 yards and 2 touchdowns, largely due to the 50-yard touchdown run at the end of the game, where Crawford crossed the plain as time expired. Due to his performance, Crawford earned player of the game accolades for the fifth time this season.

The Pirates take a trip to Huntington, West Virginia, to face "friendly rivals," Marshall Thundering Herd for a second straight rivalry game for ECU.

East Carolina Pirates at North Carolina State Wolfpack
Oct 27, 2018 1 2 3 4 F East Carolina (6-2) 7 3 7 17 34 NC State (1-6) 0 10 0 0 10 Top Performers PASS: Josh Parks (ECU) - 9-14, 80 Yards RUSH: Corey Crawford (ECU) - 31 Rushes, 173 Yards, 2 TDs REC: Corey Crawford (ECU) - 4 Receptions, 26 Yards	Team Stats Comparison ECU NCST First Downs 22 3 3rd Down Efficiency 9-14 2-7 4th Down Efficiency 2-3 0-0 Total Yards 487 107 Passing Yards 80 56 Rushing Yards 311 26 Penalties-Penalty Yards 0-0 2-20 Turnovers 1 1 Time of Possession 20:08 7:52
Scoring Summary FIRST QUARTER SCORING ECU NCST 1:08 (ECU) TD: M. Charles, 5 Yd run (B. Manson kick) 7 0 SECOND QUARTER SCORING ECU NCST 4:58 (NCST) FG: D. Sanders, 30 Yd FG 7 3 1:12 (NCST) TD: B. Baker, returned fumble 77 Yds (D. Sanders kick) 7 10 0:35 (ECU) FG: B. Manson, 47 Yd FG 10 10 THIRD QUARTER SCORING ECU NCST 1:36 (ECU) TD: M. Charles, 2 Yd run (B. Manson kick) 17 10 FOURTH QUARTER SCORING ECU NCST 5:28 (ECU) FG: B. Manson, 35 Yd FG 20 10 1:51 (ECU) TD: C. Crawford, 1 Yd run (B. Manson kick) 27 10 0:01 (ECU) TD: C. Crawford, 50 Yd run (B. Manson kick) 34 10

[jpfine]

Okay, so I just played the weirdest game against Marshall that I have ever experienced playing NCAA 14. There was just odd plays left and right, and I can't wait to share it with you guys. However, I have to go to a dinner party right now, and I won't be back until late, so I won't have time to write it up. I know, cruel that I'm leaving you on a little bit of a cliff hanger, but hey... it happens.

Anyways, hope you all are enjoying this as much as I am! Thanks!

[jpfine]

Pirates on four-game hot streak as they defeat second-straight rival

Corey James, The Greenville News Published 9:48 p.m. ET November 3, 2018

Tonight, in Huntington, West Virginia, the Pirates from Greenville, North Carolina defeated the Marshall Thundering Herd by an odd score of 19-9 in the 16th meeting between the two. The win against the Thundering Herd marked the fourth straight win for the Pirates in five weeks, giving ECU a 7-2 record.

"It was a really weird game," Hawkins said after the game. "I think that it's just for me to say that it was the weirdest one that I've been a part of, either on the field, or on the sidelines coaching. Honestly, I believe that the safety call in the third quarter wasn't the right call. As you could tell, I saw something different than what the refs saw, that's why I threw the challenge flag, but I can't argue with them. They made the call and, at the end of the day, we came out with the win, so I can't complain. Our guys fought through it and they were able to put up the numbers to pull off the win."

In the third quarter, Jerome Anderson, the middle linebacker for the Pirates, was able to knock the ball out of the Marshall running back's hands on the goal line. As Anderson was able to recover the ball, he was tackled on the goal line and the officiating crew called a safety for the Marshall Thundering Herd. As Hawkins stated, he threw a challenge flag, but the play stood, and Marshall was awarded two points. What was a seemingly impressive stop on the goal line turned into two points for the home team in a split second.

Despite that, led by senior running back, Corey Crawford, the East Carolina Pirates were able to grab their third win out of three against rivals this season, all of which were away games. Speaking of Crawford, he was the player of the game, with 108 rushing yards and a touchdown.

The Pirates come home to face the Georgia Bulldogs from a Tier 1 SEC conference this upcoming Saturday.

East Carolina Pirates at Marshall Thundering Herd
Nov 3, 2018 1 2 3 4 F East Carolina (7-2) 3 7 0 9 19 Marshall (3-6) 7 0 2 0 9 Top Performers PASS: Caleb Burley (MRSH) - 7-16, 188 Yards, 1 TD, 1 INT RUSH: Corey Crawford (ECU) - 24 Rushes, 108 Yards, 1 TD REC: Dustin Kelly (MRSH) - 3 Receptions, 74 Yards	Team Stats Comparison ECU MRSH First Downs 16 4 3rd Down Efficiency 4-10 1-5 4th Down Efficiency 2-4 0-0 Total Yards 375 221 Passing Yards 99 188 Rushing Yards 193 16 Penalties-Penalty Yards 1-5 0-0 Turnovers 1 2 Time of Possession 22:07 5:53
Scoring Summary FIRST QUARTER SCORING ECU MRSH 1:42 (ECU) FG: B. Manson, 31 Yd FG 3 0 1:09 (MRSH) TD: M. Butler, 72 Yd pass from C. Burley 3 7 SECOND QUARTER SCORING ECU MRSH 2:27 (ECU) TD: C. Crawford, 1 Yd run (B. Manson kick) 10 7 THIRD QUARTER SCORING ECU MRSH 3:26 (MRSH) Safety: Team Safety 10 9 FOURTH QUARTER SCORING ECU MRSH 1:43 (ECU) Safety: Team Safety 12 9 0:18 (ECU) TD: J. Estes, 25 Yd pass from J. Parks (B. Manson kick) 19 9

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Like I said, this was probably one of the weirdest games I've ever played. When I checked back at the scoring summary, the Marshall safety wasn't accounted for at all. In the summary, it put that they had earned 7 points in the first quarter, but nothing else in the entire game, but it still added up to 9 points at the end.

Also, unfortunately, I'm in the Top 25 already. I know that may not seem unfortunate, but I want this to be a long process, not a quick, five season process. I think one thing that I have to be okay with is that I set goals that I want to be in Tier 1 for at least five years and win the national championship three times, so, hopefully, those goals prolong this dynasty. However, it may get stale for me after a while, which will be unfortunate if that happens, but I believe I can keep it going. Enough of the rambling, all I'm saying is that I'm in the Top 25, but because I'm doing a relegation dynasty with eight tiers, this dynasty will still most likely be a long dynasty.

[djp73]

Re: Coach Hawkins' Journey to the Top: Volume I | The Problematic Pirates

two offsetting safeties in one game is pretty wild

[jpfine]

two offsetting safeties in one game is pretty wild

Indeed! The safety that I got was, after I went for it on fourth to try to get a bigger lead, I got stopped inside the one-yard line, they tried to do a slip screen play, but the quarterback ran out of bounds. It was really odd. Thanks for checking in!

[PickleJuice1231]

Re: Coach Hawkins' Journey to the Top: Volume I | The Problematic Pirates

Wow, I think I've missed 4 games since I've been away! I noticed that you stopped doing the stats for each of the players? Is that in the effort of time? Also, four straight wins? Wow!

Against Toledo, that game seems like it was a close one, even though it looks like you controlled the game, Time of Possession-wise. It seems like you are able to string long drives together, but you aren't able to produce anything more than a field goal, sometimes. I think, especially with the accuracy that Parks showed early on, it's tough to run the balls 12 times before you can throw it on third down and, by that time, he isn't warmed up (I guess?) and he essentially throws it away if you throw. It isn't a natural rhythm And then, if you run, you're likely to get stopped, especially on a 3rd-and-9. This might be just me, but maybe you need turn up the QB accuracy slider a little bit? If you do that, though, don't just do it for you, do it for the CPU too.

For the Idaho game, similar to the game against Chattanooga, you won, but it wasn't a great win. At least that;s what I get out of itt. For NC State, they don't seem like a great team and, honestly you dominated them. And then for Marshall, I can't believe there was one, let alone two safeties in the game. That's just odd.

Anyways, good luck against Georgia, I can't wait to see that one! Do you know what their record is? I'm excited to keep reading Hawkins and his Pirate crew! (Also, 7-2?? Impressive!)

[jpfine]

Wow, I think I've missed 4 games since I've been away! I noticed that you stopped doing the stats for each of the players? Is that in the effort of time? Also, four straight wins? Wow!

Against Toledo, that game seems like it was a close one, even though it looks like you controlled the game, Time of Possession-wise. It seems like you are able to string long drives together, but you aren't able to produce anything more than a field goal, sometimes. I think, especially with the accuracy that Parks showed early on, it's tough to run the balls 12 times before you can throw it on third down and, by that time, he isn't warmed up (I guess?) and he essentially throws it away if you throw. It isn't a natural rhythm And then, if you run, you're likely to get stopped, especially on a 3rd-and-9. This might be just me, but maybe you need turn up the QB accuracy slider a little bit? If you do that, though, don't just do it for you, do it for the CPU too.

For the Idaho game, similar to the game against Chattanooga, you won, but it wasn't a great win. At least that;s what I get out of itt. For NC State, they don't seem like a great team and, honestly you dominated them. And then for Marshall, I can't believe there was one, let alone two safeties in the game. That's just odd.

Anyways, good luck against Georgia, I can't wait to see that one! Do you know what their record is? I'm excited to keep reading Hawkins and his Pirate crew! (Also, 7-2?? Impressive!)

Yeah... I was a little scared for you

Yeah, I stopped doing the stats for each of the players because it took too long and I thought it wasn't worth it anymore. I have the top players for passing, rushing and receiving from the whole game, though, with the html formatting. I'm going to give the season statistics for each player at the end of the season, though, so you'll see how each player did.

I did have some close games, but I pulled them all out in the end. I'll have to look into moving the sliders up a little bit for QB accuracy because I do agree, the accuracy is horrendous. I resorted to three slip screens against Toledo and a single post play and that was it. Other than Parks, everything else has been going great. Manson, our kicker, has been converting most all of the field goals, and he's been keeping us in the games, really. Without his field goals, a lot more drives would come up empty and we probably wouldn't be 7-2 right now. I don't know if you saw, but I said that I was ranked prior to the game against Georgia, so stay tuned to see how that goes and if we can stay through the rest of the season.

Thanks for sticking with me, PickleJuice!

[jpfine]

Schedule Update

East Carolina Pirates 2018 Schedule | Record: (7-2)
DATE	OPPONENT	RESULT
Aug 25	vs Chattanooga Mocs (Home Opener)	Won, 24-3
Sep 1	vs UConn Huskies (Purple Out)	Won, 30-16
Sep 8	at North Carolina Tar Heels	Lost, 45-17
Sep 15	at UCF Knights (Rivalry)	Won, 26-17
Sep 29	at Florida Gators	Lost, 38-21
Oct 6	at Toledo Rockets	Won, 27-21
Oct 13	vs Idaho Vandals (Homecoming)	Won, 24-7
Oct 27	at NC State Wolfpack (Victory Barrel)	Won, 34-10
Nov 3	at Marshall Thundering Herd (Rivalry)	Won, 19-9
Nov 10	vs Georgia Bulldogs
Nov 17	vs Ohio State Buckeyes
Nov 24	vs Old Dominion Monarchs (Senior Night)

Predicted Record: 5-7
Wins: Chattanooga, UCF, Idaho, Marshall, Old Dominion
Losses: UConn, North Carolina, Florida, Toledo, NC State, Georgia, Ohio State

Updated Predicted Record: 8-4
Wins: Old Dominion
Losses: Georgia, Ohio State

[jpfine]

Bulldogs beat Pirates in ECU's return to home, snap four-game win streak for Hawkins and his East Carolina crew

Corey James, The Greenville News Published 9:37 p.m. ET November 10, 2018

The Pirates lost for the first time in six weeks after the Bulldogs from Athens, Georgia defeated them, 24-16. The game was close throughout, but, like most games this season, the Pirates failed to find the end zone consistently, which was ultimately their downfall.

"Yeah, it's definitely a problem," said Hawkins. "We have a great red zone efficiency level, and correct me if I'm wrong, but I think we've made more field goals in the red zone than we have scored touchdowns. That's a big problem for me, if we want to be able to play against these high-caliber teams."

In addition to not being able to convert in the red zone for touchdowns, the Pirates weren't able to get much going on the ground game, and ended up having to settle for more passing plays than the coaching staff wanted. "Obviously we've had success with running the ball in the past," said Hawkins, "it just wasn't going for us today. They were ready for it and they were well prepared for it. Kudos to them and their coaching staff for recognizing it and recognizing it early so they could shut it down and force us to pass."

The player of the game was kicker Brian Manson, who went 3-for-3 on the day and who kicked one from 44 yards out.

After the loss, the Pirates will face the second Tier 1 opponent in two weeks when a 6-4 Ohio State team come to town next week.

Georgia Bulldogs at East Carolina Pirates
Nov 10, 2018 1 2 3 4 F Georgia (5-5) 0 10 7 7 24 #23 East Carolina (7-3) 0 10 3 3 16 Top Performers PASS: Brandon Jansen (UGA) - 18-27, 163 Yards, 1 TD RUSH: Jonathan Griffith (UGA) - 12 Rushes, 137 Yards, 2 TDs REC: Roy Evans (ECU) - 5 Receptions, 84 Yards, 1 TD	Team Stats Comparison UGA ECU First Downs 11 17 3rd Down Efficiency 7-11 2-12 4th Down Efficiency 0-0 2-4 Total Yards 312 461 Passing Yards 163 119 Rushing Yards 133 164 Penalties-Penalty Yards 3-18 0-0 Turnovers 0 1 Time of Possession 10:26 17:34
Scoring Summary SECOND QUARTER SCORING UGA ECU 6:56 (UGA) FG: M. Graham, 49 Yd FG 3 0 3:42 (ECU) FG: B. Manson, 23 Yd FG 3 3 1:12 (UGA) TD: B. Smith, 13 Yd pass from B. Jansen 10 3 0:08 (ECU) TD: R. Evans, 7 Yd pass from J. Parks 10 10 THIRD QUARTER SCORING UGA ECU 3:43 (ECU) FG: B. Manson, 44 Yd FG 10 13 2:19 (UGA) TD: J. Griffith, 19 Yd run (M. Graham kick) 17 13 FOURTH QUARTER SCORING UGA ECU 2:57 (ECU) FG: B. Manson, 38 Yd FG 17 16 1:15 (UGA) TD: J. Griffith, 33 Yd run (M. Graham kick 24 16

[PickleJuice1231]

Re: Coach Hawkins' Journey to the Top: Volume I | The Problematic Pirates

Wow. That sucks that the first game that you're ranked you lose. Even though the yardage is about the same for both teams, that 3rd-down efficiency definitely slowed you down. And, like Hawkins said, the red-zone efficiency is being saved by Brian Manson and him alone, basically. Drives are ending left and right and you have to settle for a field goal. Maybe it's the O-line, maybe it's the play calling, but something isn't clicking for the ECU offense right now, and Hawkins will need to figure it out before they get to higher levels of competition. Either way, good effort! If you hadn't let the last touchdown go, you might've been able to pull one back. Can't wait to see you play Ohio State!

[jpfine]

Wow. That sucks that the first game that you're ranked you lose. Even though the yardage is about the same for both teams, that 3rd-down efficiency definitely slowed you down. And, like Hawkins said, the red-zone efficiency is being saved by Brian Manson and him alone, basically. Drives are ending left and right and you have to settle for a field goal. Maybe it's the O-line, maybe it's the play calling, but something isn't clicking for the ECU offense right now, and Hawkins will need to figure it out before they get to higher levels of competition. Either way, good effort! If you hadn't let the last touchdown go, you might've been able to pull one back. Can't wait to see you play Ohio State!

It does, but it makes it more realistic. Like you said, we weren't really able to keep drives going, and the ones that we were able to keep going, we ended up having to settle for a field goal. We'll figure out, hopefully for the Ohio State game, but if we lose that one too, I'll be okay with that because that's realistic, too. Thanks for keeping up, PickleJuice!

[PickleJuice1231]

Re: Coach Hawkins' Journey to the Top: Volume I | The Problematic Pirates

It does, but it makes it more realistic. Like you said, we weren't really able to keep drives going, and the ones that we were able to keep going, we ended up having to settle for a field goal. We'll figure out, hopefully for the Ohio State game, but if we lose that one too, I'll be okay with that because that's realistic, too. Thanks for keeping up, PickleJuice!

Yeah, yeah, for sure. It still would've been nice to climb up the rankings this year! Not being able to score touchdowns that often may end up helping you make it more realistic. I'm confident that it'll be a close game against Ohio State. What's their record, by the way?

[jpfine]

Yeah, yeah, for sure. It still would've been nice to climb up the rankings this year! Not being able to score touchdowns that often may end up helping you make it more realistic. I'm confident that it'll be a close game against Ohio State. What's their record, by the way?

Yeah, it would've, but we're definitely gonna get a chance later on. With the season that we've had this year, I can't imagine that it'll stop here. Also, I was thinking that, too. Maybe not having 5-for-5 for field goals, but not scoring a lot of touchdowns is definitely realistic. I want to say Ohio State is 6-4, but I'd have to double check. At the moment, we're receiving votes, and I'm pretty sure that they're receiving votes, too. I could totally be making this up, but I think they're just ahead of us by like 50 more votes.

I'm not sure I'll be able to play a game this weekend, so a game might not be out for a little bit. I'll keep you updated and let you know when I start playing the game.