What a finish. If you missed the back-and-forth battle between East Carolina and Cincinnati, then you either hate football. And puppies. That was by far one of the most exciting finishes that I have seen in my 24 years of life.
It may have not been the type of game that would get the attention of the likes of the SEC or ACC nationally, but it had conference championship implications, making the drama seep out of the game like a fat kid sweats in a gym.
I hope my sad attempt of humor can mask the pain of the loss that the Pirates took at the hands of the Bearcats with a final of 54-46. The game was definitely a lot closer than the score would indicate with ECU giving up a fumble recovery on the final play of the game, giving Cincinnati six more points when it had a 48-46 lead.
In all honesty, I am not sure who this ECU team is and I believe that the Pirates should have been victorious. They started the year on fire and could only mask the issues within the secondary for so long before they caught up with them.
Football is a simple game: Score as many points as you can and stop your opponent from doing the same. The ECU defense could not stop the pass to save its life. Sure, the defense took the ball away four times, three of which were interceptions, but you cannot give up 436 yards and four touchdowns with the expectation to win.
This secondary has too many problems that never seem to be fixed. Far too many of those drives, the Bearcats moved the ball with ease and Gunner Kiel carved them up like a turkey.
Another reason ECU lost the game: mental mistakes and fundamentals.
I feel like I am saying the same thing over and over, and I am. There were far too many mental mistakes that lead to the demise of ECU in this game. Penalties killed drives, players went for the knockout tackle and missed completely, blown coverage that lead to deep-play touchdowns and even a rushed field goal all lead to points coming off the board for ECU while adding to points for Cincinnati.
Fundamentals are key to success. There were about three times that the Pirates found themselves in the red zone about to score only to have them pushed out by penalties. That really cost them down the stretch because they were really not able to come back from those penalties and put points on the board.
What it really boils down to is consistency. ECU would have amazing drives that lead to points and would follow it up with great defensive stops. But in the same breath would turn a 180 and would look rushed and beat with Cincy taking advantage of that and scoring points.
The good news for East Carolina is that it plays Tulane and Tulsa in coming weeks. That should give them it a boost of momentum and confidence to take on Central Florida in the final week on December 4.
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