- The ECU Defense Erupts in Celebration after Beating Navy
1. Quality Win: The Pirates notched their first win against a quality opponent and did so on the road. Don’t forget that though Navy is 2-5, they are also only 8 points away from being 6-1 on the season.
2. 4 Quarters of Football: ECU finally put together a full football game. There were some Special Team faux pauxs, but all-in-all a complete game.
3. Davis found his Groove: Yes, Dominique Davis set two NCAA records, which is impressive and great for the humble QB, but more importantly, he seems t have found his groove, right when the team needs it most. He is in a rhythm right now.
4. Defense breaks Back-up QB Curse: Historically, ECU’s defense has made back-up quarterbacks look like Heisman Trophy Candidates. This time, the back-up didn’t do us in.
5. No Turnovers: Leading the Nation in turnovers is not where you want to be and after a season full of giving the ball away, it was nice to see a turnover free game.
6. Two if by Air, 3 if by Ground: Kudos to OC Lincoln Riley for sticking with the running game. Reggie Bullock rewarded his coach for it by finding the end zone three times on the night.
7. Young Receivers Stepping Up: With Justin Hardy and Justin Jones out of service, it was great to see the young WRs stepping up. Danny Webster, Derrick Harris, and Reese Wiggins combined for 148 yards receiving on the night and several of their catches were clutch catches.
8. Defensive front 7 Played Well: To say that holding a team to under 300 yards rushing is a positive is a bit of a misnomer, but when that team is Navy, that is a pretty strong feat. The Pirates gave up just 10 more yards on the ground than did USC in their close win over the Midshipmen and an astounding 140 less on the ground than did Southern Miss.
9. Pirates Came Back to Win: As fragile as our team’s confidence has been this season, that they came back to beat Navy in the final stages of the game is an amazing accomplishment and one that hopefully pays dividends later.
10. Serendipity Came Our Way: It has not been a season where luck has been on our side, yet in this one, the ball bounced our way…finally. Down the stretch we found Lady Luck singing our song as the Pirates reaped the benefits of a rule interpretation (on what appeared to be a lead-taking Navy TD reception) and again when the Navy attempt to tie the game in the closing seconds dinged off the field goal post. For a team that has seen luck take so much away this year, it is nice to see us get the benefit of Lady Luck for a change.
A Port of the Pirate Nation 
Agreed… as you mentioned, I thought the ruling was going to be overturned and Navy awarded a TD on what was a perfect pass to a well-defended (by our best cover guy) receiver at a critical point in the game.
I must mention that on the glass half-empty side, we were a nose (pick your body part) hair away from losing all three of those games and being winless.. scheduling is on our side as we get a struggling Tulane team next, but if we don’t improve in all phases by the time USM and Central Florida Community come to town, we may be on the outside looking in when bowl invites are extended…
I hear you, Chris. I will say that the offense – with our OL in shambles and two of our top receivers on the shelf – seems to be really shifting into a higher mode of efficiency. Hopefully that will continue with another complete game against Tulane. Then the fun starts, right?
It is going to be a tall task to take out Southern Miss for a 3rd-straight time, but hopefully, our boys will be ready and the home crowd jacked up.
That was not a “rule interpretation”,rather that is how the rule reads.
Look it up.Its pretty clear and that play fit the rule perfectly.
Same rule worked in our favor against UAB.
Thanks Mike for clarifying…I feel much better about that play now and better understand the rule that was in effect.
Although, I will stick to my guns that in the past, it would have been overturned anyway…!
I’m just saying that if you replay the official’s explanation, you will hear him say that the receiver didn’t control the ball all the way to the ground. It looked to me as if he did, then the ground knocked it loose. Hey, I’m as happy as you are that our Pirates won, but that official’s explanation made me feel that it was very close to a loss… Had the on-field official ruled it a TD, I don’t think the booth overturns it…
Had the official on field ruled a TD he would be going against how the rule is written.He didn’t, rather with no hesitation ruled no TD. When UAB receiver (name escapes me) did same thing in Ficklen on 9/24 he left playing surface without complaining. He said in post game interview that he understood the rule and he had not made the catch.
The officials handling of this call is impressive. You have CUSA crew on field and ACC officials doing replay booth agreeing without hesitation.
UAB deal was different… he didn’t have control of it as it fell out of his hands without it hitting the ground… Navy receiver had control of it in my opinion… the ground knocked it out…
i’ll take the win, but let’s not pretend that this is same as UAB or the same as any example in the NFL, which has different rules… the rule for college is:
Incomplete Pass
ARTICLE 7. a. Any forward pass is incomplete if the ball is out of bounds by
rule or if it touches the ground when not firmly controlled by a player.
by this rule, to me it was a TD… but it’s behind us now, we were credited with the win… let’s go beat Tulane decisively so there is no debate like this next week… Go Pirates!