(06-02-2014 07:56 AM)Piratelife4me Wrote: (06-02-2014 07:29 AM)Stardust Wrote: (06-01-2014 08:04 PM)Fo Shizzle Wrote: I predict 8-4. If we upset someone early and get some momentum?...I could be a special year. We have to play better defense and our kicking game must improve in order for that to happen. Being a fan for 40 years has taught me one thing. It is never easy at ECU. We are often times our worst enemy.
Agree. Until ECU proves it can beat competent teams, 8-4 seems more realistic.
ECU- can beat competent teams. Just not competent teams with low attendance. ECU gets up for big games and has let downs in small time venues. In games with at least 40k(one exception 38) team record was 7-1. In games with less than 25k in the stadium the team was 2-2.
I also voted for 8-4 season. @Tulsa, @Temple, @USF are games where attendance will lag and team will have trouble getting up for the game. @temple and @USF will be similar to playing @Tulane(big stadium, few fans). @Tulsa will be similar to playing @marshall(small stadium with good team, some fans)
I find this argument made by fans of any program not just ECU’s to be ridiculous.
In one breath it’s said that a team is championship caliber and should contend for a title (a stance I have no issue with, people love their team and they are entitled to their opinion), how they are gritty and tough enough to match up with top competition, yet they are worried about playing teams with poor attendance because the team can’t get up for those games.
Championship caliber teams beat weaker opponents if there are 50,000 or 5,000 in the stadium.
If the team has issue getting up for lesser opponents that draw small crowds it’s time to take a hard look at your coaching staff. It’s their job to be sure the team is ready for every game regardless of the opponent or crowd and put together a game plan to take advantages of your teams strengths, the opponents weaknesses, and put the game away early.
Is this just nothing more than pre justification for losing to a lesser opponent? The old “well we were definitely the better team but it’s the fault of the opponent for having poor attendance as to why we lost” as opposed to manning up and saying “They kicked our ass, plain and simple”.
I’m sick of hearing fans of the “power programs” in the conference making excuses when they play a program like Temple. When they lose (and ill admit it’s not often) it’s always for reasons like “we can’t play in front of small crowds”, or “we don’t get up for weak opponents”, or “we were looking past them to the big game next week against a quality opponent”, ect instead of “they just beat us plain and simple, today they were the better team”.
People ask me how Temple football will be this season and I say I hope and expect them to be better but coming off a 2-10 season that’s impossible to predict. What I can say is they will play hard on every snap and they will ruin someone’s seasons next year by keeping them out of a bowl game or knocking them out of the championship hunt, the question is which team will it be.
Excuses are the crutches for the untalented.
