"Underdog" Pirates beat Boise St.!!!

[BucsBullsBolts]

ECU is my alma mater - I was a senior when Jeff Blake was, too and they finished rated #9.  I've been busy with family stuff and didn't realize that the Pirates were underdogs by 10.5-11.5 to Boise St.  There have been various ECU players to go to the pros and they've upset many a ranked team over the last 25 years. 

How in the world were Boise St. ranked 24th?!  How in the world was the line so high? 

ECU players going to the NFL and upsets in the past don't factor into a current line. Boise's only loss in the last 10 weeks was to the #15 team. ECU had losses to two not very good teams teams in NCSU and Marshall. Per Sagarin, that spread was dead on. What it doesn't take into consideration is the emotional factor.  I've got a feeling the BSU guys treated this more like a vacation, especially considering the bowl they were in last year.

Whatever...the Pirates won 41-38 and Chris Johnson set a record for all-purpose yards with over 400!

That is just plain sick ...... What's the record for ALL bowl games? It can't be much higher

Anyway, does this mean that the mid-western and western teams are over-rated or the eastern teams are under-rated?!

One bowl game isn't a real indicator of anything ....


I do remember way back when going to a FSU-ECU game in Tally. It was a barn burner with both teams in the 40's and FSU barely winning. I wouldn't mind at all ECU joining the BE sometime in the future.

[superbuc]

ECU is my alma mater - I was a senior when Jeff Blake was, too and they finished rated #9.  I've been busy with family stuff and didn't realize that the Pirates were underdogs by 10.5-11.5 to Boise St.  There have been various ECU players to go to the pros and they've upset many a ranked team over the last 25 years. 

How in the world were Boise St. ranked 24th?!  How in the world was the line so high? 

Whatever...the Pirates won 41-38 and Chris Johnson set a record for all-purpose yards with over 400!  Now, we wonder if Skip Holtz (Lou's son) will leave the team for a bigger gig! 

Anyway, does this mean that the mid-western and western teams are over-rated or the eastern teams are under-rated?!

[superbuc]

3B, it was said a little tongue in cheek.  BSU has had a couple of great years and last year's OT win over OU made them a media darling.  

ECU is the 3rd largest school (27k+ students) in the state of NC behind NCSU and UNC.  For them to be formidable, they'll have to start paying coaches to attract/keep them.  They've already built "state of the art" sportsmed programs and weight rooms and added to the stadium.  Another FYI, Terry Holland formally of UVA, is the AD there.  He knows big time college sports and I think is building a foundation for ECU to get to the next level.

[olafberserker]

ECU has a nice progarm.  Good point about joining the Big East.  That would be a nice addition.  Not sure how that might work with the basketball schools all in place, but the football program has nice potential for growth.

[BucsBullsBolts]

3B, it was said a little tongue in cheek.  BSU has had a couple of great years and last year's OT win over OU made them a media darling.

Sorry .... my sarcasm meter wasn't fully charged.    

ECU is the 3rd largest school (27k+ students) in the state of NC behind NCSU and UNC.  For them to be formidable, they'll have to start paying coaches to attract/keep them.  They've already built "state of the art" sportsmed programs and weight rooms and added to the stadium.  Another FYI, Terry Holland formally of UVA, is the AD there.  He knows big time college sports and I think is building a foundation for ECU to get to the next level.

What's the basketball arena like? ECU would be a natural to join the BE. I'd like to get at least 1 or 2 more teams to help with the football scheduling .... only problem would be the huge number of basketball teams.

[olafberserker]

3B, it was said a little tongue in cheek.  BSU has had a couple of great years and last year's OT win over OU made them a media darling.

Sorry .... my sarcasm meter wasn't fully charged.    

ECU is the 3rd largest school (27k+ students) in the state of NC behind NCSU and UNC.  For them to be formidable, they'll have to start paying coaches to attract/keep them.  They've already built "state of the art" sportsmed programs and weight rooms and added to the stadium.  Another FYI, Terry Holland formally of UVA, is the AD there.  He knows big time college sports and I think is building a foundation for ECU to get to the next level.

What's the basketball arena like? ECU would be a natural to join the BE. I'd like to get at least 1 or 2 more teams to help with the football scheduling .... only problem would be the huge number of basketball teams.

They were speaking to the assistant director for the league (or whatever his title was) during a USF game late in the year and he said that there have been talks about some of the basketball schools joining the football side, but nothing remotely concrete.  I wonder if Notre Dame with their current sad state woudl consider joining on the football side and maybe Villanova make the jump the 1-A.  I'm not usre that the conference would want to add anymore basketball schools.  16 is a big number already.

[oregonbucfan]

I guess you could call it an upset but Boise State wasnt very good this year. They won there confereance on default because it was the WAC

[noopy2237]

I heard good things about E. Johnson and he displayed it in the game. He would be a nice looking kid in Pewter.

[superbuc]

3B, it was said a little tongue in cheek.  BSU has had a couple of great years and last year's OT win over OU made them a media darling.

Sorry .... my sarcasm meter wasn't fully charged.    

ECU is the 3rd largest school (27k+ students) in the state of NC behind NCSU and UNC.  For them to be formidable, they'll have to start paying coaches to attract/keep them.  They've already built "state of the art" sportsmed programs and weight rooms and added to the stadium.  Another FYI, Terry Holland formally of UVA, is the AD there.  He knows big time college sports and I think is building a foundation for ECU to get to the next level.

What's the basketball arena like? ECU would be a natural to join the BE. I'd like to get at least 1 or 2 more teams to help with the football scheduling .... only problem would be the huge number of basketball teams.

Basketball at ECU has a long way to go IMO - of course I grew up in NC watching UNC when Jordan, Worthy, and Perkins were there.  The baseball and football teams' stadiums got major renovations in the last few years.  The basketball arena was renovated in '94 or so but, still only holds 7,500.  Of course Duke's Cameron Indoor only holds what, 10k? 

[Runole]

Didn't ECU beat the crap out of UCF as well?  Parity in  CFB is certainly erasing a lot of myths.

[superbuc]

Didn't ECU beat the crap out of UCF as well? Parity in CFB is certainly erasing a lot of myths.

Yeah, Skip Holtz is really doing a great job at ECU.  This was his third full year and he's brought the program back to a winning record and bowl appearances.  Looking at his bio, he's been at Notre Dame and SC as OC (obviously under "Dad", but, his offenses were pretty good) and he even was at FSU as a grad asst. a loooong time ago.  When ECU went 12-1 or whatever in '92 the coach was Bill Lewis who promptly left for Ga. Tech and fell on his face as HC!   My hope is, ECU will pay Skip so he'll stick around awhile - this is where Leavitt at USF should be commended.  He could get paid so much more, but, realizes he's got a good thing going....why upset the apple cart?!

[rpc1978]

I heard good things about E. Johnson and he displayed it in the game. He would be a nice looking kid in Pewter.

he's a very intriguing option the the late 2nd rd for us.