East Carolina University football still looks terrible, but is showing promise

I have been an ECU football (of the American variety) ever since I attended university there many years ago. My university was very good at football while i was there and we were definitely the best team in the state and at one point were in the top 10 in the nation. However, things have been pretty bad since those years despite the fact that the university keeps pumping money into the sport.

I haven't watched an ECU game live in years. This is because i live in Asia and American Football is not popular over there, certainly not college football (which is the best kind of football in my mind.) But yesterday I had a chance to see ECU take on UCF (who is currently ranked number 10 in the nation.) The Vegas lines had ECU pegged to lose by 22 or 27, I don't remember but things were looking good in the first quarter.

ECU put the first points on the board but then shortly thereafter they started to play like the ECU I remember. They started turning the ball over, with fumbles and interceptions almost every time they had the ball. It got the the point where when they didn't fumble or throw an INT I was genuinely surprised.

It was extremely frustrating to watch but there were some good points the main being ECU's young quarterback. Holton Ailters is a freshman, which means he will be playing for ECU for the next 4 years and he is already much better than any of the quarterbacks that I have seen playing for the Pirates in nearly 20 years. So this is a good sign.

They didn't look terrible yesterday, but they looked pretty bad, they are also now 2-5, which is just embarrassing.

ECU had a drive at one point in the game where they could have stood a chance at taking the lead and shifting momentum, they were near the goal line and it was first and goal. After 2 pathetic attempts at low-yardage plays and getting completely shut down, they did something the likes of which i have never seen before. The QB tried to run it through and when it was clear he wasn't going to make it through the man-wall, he simply threw the ball behind him to no one.

If you don't know anything about American Football, since he threw the ball behind him instead of forward, this is now considered a fumble instead of a "dead ball" and now anyone can pick up the ball and continue play. This is precisely what UCF did as they ran the ball the entire length of the field and scored. I couldn't watch anymore at that point and I am glad I didn't, because it did not get any better as on the very next possession ECU turned the ball over again and a close game became a blowout.

ECU still sucks, but with the young talent that i saw on the field which were not always terrible, perhaps in a few years it won't make me completely crazy to watch them "perform."