ECU Football Coach Mike Houston after the win over Norfolk State

[Music] well good night Daddy fckin Stadium uh I want to start off by you know just really thanking our students uh I think we had right at 10,000 students in the Boneyard tonight and what a difference it made in the electricity in the stadium uh I just really appreciate them and the way they supported us uh thank our fans I think uh our attendance was uh 365 tonight uh Labor Day weekend uh just really appreciate the way Nation shows up uh you know it's it's one of those things I can talk about uh our fan base and I can tell you know our recruits about the passion I can tell our new coaches About the Passion but until they experience it themselves it doesn't really hit home uh so just you know what a great Stadium I thought the electricity in the stadium was was great all night uh you know we got to got to hear living on the prayer there in the second quarter uh which that's always a highlight and uh you know it just it'll bring it brings chills to your arms like Siobhan said so uh you know hey I get it six turnovers that ain't real good okay but uh you know they're not ones you know like the one on lamp on the on the punt return I mean that's just a freaky thing and it's something we practice all the time uh and he was trying to get out of the way uh you know some of the others you know you just got to fix them okay the ones that Jake the mistakes that Jake made they're all easily correctable things they're all in his reads and they're from you know just not sitting back there and being comfortable and I thought that uh the great thing he did was you know he didn't get down on himself he did didn't uh you know start beating himself up he didn't start seeing ghosts I mean I'll tell you what the throw he had to Anthony Smith for the touchdown most fans are not going to recognize what all he did on that play he completely changed the protection uh slid it into the pressure that was coming then stood in under pretty heavy pressure and delivered a strike uh that allowed Anthony to get into the end zone that was a big time play right there and uh you know that was in the second half so you know I just I think his resiliency was solid tonight uh you know he's going to be his own worse critic tomorrow and I think the positive thing is you know you win 42 to3 but you have so many correctable mistakes you have so many things to really be on them about this week okay because I think everybody saw the potential and it is potential okay of what we could be um but uh you know excited about the way the kids prepared this week I told them before the game that I said you know you all don't need a Rah speech tonight you know they they were unbelievable the last couple of days in meetings and preparations and I thought they came out and played exactly that way I thought we had great energy um you know maybe a little too excited there at the beginning uh of the game but uh I thought they played hard all night thought we played with great physicality um now we just got to you know correct all the mistakes that you do after week one uh you know we'll play better next week uh but we better you know we're playing a very good opponent next week in Old Dominion I think they had a close loss at South Carolina today uh coming off of a bowl uh season last year so it's going to be a tough road game next week and you know we've got to make that improvement from week one to week two coach you got a lot of contributions from your new guys did they have the impact that you expected and what you brought them here for yeah they did I mean just you know you have to be you have to be happy with uh you know whether it's Casey Kelly Anthony Smith um Winston Wright I mean I I I told you we're going to have a chance to be explosive on special teams uh and you know I know he's probably ticked off he didn't house the second one uh but you know and he's going to be more involved in the uh in the passing game too but uh you know J Kon um you know Raheem Craig Gavin Gibson I thought we got solid contributions from all those guys I thought we got solid contributions from a lot of returners too zakai Barker I thought he had a very solid night uh Mike Edwards had a very solid night Tay Johnson had a very solid night so uh you know I think the and and the Serio rils you know he's probably the happiest kid in our locker room he he led he and O offensive line led the fight song he had to get up there we had to help him figure out how to start it uh but uh you know he's I've been on him a little bit here lately so that was good for him to have a great night tonight along those same lines a lot of those guys you just mentioned the newer guys are from the portal you knew obviously coming into you know the offseason the portal is a huge part of succeeding now how big is it to see results right away from guys that you went out into the portal to get well I think it's important for a couple things I think it's important for uh you know for them to come in here and you know justify why they came here you know all of them came here for a reason you know they came here to you know for a Fresh Start or second chance or whatever it is um I think it's important for our donors to understand the importance of nil uh obviously it played a huge role in US retaining our top players and and us being able to attract you know these guys to uh to East Carolina uh and it's why we have to continue to uh to fund raise uh and team Boneyard you know we've got to continue to support them uh because they're critical to the future of the program you know this offense doesn't necessarily run through one guy I mean know at least 10 different guys caught the ball I mean how nice is just be able to spread it like you did oh yeah I love it and I'm telling you the running backs the running game it's going to get going in this offense too uh and you know I know we ran for 148 tonight but uh I'm telling you you're going to have nights where you're going to run for a lot more than that but uh you know it's it's great to have a lot of different people contributing you know Brock Spalding we talked about what a solid preseason he's had I think he showed exactly what we've been talking about with way he played out there um you know Blake and him have been trying to get him on defense cuz they I'm I'm you know they think he can go over there and and play defensively and you saw that from The Tackle he made on the interception return how did the tempo of the offense match what you were hoping for end the game I thought it was really good um I think that you know we were trying to go we want to go exactly that fast uh we got to be able to relax and go that fast I thought we were really really pushing it which is good we wanted to but I thought as the night wore on I thought we were able to go just as fast but a little bit more comfortably you know without stressing ourselves part of the reason yall pick Jake was was CU y said he was the same guy good or bad y see that tonight with the mistakes no doubt I mean I don't know what his statline was but you know he threw a pick on his on the first drive of the game um you know he was 23 for 36 uh you know he had he had three mistakes uh but he's got to get those corrected but he had 23 you know correct decisions uh so uh four touchdowns so you know he you you see why he has um you know just that about him you like I said you know he he he was head up smiling positive attitude you know the whole night so uh I think that's important I mean you just can't if you if you're a guy that hangs your head and and poutch around and and you know all all that when you make a mistake I mean you know the team it's going to it's going to the team is going to respond to how you car of yourself uh and I think that's the that's probably the best thing he did tonight what does it say about the defense to have six turnovers and keep them out of the end zone give them six extra possessions we've got a chance to be pretty good you know now we can't be doing that all year you know 36 minutes a time of possession for Norfolk State uh six turnovers which that means we gave them six extra possessions um I mean it's staggering that the score is what it was uh but you know that I think that shows number one you know how good we can be on that side of the ball okay but number two I think it shows you if we can get that corrected you know we've got a chance to be a pretty good ball Club earlier this week you talked about caring that terrible feeling for the last 9 10 months over the offseason from last year was a win like this to start off year kind of did change that well I think everybody's going to you know wake up and the sun's going to be a lot brighter tomorrow morning um but you know I am a little frustrated or disappointed I guess you know cuz I just I know what we could have done tonight and uh that's okay I mean that's I think coaches are probably always going to be like that but uh you know it's a we're 1 and0 uh we know we've got to be much better next week if we want to be 2 and0 uh but you can't be two and0 if you don't win this one defensively now I think scored four times that ball they met last season is that kind of a mentality too like not only well I mean practice I mean you've seen it anytime we get a pick or a fumble recovery in practice you know we we we take it all the way back and uh you know we work on that I let it go in scrimmages and stuff so we can work on setting up a return setting up a wall um you know that's the mentality we have is you know we want to go and put it in the Box one more question you might have anything else for coach and then you know you guys knew you going to get the run tonight hold them to less than a yard cares what was that going to say about your well you know I challenged the defensive kids all week and even challenged them you know after uh after pregame warm-ups uh you know because you knew what they were going to try to do with you know keeping the ball away from us and uh you know you knew what they did last week and so I think that's you know they responded to the challenge thanks a lot congratulations a [Music]