The Harrell Huddle: Harrell talks bye week reset, Tulsa win, and Temple prep
East Carolina head coach Blake Harrell met the media inside TowneBank Tower on Monday, using his weekly press conference to recap the Pirates’ final open date of the regular season, reflect on the Tulsa win, and preview Saturday’s road trip to Temple.
The Pirates (4–3, 2–1 American) will face the Owls (5–3, 3–1) at 2 p.m. ET inside Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia.
Finally, a Saturday again
OPENING STATEMENT
"Finally, some Saturday football. I don't know who's fired up, but I sure am. Can't remember a season where you go the whole month of October and not have a Saturday game. I think it's the first normal week in some time. When I say normal week, Monday is truly a Monday practice, or Wednesday's truly a Wednesday practice. You travel on Friday and you play a game on Saturday. I think it's the first time we've had that since September 20. So it's been a while, and the first time we're going to have a day game all season. So every game we've had up to this point, all seven games have been at night, and this will be our first day contest of the year. So excited about that."
Harrell said the team used its open week to recharge and refocus. The Pirates practiced Monday, Wednesday, and Friday last week before taking the weekend off, giving players and coaches time to reset ahead of the final stretch.
"During the bye week, we just spent some time on making sure we reset, recovery, refreshing, kind of get back to being healthy and those type of things, not only physically, but just kind of mentally resetting too," Harrell said. "The advantage you have in a bye week is you can work ahead of your opponent. You're really focused on your next opponent. Where your next opponent, in this case, Temple, was really focused on their opponent, Tulsa. So they're kind of on their first day of work, and we've had a whole week to look at them."
Revisiting Tulsa and carrying that momentum forward
Harrell credited his team’s offensive execution in the 41–27 win over Tulsa, which saw ECU post 568 total yards, including 268 rushing and 300 passing.
"Thought the offense performed really, really well," Harrell said. "You've seen those guys starting to come along. And it’s about this time last year we saw the offense really go to work and doing that. And 268 rushing yards, led by London Montgomery. Nice to see him get going. Popped the long one in there. I think 50 plus yards. Certainly knew he had that in him. But good to see that come out on game day. And another strong performance by Katin, over 300 yards again, passing the ball. Anthony (Smith) had a couple touchdowns, hitting down the field a couple times to stretch the field."
He also praised Nick Mazzie, who went 2-for-2 on field goals and 5-for-5 on extra points, earning American Conference Special Teams Player of the Week.
On defense, Harrell pointed to his front seven — led by Preston Carr and Rion Roseborough — who helped generate 10 tackles for loss and five sacks in the win.
Scouting Temple: efficient, balanced, and well-coached
ON TEMPLE
"Temple is a very, very good football team. They're 5-3 right now. Believe they could easily be 6-2. Had a chance to beat Navy, an undefeated Navy. Scored at the end of the game. If they probably just, put the ball in the middle of field and kick a field goal, they probably win that football game and are sitting here, already bowl eligible at the top of our conference. Offensively, they're averaging 33 points a game, about 175 on the ground, about 216 in the air. The most impressive thing is their turnover margin this season. They've only turned the ball over one time all season. The quarterback has zero interceptions. They've only had one fumble. And then on the other side of the ball, they've gained 11."
Harrell said the Owls’ offense starts with veteran quarterback Evan Simon, a transfer from Rutgers who’s excelled at managing the game while also adding mobility to the run game.
"He's adding that with his legs, whether it be in the scramble or just the zone-read type stuff," Harrell said. "The tailback, Jay Ducker, just went over 3,000 yards in his career. He does a really good job. He's 5-10, 210 pounds. Thick kid in there, does really good job on the inside zone, mid zone plays."
Defensively, Temple brings multiple looks under coordinator Brian Smith, and features a standout pass rusher in Cam’Ron Stewart.
"They're giving multiple looks, doing some things over there defensively," Harrell said. "We got to keep an eye on him in some passing situations."
Special teams, Harrell added, are another Temple strength, led by a kicker with 60+ yard range and a punter who’s one of the best in the league.
Staying sharp through the bye week
ON KEEPING THE GUYS IN GAME MODE DESPITE THE 16-DAY LAY-OFF
"I think you have 16 days off, and the big challenge is to make sure you're into recovery, refresh, reset, all those things. But when you go out to play, it's not like you haven't played for 16 days. You're picking up back where you left off. We just got to keep the foot on the gas. Make sure we practice fast, make sure we’re preparing to win. Come Saturday, we got to make sure we're ready to go from the start and start fast."
Turnover margin could define the matchup
Temple’s ability to protect the football has been elite, and Harrell knows flipping that stat will be key.
ON THE IMPORTANCE OF TURNOVER MARGIN IN THIS GAME
"You get into November and you've got a quarterback who hasn't turned the ball over all season. That's pretty special. And that's a big, huge reason for their success at this point... If you can get a lead on a team like this, then you force him to be a little bit more of a drop back passer. You get a pass rush in the face, and maybe you force him to put a bad ball in the air, and you have a chance to go pick one off."
ECU’s offense continuing to evolve
The passing game continues to click behind Katin Houser and Anthony Smith, while the ground attack has become a more reliable part of ECU’s identity.
ON ECU’S PASSING GAME EMERGING RECENTLY
"I think Anthony (Smith) just stretching and taking the top off of it, getting behind the defense as receivers. And that opens up the whole thing. We talked about that before, how it all goes together. The run game helps that out as well… That group up front’s continued to be a strength, and we got to continue running the football against Temple as well."
Defensive depth and veterans stepping up
Harrell highlighted defensive lineman Jasiyah Robinson, who’s emerged as a key contributor after battling through injuries. He also noted Xavier McIver is trending toward a return soon.
"J.R. is just a perfect example of guys that battle through injury throughout their career… and all of a sudden, Jasiyah, he's a starter for us right now. And playing his tail off and playing hard," Harrell said.
He added that leadership from veterans like JD Lampley, Brock Spalding, and Panda Askew has set the tone during the midseason stretch.
"We talk about November and keeping November a month to remember for our fans and our program," Harrell said. "It really just starts about how we do things and doing the little things better than anybody else."
Aggression remains the identity
Harrell said ECU’s success on trick plays, special teams fakes, and defensive pressure all come from the same mindset: stay aggressive.
"I think it's just who we are, what we're about and it's not just special teams, but offensively, and defensively, we always want to be attacking. We always want to be an aggressor. We always want to go and put our foot on the gas, whatever it may be… We definitely don't want to react. We want to attack."
And yes — Rowdy the puppy made an appearance
"So Rowdy is ready to get rowdy in dowdy and, certainly adds another family member to the house, and she was at practice today and running around. I think she might be the real QB1 out there, don't tell Katin that," Harrell joked.
"My daughter's going to turn her into a house dog, but I'm trying to turn her into a hunting dog, so we'll see who wins that one. I got a feeling I know who's going to win."