Patrick Johnson, 94.3 The Game, joins Adam to talk East Carolina football.

East Carolina picked up a very, very big and important win over Central Florida at home this weekend. They are 5-3, which means they're one win away from bowl eligibility.

And it ain't gonna be easy to get there. Patrick Johnson, 94-3 the game in Greenville pre and post for East Carolina football. Sir, did the nature of the win surprise you as much as the win? Yeah, yeah. Okay. I'm being honest.

I like honesty, honesty is good. We're on Truth Planet. No, look, I thought, this is probably, I think you gotta go back to 2008 when they kind of dominated a top ten West Virginia game. Boy, those weren't the days, huh? And that's probably the most complete game ECU has played since then that I can recall. I mean, I asked some of you a few years ago, the end of the regular season, but it was, you know, they weren't playing for quite the stakes that they were playing for.

I mean, this was, this was a really a kind of a, you know, a tail kicking in a lot of ways. I mean, you see the final 34, 13 ECU was the faster team, which is kind of surprising. All we heard about is how fast this, uh, central Florida group was East Carolina was the more physical team, which I don't think was as surprising.

Uh, they just, they look great. Holt Naylor's was as close to perfect as you can probably be against the really quality team, especially on defense. Uh, he got honored as a, uh, conference, you know, honorable mention this week and those weekly awards, if not for Clayton to going nuts with five touchdowns for Houston, he probably would have been the offensive player of the week again. So look, uh, very impressive. The pirates have two tremendous receivers with great physical gifts, Keaton Mitchell, healthy, or as healthy as you are this time of year.

And he can run virtually away from anybody. The defense was, was magnificent. Um, you know, everything I surprised that they, they dominated in a sense in the way that they did. And look, the big moment in the game, Adam UCF, as you knew, they would comes out the second half first drive, they score pirates answer. And then from there, it seemed like that was maybe they took the best shot from UCF. And from there, they kind of dictated what went on the rest of the way.

Yeah. That's what I, I thought is that it could have been, it could have gone the other way. You have nice lead, you jump out 17. Oh, uh, you have the nice lead and then, uh, central Florida comes out of the locker room, they score that touchdown and you think, okay, they're okay.

And then you answer. And I've also thought the way they answered, because a lot of it was Keaton Mitchell. I don't know how many of my almost 30 yards of rushing on that drive. Um, and you, you mentioned the stars and yeah, they, they have other wide receivers. Who instead is obviously very good, but, um, you got CJ Johnson having a big game. Mitchell has a big game. Ehlers has a big game. So your stars were stars and it was good to see. It was also a big win, I think, for Mike Houston.

No, no. Yeah. Well, again, that is, you know, when against SMU, when they were 23rd in the nation, that was at the end of the year, SMU came in kind of maybe a little flat, just trying to get through, uh, pirates really weren't playing for a ton that day to be, to be quite honest. And you give it, given the stakes, given, I mean, for all intents and purposes, UCF, a top 25 team, they've been ranked, uh, they are really, really, I mean, they were, well, I mean, they had rolled up 70 points at 727 yards, the previous game against temple, who there was no world beaters by any stretch, but that's the second most yards in a, in an FBS game this year was what they did against temple.

So, I mean, they're very capable of scoring points or averaging 40 coming in. I was just shocked how, I don't know, you see, you kind of, you know, that the old kind of kick them in the teeth or punch them in the face and they don't really ever really punch back outside of that coming out of halftime. You see, you really dominated, you know, this is where the stats thing, you know, cause you know, they got the same amount of snaps, but at the half ECU had doubled the snaps that UCF had picked.

And you know that they just were, you mentioned 17, nothing at it. It could have been more. I mean, they, they think the field goal on the upright probably could have punched. I mean, it could have been 28, nothing, but a huge win. Good win for Mike. You're a great one for Mike Houston, quite honestly. And I think this is given how bit of a listless performance they had at Tulane, who was very good.

Yeah. Um, to bounce back in, you know, rally down 17 the week before and went in for over times and then still be, you know, really beat up, come here and it went in the fashion in which they did. I've got to go out to Provo.

It's a short week. They go out there Friday, BYU stinging, uh, Liberty torched them. And, uh, now it's, you know, kind of BYU playing for there. Maybe you thought at the beginning of the year, BYU might be playing for an outside shot in a new year six because we project these things out, but now they're, they're, they're playing for bowl eligibility.

They are there. Uh, BYU got off to such a great start. It seemed is a four and four and trying to figure out how they're going to win six games.

So, uh, now each of the next, we'll just say the next three, I mean, temple almost seems like, like you'd have to really blow it to not be temple at this point. Right. But BYU, and then Cincinnati on the road, Houston at home and Houston looks like they've kind of figured it out a little bit after, uh, after a difficult start to the season. So, uh, the last four games, certainly the next three, not going to be easy for the pirates at all.

They were playing the big 12 schedule, uh, Adam, a year earlier, what the pirates were doing. That's exactly what they just had. Right.

All four. Right. Yeah. Um, look, I think it's not going to be easy going out the Provo. You got to deal with, you know, 4,500, uh, beat above sea level altitude and BYU is proud. They're going to have a ton of people there.

What 65,000 they'll still draw. Well, they can score. So we'll, we'll see. I think it's, gosh, I'll tell you Adam, if he's Carolina plays like they did, uh, in that game against central Florida, they can certainly compete and beat anybody that remains on their schedule. I still think Cincinnati, there was all for all the talk of UCF. I still think Cincinnati is the program and to beat in the league until you knock them off.

They are, but I just, even though they lost all that, I just, I think they've got the program, that fabric, you know, running throughout and there's not going to be, they're not reloading maybe necessarily, but there's not going to be this huge drop off. It wasn't a flu key thing with Cincinnati did the last couple of years. No, they've been good for a while.

Cincinnati, this is not a new thing. Last year was new because they were undefeated, but it was, they've been good for a while now. Well, look, Adam, I just, as a, you know, pirate alum, it's just good to beat the 2017 national champ. That's all I got to really say today.

It's just really great. And look, UCF has not, you know, really they'd won six in a row over ECU coming in and we think back to that whole or the, uh, the hail Mary against the pirates on that Thursday night. Oh, when Georgia Leary was still coaching and Ruffin McNeil was in Greece, just seemed like ever since that moment in time, the pirate fortunes and their program went down.

So maybe, you know, exercised a little bad Juju the other night as well. You're sending the Knights onto their way to the big 12 to buy and, uh, they're a cocky Florida bunch, Adam. I, you know, I worked down there in Orlando for a couple of years, so I got the front row seat to it and you know how it is. You know how Florida football is. It's a big, by the way, it's also a very big school. Central Florida is not a small school. It's actually the biggest school in the state of Florida.

Yeah. And here's what they've really done a good job the last few years. They have cultivated their students. I mean, they get 15 or 20,000 students at the game.

That sounds crazy, but it's, I mean, it's the kick. That's where the majority of their crowd comes from. And you know, they've done a really nice job of taking kind of the, uh, you know, erector savvy type of stadium that just gets like the stadium and making it to like a pretty decent home field environment. So they've poured money into it.

I mean, there's no coincidence the three out of the American that are going to the big 12 are the ones that have spent the most money on their athletic programs and their football programs the last few years. So Cincinnati's the one to beat. So there you go.

Patrick Johnson, 94-3 the game in Greenville before we let you go. Uh, and cause so much of this year has been, how do you take another step? Um, does this and whatever happens over the next, I mean, they can't fall off a cliff, but does a win like this, first of all, does it erase Navy?

Uh, and does it make it really feel as though there has been another step taken? I, I, you'd like to think that that's always the, uh, that's the thing we all strive for as fans, isn't it? Adam, uh, our favorite team, they, they, they look like they can beat anybody one week and you know, the next week they look like they, they'd never practiced. So, you know, that's, that's part of it is just harnessing that consistency. ECU's sort of stared prosperity in the face with huge wins over the years.

And they just kind of putting it together. Good to great teams put it together on a consistent basis, but it was really, you know, just, it had a big feel atmosphere on, on Saturday. Uh, for a, for a late October night game in Greenville, the crowd I think was really into it.

It was a pretty decent crowd, all things considered. So that was a good win. That's a win that you should be able to believe in a little bit. And I really go back to Memphis, I think rallying from down 17, you couple this win with, you know, having the resolve to do that. And I think that might be the turning point. And, you know, frankly, what got the pirates to seven wins last year was they, they rallied, uh, on the road at Marshall in the fourth quarter down, you know, Oh yeah. I remember that. And that kind of was the turning point from then the pirates were in every game from really that point on even played Cincinnati pretty tough at the end of the year.

So I think this is a, this is that step in that direction. Everybody still believes very much in what Mike Houston's vision is, and then he's done a fantastic job. I mean, you know this Adam, cause you've been around this Scotty Montgomery, this thing was, was, was dead.

Yeah. I mean, it was on life support. I mean, it was not a good situation at all. He stepped into a, and this day and age, especially Skip Holtz was in town this weekend.

It was great to see him. He did a heck of a job resurrecting the pirate program and getting two Conference USA championships back, you know, years ago. Skip Holtz, Skip Holtz. This was a worse situation that Houston took over. I think than what Holtz did.

Oh, it's very possible. Scotty Montgomery in a way was another version of John Thompson, right? When John Thompson took over for Steve Logan and it had to be rebuilt after that.

And it had to be rebuilt after Scotty Montgomery. Patrick Johnson at P, PJ on air or P man on air. I don't recall PJ on air. P man on air.

94-3 the game in Greenville. I appreciate your time. My friend will do it again soon. Always great to talk to you, Adam. Take care. All right, man. I'll talk to you soon.