ECU sports Q&A with CUSA-fans correspondent Bubba Rosenbaum

CUSA-fans.com has a new staff of team correspondents this fall to help bring you, the fan, more detailed Conference USA football coverage. Today, our East Carolina Correspondent Thoms "Bubba" Rosenbaum answers your e-mails in his ECU sports mailbag Q&A.

You can contact Bubba with your questions about ECU sports at TBRosenbaum @ cusa-fans.com.

Josh Glenn from Cramerton, NC

Q: Now that the season has passed the midway point, what adjustments, if any, do you think the Pirates need to make to improve their defense? It seems that they have enough talent to make big plays (16 takeaways), but they have not been able to avoid long drives. Do you think this trend will continue or will the Pirate D finally start to clamp down on it opponents? 

A: Overall, the East Carolina defense is much better than it was a season ago. It is currently a defense that is of the “bend but don’t break” variety. ECU has done a commendable job of not allowing big plays.

The Pirates are much better against the run this season, and have done a superb job of forcing turnovers as you mention. Entering the season, the Pirates sought to improve their third down defense, as they allowed opponents to convert 47 percent of their attempts in 2005. ECU has improved, but only marginally, as opponents are converting 44 percent this season. Not only have the Pirates failed to improve as much as they would like on third down, but they have also failed to stop an opponent yet on fourth down. Opponents are a perfect ten of ten.

You can attribute the lack of success in these situations to a couple of different factors. First of all, the Pirates have not won first down enough. This has provided second or third and short situations. Secondly, when the Pirates have forced third and long, opponents have often been able to convert due to the opposing quarterbacks having too long to throw the football.

East Carolina will be a better defense when it can start winning first down and getting pressure on the quarterback more consistently, thus allowing less third and fourth downs to be converted.

Matt Stewart from Goldsboro, NC

Q: Have you heard anything new on the Travis Williams situation? Also, the Pirate injury list continues to get longer and longer with every passing week. I have never seen so many injuries. Do you think this has to do with poor conditioning? Or an overly physical practice regimen? Or do we need to just chalk all these injuries up to bad luck?

A: As you already know, Travis Williams was suspended for the Tulsa game due to a violation of team rules. Williams stated this was due to an issue over a parking ticket. Williams is practicing this week, but Coach Holtz has not addressed his status for the SMU game.

As far as the substantial number of injuries goes, I can assure you that it is definitely not due to the players being poorly conditioned. Head Strength and Conditioning coach Mike Golden does a job that is probably as good as, if not better than most in the country. The Pirates’ practices are certainly physical, but not overly so. They have at least one practice per week in full pads. During this practice, they go full speed up top, but do not go to the ground. This is essential so that the players stay sharp on their fundamentals, get solid reps, and get an accurate depiction of how plays develop.