ECU Coach Searches For Answers After NC State Loss

What Did Harrell Say After the Game?

On small mistakes and self-inflicted mistakes which caught up

• Harrell: "Those are obviously game one things, but you don't want those to happen against a good football team and you get your tail beat like it did tonight. But we've got to get those things cleaned up. The snap over the head, and then some of the penalties defensively, the late hit on the quarterback, I guess, and then the PI in the end zone, cost you points.

• "We get a third down, down here when it's 3-0. And, you know, he runs the ball. We just have to be smarter and do a better job there and hold them to a field goal. Then it's 6-0, and field goals won't get you, but touchdowns will. And obviously, touchdowns got us beat tonight."

On the inability to run the ball against the NC State defense

• Harrell: "In the bowl game, I think we rushed for a pretty good amount. They got some looks in the bowl game that just kind of gave you some third-down looks that we run the football against. Obviously, the big run at the end of the game there, and we popped some other ones in there too, but they were pretty sound tonight.

• "Obviously (DJ Eliot) did a great job with the defense and bringing some new pieces in there and they were really sound. Some of that, too, is just when they go three and out, we get behind the sticks and we don't get them tired. And they can be fresh, and they can get their third-down package in. Everything plays into their hand, rather than us having an advantage."

On falling behind in the first half

• Harrell: "I think we let the crowd maybe affect us a little bit. We go to Annapolis, you know, eight months ago, our crowd was bringing the energy, and we didn't do a great job of that early in the game. We've got to do a better job of that.

• "Some of that comes with success and moving the sticks. You know, when you're getting three and out, three and out, you kind of pause a little bit. But we've got to do a better job of playing ahead of the sticks. We missed some blocks on the perimeter. That was probably the biggest area that, got us behind the sticks, on the offensive side of the ball, is the blocking on the perimeter. We've got to do a better job there."