ECU, new coach Houston no strangers to Wolfpack

The same coach that led James Madison against NC State in last season's opening game will be on the opening week sideline again at Carter-Finley Stadium

Tim Heitman/USA TODAY Sports

 Scouting an opening game opponent can sometimes be a tricky proposition, especially in situations where a new coaching staff is involved.

But that shouldn’t be a problem for NC State’s Dave Doeren against East Carolina on Saturday.

 Not only did his Wolfpack play the Pirates in the final game of the regular season last December, but he and his assistants are equally familiar with the tendencies of new ECU coach Mike Houston from having started the year against his old team, James Madison.

 “This game is unique,” Doeren said Monday. “We're opening with a staff we opened with last year, so there’s a lot of knowledge. We’re opening with a team we closed the regular season with, so we know some of their personnel. So we probably in this scenario, know more than you might facing a new staff.”

 State will likely learn more from studying the tape of the James Madison game than the 58-3 beatdown it put on a demoralized ECU team in a game that was added to the end of the schedule to replace an earlier cancellation.

 The perennial FCS power Dukes provided the Wolfpack with a stronger than expected challenge, holding it to just 83 yards on the ground and staying within a single score for most of the game. It took a short touchdown run by Reggie Gallaspy with 1:05 remaining to finally put the 24-13 victory away.

 That experience has Doeren expecting a much more competitive performance from Houston’s new team than the one the Pirates produced under an interim staff only days after the firing of former coach Scottie Montgomery.

 “I think Mike Houston's a really good man, a good football coach and is a great hire for them,” Doeren said. “It's fun to go up against guys like that. I expect a hard-fought, four-quarter game. For us it's no different than anything. It starts with us not beating us in the line of scrimmage battle is critical in a football game like this -- field position and special teams play, all of that.”

 Doeren said he’s expecting a lot of run-pass options from the Pirates, with 6-foot-3, 236-pound quarterback Holton Ahlers playing a major role in the ground game. Ahlers is one of several key players on both sides of the ball to miss last year’s game because of injury.

 ECU figures to play at a much faster tempo offensively this time around be much more physical defensively than it was a year ago. Even though many of the players in its lineup might look familiar.

 “I'm sure they've had to tweak a little based on their personnel,” Doeren said of the Pirates. “But last year we studied an entire season of their football team before we played them in the opener, so we have a good idea schematically.”

 Doeren said he has “immense respect” for Houston and his staff -- especially coordinators Donnie Kirkpatrick and Bob Trott, along with former Wolfpack assistant Steve Shankweiler. He called the new ECU coach a “tough guy, a straight shooter and a guy that takes a lot of pride in where he’s from.

“I think he probably fits really well at that university,” Doeren said. “(And he) will do a great job there.”