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FACTS & STATS: Site: Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium (34,000) -- Annapolis, Maryland. Television: CBSCSN. Home Record: ECU 1-2, Navy 1-2. Away Record: ECU 1-1, Navy 1-2. Neutral Record: ECU 0-1, Navy 0-0. Conference Record: ECU 2-1, Navy 0-0. Series Record: Navy leads 2-0.

GAME NOTES: The struggling Navy Midshipmen will try to turn their season around when they play host to the Pirates of East Carolina on Saturday afternoon at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium.

Navy enters Saturday's contest on a four-game losing streak, the team's longest since dropping 10 in a row in 2002. Three of the four losses have come by a combined five points (South Carolina by three, Air Force by one in overtime and Rutgers by one), though there is no consolation for losing close games in college football. The most recent of those setbacks was a 21-20 loss at Rutgers last Saturday.

Meanwhile, East Carolina rebounded from back-to-back losses with a 35-17 win at Memphis last Saturday, moving to 2-1 in Conference USA play. The Pirates' schedule has not been easy as three of their losses have come against automatic BCS qualifying league members (South Carolina, Virginia Tech, North Carolina), but they have won where it counts in league play. This weekend's tilt wraps up a three-game road swing for the Pirates, who will return to Greenville, North Carolina to host Tulane and Southern Miss in the coming weeks.

When these teams met last year, Navy set a modern-day school record for points scored in a 76-35 victory over the Pirates in Greenville. The Midshipmen have won both meetings in the all-time series.

Turnovers have been the biggest culprit so far for ECU, as the team ranks dead last out of 120 Football Bowl Subdivision schools in turnover margin (-2.0 per game). Quarterback Dominique Davis was removed after three costly interceptions in an ugly loss at Houston two weeks ago, and he needed to play much sharper entering last week's game. While the Pirates were ultimately able to knock off a reeling Memphis squad on the road, the victory was not without its blemishes. ECU lost two fumbles on the day (one by Davis), and those turnovers resulted in the only two touchdowns scored by the Tigers. But after a slow start that saw the Pirates trailing by three at halftime, they tallied 35 consecutive points to put the game away. Davis went on to throw for 307 yards and three scores, and he added another TD on the ground during that second-half onslaught. Torrance Hunt powered the ground game with 98 yards and a touchdown on 16 carries. Lance Lewis and Justin Hardy each caught touchdown passes, as that duo has now combined for nine scoring grabs on the year.

After allowing more points than their previous outing in each of their last four contests, the Pirates finally shut the door against Memphis. It was a much-needed defensive effort after yielding a season-high 56 points at Houston, as the Tigers' only touchdowns came as a result of turnovers. The Tigers were also without freshman standout linebacker Jeremy Grove, who is nursing a shoulder injury and is considered questionable for this bout with Navy. Grove leads the team with 66 tackles, and his 13.2 tackles per game is the third-best average in the country. Without Grove, junior outside linebacker Chris Baker stepped up with a team-high six stops against Memphis, including one of the team's three sacks on the day. Still, the Pirates will need all the playmakers they can get in order to slow down Navy's option game, which churned out 521 yards and eight touchdowns on the ground in last year's meeting. On the season, ECU ranks 105th in the nation in scoring defense, having allowed 34.0 ppg. The run defense is allowing an average of 179.2 ypg, which ranks 85th and will surely be put to the test in this matchup.

Navy is coming off yet another narrow defeat, as Jon Teague had a potential go-ahead 34-yard field goal blocked with 4:43 remaining to seal the outcome. The kicking game has been a problem for the Midshipmen all year long, as they have missed at least one kick (PAT or field goal) in five of their six games this year, including three-straight contests. Over the last three weeks, the Mids had an extra-point blocked in overtime against Air Force, a field goal blocked and returned for a touchdown against Southern Miss and then last week's key field-goal attempt blocked against Rutgers. For an offense that likes to control the tempo by moving down the field a few yards at a time, the Mids are simply ill-equipped to overcome such big plays, particularly late in games. Navy boasts the nation's fourth-ranked rushing attack with an average of 332 ypg. Quarterback Kriss Proctor has engineered the triple-option attack with a team-best 563 rushing yards (93.8 ypg) and eight touchdowns. Senior fullback Alexander Teich has averaged 95.4 ypg, though he was held out of the Southern Miss game as part of a team disciplinary matter.

Defensively, Navy has been a bit too generous against both the run and the pass. The Mids rank 102nd nationally in pass efficiency defense (144.2) and 104th in rushing defense (209.3 ypg). As a result, opponents have been able to control the tempo and keep the chains moving, effectively wearing out Navy's defense late in games. Leading 17-7 in the second half against Rutgers, the Scarlet Knights answered with two touchdown passes to take a 21-17 fourth- quarter lead, and Navy was never able to recover. Scarlet Knights running back Jawan Jamison gashed the Mids for 101 yards and an early touchdown on the ground. Still, Navy did make some plays on the defensive side of the ball. Chris Ferguson scored on a 16-yard interception return to make it a 7-7 game in the second quarter. Midway through the fourth quarter, linebacker Caleb King came up with another interception and returned it to the Rutgers' 23-yard line. However, a botched blocking assignment on what would have been the go- ahead field goal allowed Rutgers' Brandon Jones to come untouched off the right side and block the kick. Just like a couple of their other losses this season, the Mids played well enough to win the game but were done in by untimely miscues.

The Mids need to go at least 4-2 over the final six games to go to a bowl game for the ninth consecutive year. That's certainly not out of the realm of possibility, but this week's game is a must-win for Navy, particularly with a road game at Notre Dame on tap for the following weekend.

Sports Network Predicted Outcome: Navy 31, East Carolina 24