Navy travels to face East Carolina on Saturday afternoon to take on the Pirates knowing that a win in a facility that always treats the Mids well will see them clinch a berth in the American Athletic Conference Championship game. This is the clash between the two schools that was rearranged earlier in the season due to flooding in Greenville from Hurricane Matthew.
Season so far
The Pirates enter this game with Navy sitting in fourth place in the AAC East with a 3-7 (1-5) record after ten games.
ECU started the season in great form, tearing apart Western Carolina of the FCS 52-7 before upsetting North Carolina State of the ACC 33-30. This is by far the Pirates’ biggest win to date though because after that great start ECU dropped its next five games, going winless for over a month from the middle of September until the end of October. A close loss to South Carolina was ok, but then the defense fell apart as SCU got run out of the building by the likes of Virginia Tech (54-17), UCF (47-29) and USF (38-22).
East Carolina did find its defense at home against UConn however, beating the Huskies 41-3 in a win that was just as dominant as the one that opened up the season. That rest bite though was short lived as a trip to Tulsa (45-24) and a home date with SMU (55-31) again saw the Pirates comprehensively outscored.
Injuries and Suspensions
The Pirates have had a rough time with injuries and other issues as six players on their roster are listed as either out indefinitely or out for the season. Those hits have been spread around the team, but losing WRs Trevon Brown (academics) and Davon Grayson (undisclosed) has certainly hurt the production of the offense. Adding in the issues with DB Nhyre Quinerly who was dismissed for legal problems means that ECU is down at least seven players that were expected to contribute this season.
Week to week injuries are also hitting ECU hard right now. Quarterback Philip Nelson (2,621 yards passing) is expected to play against Navy, but he is nursing a shoulder problem and will not be 100 percent healthy. Backup running back Anthony Scott is a question mark for the game with a hamstring injury, while kickoff specialist Caleb Pratt is also a game-time decision with an undisclosed ailment.
Challenges
This game against ECU presents an interesting challenge as Navy has never been in position to win a conference championship before. The Mids are a game up on Memphis and Tulsa with tiebreakers against each squad and two games up on SMU who the Mids play in their last regular season conference game. Navy has run the ball very well in Greenville, piling up over 1,000 yards rushing during its last two visits. If Navy can crank out anything close to that level of production, and it’s worth noting that the Mids are averaging 40 points and 480 total yards over the last five games, then there could be a big, and new, celebration in Annapolis come Saturday night.
