ECU seeks third win against Navy

East Carolina University’s football team (2-8,1-5 American Athletic Conference) is looking for their third win of the season against the Naval Academy (4-5, 3-3 AAC) on Nov. 18 at noon in Annapolis, Maryland.

The Pirates are coming off a big win against Florida Atlantic University (4-6, 3-3 AAC) 22-7 last weekend. ECU sophomore kicker Andrew Conrad nailed five field goals to give the Pirates their second win on the year.

Going into this game against the Naval Academy, ECU has found success in scoring earlier in games. In their last three games, the Pirates have maintained a first quarter lead in each of them, the first time they’ve managed to do so this year. While ECU’s record is 1-2 in those games, they’ve kept it within one possession or less in all but one.

Defensively, the Pirates should expect a heavy run attack by Navy. The triple option offense Navy runs is very formalized. Despite switching starting quarterbacks a few weeks back, Navy still rushes more than they pass statistically.

“The triple option stuff is always a challenge to prepare for, but now you factor that in with everything else you're having to prepare for and it's a lot,” Head Coach Mike Houston said in his weekly press conference. “We faced teams like this in the past and when they can do all of it well, it's really challenging for your defensive players to play one thing one series and then be playing a different style the next snap."

The Pirates are solid against the run so far this year, allowing only 114.3 rush yards per game to opponents. That number ranks ECU No. 25 in rush defense. Navy record is 0-1 when facing a team ranked in the Top 25 for rush defense.

On offense, ECU would like to see the continued progress of making possessions count. More often than not, the Pirates have walked away from most of their drives without points or pushing into opponents territory before punting the ball away.

"I think we've just got to maximize our possessions,” Houston said. “We can't give any of them away. I think in this ball game, it's going to be special teams, field position and turnovers. Those are going to be the key factors. We can't give any of our possessions away, so we need to do a good job of ball security and decision making. We've got to do a great job on third down.”

"I think we've just got to maximize our possessions,” Houston said. “We can't give any of them away. I think in this ball game, it's going to be special teams, field position and turnovers. Those are going to be the key factors. We can't give any of our possessions away, so we need to do a good job of ball security and decision making. We've got to do a great job on third down.”

Despite being eliminated from bowl contention, ECU has a chance to derail Navy's season. The Midshipmen currently have five losses, and a win by the Pirates will drop them to one game away from losing bowl eligibility. To be eligible for a bowl game, Navy would have to win out after losing to ECU.

Navy and ECU have played each other 10 times in the past, with ECU only winning two of those games. The Pirates have been outscored by Navy by a point differential of 43 points per matchup to ECU’s 26.7 points per matchup.

“For the last month or so, we’ve been working on the Navy gameplan on Sundays both with our defense and our scout team players,” Houston said. “I thought we had a fast start. Today and tomorrow will be the big test because that’s the stuff in pads. You’re not playing tag against this team. It’s going to be a very physical football game, so we need to be prepared to play at a high level there, not only executing defensively but playing with that physicality.”

The last time these two teams played, Navy got the win over ECU 23-20 on Sept. 24 2022. The game went into double overtime and the Pirates lost a thriller off of a missed last minute field goal in overtime.

ECU is 2-8 against the Naval academy, but both wins for the Pirates came in Annapolis.

Statistically, this looks to be a defensive game from both teams despite past matchups. ECU and the Naval Academy average under 20 points per game on the season. Defensively, they allow less than 25 points per game.

Following this game against Navy, ECU will play their season finale at home against the University of Tulsa (3-7, 1-5 AAC) next Saturday at 2 p.m. in Greenville, North Carolina. The game will be broadcasted on ESPN+.