FACTS & STATS: Site: Roberts Stadium (33,000) -- Hattiesburg, Mississippi. Television: None. Home Record: ECU 3-1, USM 2-3. Away Record: ECU 2-2, USM 2-3. Neutral Record: ECU 1-0, USM 0-0. Conference Record: ECU 4-1, USM 2-4. Series Record: Southern Mississippi leads, 25-8.

GAME NOTES: For the second straight week the East Carolina Pirates survived an overtime bout versus a Conference USA foe, but this time around the program hopes to avoid the extra action as they take on the Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles in Hattiesburg. Last Saturday, the Pirates, who were once the darling of the AP poll with wins over Virginia Tech and West Virginia to open the 2008 campaign, slipped by Marshall at home in a 19-16 decision, the second straight three-point win for ECU, which is currently riding a three-game win streak following its third overtime game of the season. Meanwhile, Southern Miss posted back-to-back wins for the first time this season by taking out UCF on Saturday in a 17-6 decision. The victory was the fourth of the campaign for the group, but just the second in six conference outings. As far as the all- time series is concerned, Southern Miss has taken 25 of the previous 33 meetings with the Pirates, including a 28-21 triumph in North Carolina a season ago. ECU has just one win in the last eight meetings with the Golden Eagles and surprisingly enough, it was a 20-17 overtime affair in 2006 in Hattiesburg.

Ben Hartman booted four field goals for the Pirates on Saturday, none more important than the 27-yard effort in overtime which won the game for the team versus Marshall. Hartman had successful kicks of 31 and 51 yards in the first half and a 21-yard effort in the third for an ECU squad that logged just 100 yards rushing on the day. Patrick Pinkney converted 26-of-37 passes for 287 yards and a score for the victors. Pinkney has done just enough to keep this team moving in the right direction, averaging 179.8 ypg through the air on 62.9 percent completions. The signal-caller has just eight touchdowns in nine games though, just one in the last three outings. From an offensive standpoint the Pirates don't overwhelm opponents as they are 10th in the conference in rushing (128.8 ypg) and ninth in passing (211.8 ypg), which has led to 23.2 ppg, just two points per game more than what the team is giving up at the moment.

Perhaps more important than anything on Saturday, the Pirates kept the ball out of the hands of the Marshall offense in the second half, allowing the visitors to handle the ball for just over 11 minutes. Picking off a pair of Mark Cann passes clearly helped East Carolina, both of those coming from Emanuel Davis who also logged six tackles on the day. Through nine games Davis now has four picks for the Pirates, while Van Eskridge and Quentin Cotton have two apiece for a pass defense that is first in the conference and 35th nationally with 188.2 ypg allowed. The squad has managed to lock up opponents when it comes to passing the ball because the pressure up front has become so heavy. At this point in the season East Carolina defenders have combined to generate 7.6 tackles for loss per game, which is second in the league and 14th in the country at the moment. In terms of total defense, ECU is again first in Conference USA and 40th in the nation with only 326.8 ypg allowed, which has led to a league-best 21.2 ppg permitted as well.

The Golden Eagles went from scoring a season-high 70 points versus UAB one week to squeezing out a season-low 17 in the victory versus UCF in Orlando on Saturday. Austin Davis threw for one touchdown and ran for another for USM in the hard-fought victory over the Knights. Davis finished the afternoon 21- of-34 for 188 yards and also came up with a team-best 73 yards on 25 carries, even as he was being sacked for a loss of 38 yards along the way. Part of the reason why the Southern Miss offense had some struggles was because Damion Fletcher was not active due to a strained hamstring. Without him in the backfield the Eagles become rather ordinary, nowhere near the team that ranks second in the conference and 18th in the nation with 206.6 ypg on the ground. Fletcher has carried most of the weight with the tough yards this season (1,055 yards, seven TDs), but Davis has been the one with most of the glory, thanks to his nine TD runs. Davis, who has DeAndre Brown catching 55 balls for 933 yards and 11 touchdowns, has 17 TD passes on 57.1 percent completions.

Aside from a three-yard touchdown pass play late in the first quarter, the UCF offense provided little resistance against Southern Miss. In fact, take away that lengthy 11-play, 91-yard drive by the Knights, after which the team missed the PAT, and the home team was left with a mere 117 yards of offense the rest of the way. Southern Miss held the Knights to 1-of-11 on third down and permitted them inside the red zone only once. The pass defense for the Golden Eagles has looked very good the last couple of weeks, giving up a total of just 271 yards to UAB and UCF, but the squad has seen its numbers skewed somewhat based on the Rice game in which the Owls threw for 444 yards and six touchdowns. As a result, the pass defense currently ranks sixth in the league and 80th in the country with 224.5 ypg allowed. Posting sacks has been a problem for the group from the very beginning and now they are averaging only 1.3 per game, 11th in the conference and tied for 98th nationally.

Depending on the availability of Fletcher for the Golden Eagles, this game really could go either way. ECU continues to get by with some talent and a little bit of luck, but Southern Miss could take out the latter element and send the Pirates home in defeat.

Sports Network Predicted Outcome: Southern Mississippi 23, East Carolina 16

Saturday, November 15th, 3:00 p.m. (et).