Tulane will travel to East Carolina Saturday afternoon, where itwill attempt to snap its longest losing streak since the 2008season. East Carolina has won its last two games, including aconvincing win against the same Memphis squad that beat Tulane lastweek.

Tulane will have to overcome the fact that this game should meansubstantially more to East Carolina this week. East Carolina is inthe middle of a tough battle for first place in the East Divisionof Conference USA, and East Carolina Senior quarterback DominiqueDavis captains the Pirate offense. Davis has thrown for more than2,000 yards this season and is coming off a record-settingperformance against Navy last week.

Davis threw for 26 straight completions in the first half lastweek and 36 in a row dating back to the game against Memphis, goodenough to break the record for most consecutive completions in agame and most consecutive completions across multiple contests. Toadd some perspective, Super Bowl MVP Aaron Rodgers previously heldboth these records while playing at California. Davis finished thegame with 372 passing yards and two touchdowns.

The Tulane defense will have to find a way to throw off Davis’rhythm order for the Green Wave to stand a chance. Look forTulane’s standout junior linebacker Trent Mackey, who is fifth inthe nation in tackles, to have another big week.

The Tulane offense will need to be just as productive this week.Last week, the Green Wave ran the ball just 24 times while throwingon 50 occasions. Expect Orleans Darkwa and the running game to getmore touches against the Pirates.

“We need to take some pressure off of [Ryan Griffin] as anoffense,” interim head coach Mark Hutson said. “We need to run theball and be more productive there.”

The special teams unit and turnovers remain pressing concernsfor the Green Wave, and Hutson says he will continue address themin practice.

Saturday’s game will mark the start of a two-game road trip andthe tougher half of the season for Tulane. The Green Wave willlikely be the underdog in all of its remaining games but remainintent on picking up the pieces and maintaining a positiveattitude.

“It has to begin somewhere,” Hutson said. “We’re pointing towardSaturday, as that is where it begins.”

Tulane has shown that it has the capability of performing at ahigh level, but it still needs to prove that it can perform at thatlevel on a weekly basis.