Pitt wasn’t the only team to have to turn things around after a bad start.

Back on Sept. 13, Navy’s chances of earning a sixth straight bowl berth looked questionable. Navy was 1-2 after suffering consecutive road losses to Ball State and Duke, opponents that didn’t garner much preseason respect.

More troublesome was the fact the Midshipmen faced an ominous stretch of three potentially tougher games leading up to the current bye week.

On the horizon was a Rutgers program that had been to three straight bowls, a Wake Forest team that was an early favorite to win the Atlantic Coast Conference and service academy rival Air Force.

The Midshipmen swept those three games. A good rebound for the program under a new coach this year. Right now the new coach is talking up Pitt.

Navy head coach Ken Niumatalolo was asked last week if he watched the Pittsburgh-South Florida game, which was televised nationally on ESPN the previous Thursday.

“Unfortunately, I did,” Niumatalolo said.
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”Pitt is a good football team and is going to want revenge from last year,” Niumatalolo said. “We snuck one out against them last year. I’m sure their coaches have been talking about that. That’s not going to happen this year. If we think we’re going to sneak up on them again, we’re in for a rude awakening.”

Part of the reason for the slow start was that starting QB Kaipo-Noa Kaheaku-Enhada has been bothered by a sore hamstring for a good chunk of the season. His status is still up in the air for the game, but Kaipo killed Pitt last year.

Coach Wannstedt remembers, but saw it differently.

“I remember coming out of that game being disappointed that we spent so much time on their triple option and they really moved the ball and scored points on offense,” Wannstedt said. “They beat us by throwing the ball. That was the most disappointing thing. …

“They put a lot of pressure on you to stop the run and when you least expect it, or in a passing situation, they are a more capable passing team than anyone gives them credit for. So, they’re not just a one-dimensional team, even though everyone would like to think they are. I think we learned that lesson last year.”

Um, yes. They passed for two TDs including one in OT. They were efficient with 9-14 for 166 yards. That said, they could do that because they were killing Pitt running the ball out of the triple option. 331 yards on the ground and 4 rushing TDs — all by different players. They ran the ball 70 times and passed 14. All things being equal, I’d rather take my chances with Navy passing rather than running.

Wannstedt is also worried about running out of time.

Wannstedt said another major issue when dealing with Navy is the new play-clock rules, which have shortened games because it makes it easier for teams to kill time, because the Midshipmen are so good at keeping the ball. He said the Panthers need to execute well on offense and take advantage of every possession they get because they likely won’t get that many opportunities.

“With the new rules, they say there’s anywhere from eight to 10 plays less in a game,” Wannstedt said. “It will be a factor. It’s been a point of emphasis for our offense. They [Navy] play a similar defensive scheme in that they’ll do a little bit of pressure and some things inside but on the back end they’re kind of conservative. They play defense to try and match their offense.

“They make you try to out execute them, knowing that if you make a mistake, you turn it over, you take penalties, you lose a possession, it could come back to cost you a game.”

The defense is vowing not to repeat what happened last year.

“When you look at last year, the game caught us off guard,” Pitt linebacker Scott McKillop said. “We just have to read our keys. It’s going to be physical along both sides of the line of scrimmage.”

Last year, Pitt was criticized for not attacking the Navy offense.

“We have to be aggressive,” McKillop added. “What they want to do is establish the fullback and get him his carries. Last year, he got six, seven yards every time.”

Linebacker Shane Murray didn’t even make the depth chart this week. Seems that partially torn ACL in his right knee is still a problem. Go figure. You can see the full depth chart in Pitt’s game notes (PDF). Here is the Navy game notes.

Want to learn more about some of the nuances of Navy’s attack? The Birddog breaks down Navy’s midline option. Fantastic stuff. Even better is this on the QB reading the defense to decide what to do — which by odd coincidence was written the week before last year’s Navy-Pitt game.