When the SMU Mustangs travel to Annapolis, Md., to face the Navy Midshipmen (4-3) Saturday afternoon, they’ll be facing a team that operates its offense in a scheme that has given the SMU defense fits in recent years: the triple-option offense.

June Jones said first-year Navy head coach Ken Niumatalolo has changed little since taking over for his former boss, Paul Johnson (photo by Navy athletic department).

First-year head coach Ken Niumatalolo took over after serving as assistant head coach and offensive line coach under former head coach Paul Johnson, who left Annapolis in the offseason for Georgia Tech. The Midshipmen led the country in rushing in four of his last five seasons on Johnson’s staff.

“They run exactly the same stuff” under Niumatalolo as they did under Johnson, SMU head coach June Hones said. “Every coach puts a little tweak on a system, but it’s pretty much the same stuff. Kenny (Niumatalolo) has stayed with it for 25 years now, and he knows it just like Paul (Johnson) knows it, and I think those two guys maybe are the only two who really know the system in and out. They haven’t changed since Paul left. Some of the bodies have changed, some of the people have changed, but they’re still running exactly the same thing.”

Jones said that part of what makes the Navy offense so difficult to defend is that preparation time is so limited, making the offense difficult to simulate in practice, since Navy almost always is the only option-based team its opponents face each year.

“It’s very hard” to prepare to face the Midshipmen, Jones said. “The simulation — the first time really is the first play of the game. You try to get the pace, but it’s hard to get the thing going in practice. You can’t cut (cut-block) — we don’t want to cut our guys in practice — so it’s really a hard thing to get ready for. Everybody they play has to do the same thing. Hopefully we’ll be able to be in the right place and tackle and take our gaps.”

Navy's leading rusher, slotback Shun White, averages 8.8 yards per carry (photo by Navy athletic department).

The basis of the triple-option is in its unique alignment with four players in the backfield. The quarterback takes the snap and has his choice of three running backs: a fullback and two slotbacks. The offense includes a wide array of plays that are effective in part because of the uncertainty of who is going to get the ball, and the Midshipmen can get the ball to any of the three backs from identical formations, making it difficult for defensive players to read the offense and anticipate the play.

But the backfield would have no chance to execute its precision rushing attack without the performance of an extraordinary offensive line. The Navy line is the polar opposite of the mountainous Texas Tech line that features a row of behemoth blockers playing with wide splits between them and standing up in pass protection stances and brawling with oncoming pass rushers. The Midshipmen, on the other hand, starts a line that averages just over 6-foot-2 and just 274 pounds per man — measurements which wouldn’t even qualify as scout-team blockers at many schools. Of the starting five, only senior center Ricky Moore (6-4, 295) weighs more than 285 pounds, making the others relatively petite by today’s standards for most college teams. Tackles Jeff Battipaglia and Austin Mikle, seem almost child-like at 260 and 265 pounds, respectively, at the positions usually occupied by the biggest players on most teams.

The USNA blockers line up in tight splits and overcome their relative lack of bulk through surgeon-like technique … which includes extensive cut-blocking, in which blockers turn into oncoming defenders and dive down, cutting their feet out from under them.

Defenders who aren’t careful can be injured by the practice, but SMU linebacker Pete Fleps — who has excelled when opponents mixed in occasional option plays against the Mustangs earlier this season — said it is up to defensive players to protect themselves.

“It takes a lot of extra work” getting past cut-blocking linemen, Fleps said. “You really have to have a sense of awareness. You have to play really low, move well and make sure your hands stay busy, to help keep yourself away from the blocks.

“They’re not the biggest linemen, but they’re incredibly disciplined and tough. They have to be, to be undersized and still be so successful.”

Jones said that because of the active Navy line, and its reliance on cut-blocking, SMU likely will rotate more defensive linemen in and out of the lineup Saturday in Annapolis.

“I think we’re going to have to,” he said. “Hopefully it won’t be because of injury. Ankles get sprained and knees get sprained when you get to cut-blocking. I think at some point, this type of blocking will be outlawed in college football, but right now it isn’t, so you’ve got to figure out a way to play off your legs, and hopefully you don’t get cut.”

SMU announcers Rich Phillips and Craig Swann might be the biggest beneficiaries of a change at quarterback for the Midshipmen, who lost starter Kaipo-Noa Kaheaku-Enhada to a hamstring injury. In his place is senior Jarod Bryant, who has played seven games under center, rushing for 3.2 yards per carry on 123 carries.

“He’s really fast, and he knows the offense really well,” Fleps said of Bryant. “With him in there, it’s like they have four running backs in the game. Any one of them can make plays.”

The leading rusher is senior slotback Shun White (5-9, 190), who has 768 rushing yards on just 87 carries, for a staggering average of 8.8 yards per carry. He is trailed by fullback Eric Kettani (6-1, 243) with 523 yards (5.8 per) and Bryant. As with any offense, the most significant statistic is points; Bryant leads the ground game with six rushing touchdowns, while White has five.

Contrary to popular belief, the Midshipmen do throw the ball. The running game is the focal point of their offense — Navy runs on 86 percent of its offensive plays — but when the situation dictates, the Midshipmen occasionally will take to the air. Bryant has completed 18-of-32 passes this season (56.2 percent) for 265 yards and a pair of touchdowns.

DEFENSE

Navy’s defense operates out of a base 3-4 alignment, and just as opposing defenses prepare for the Navy offense by practicing against scout teams of players recruited to play in more traditional offenses, the Midshipmen’s defense practices against scout-team players recruited to run the option, not traditional offenses.

Ross Pospisil is fourth on the Navy team with 46 tackles through seven games (photo by Navy athletic department).

As is the case on offense, the defensive line is not overly large. The starting line of left defensive end Jabaree Tuani, nose guard Nate Frazier and right defensive end Matt Nechak averages just 256 pounds per man, but like the offensive line, is surprisingly effective. Tuani leads the team with 5.5 tackles-for-loss and 1.5 sacks; Nechak is second with 5.3 tackles-for-loss.

“Their line — their whole defense, really — really flies to the ball,” center Mitch Enright said. “They play bigger than they are. They get great leverage, and they get up under your pads. When they do that, they can knock you off-balance, and that allows them to make plays.”

While the Midshipmen play a 3-4 defense, Enright said it almost operates as a 4-3.

“They’ll play mostly in the 3-4, with a little 4-3 mixed in, but they’ll blitz off the edge,” he said. “They’ll play with three down, but they almost always bring four. We just have to be aware of where the extra guy is coming from.”

The USNA linebackers are led, at least statistically, by outside linebacker Corey Johnson, a 6-2, 205-pound speedster who leads the linebackers (and is tied for second on the team) with 38 tackles through seven games. At the opposite outside spot, Navy starts one of the smallest linebackers in college football, 5-9, 193-pound Ram Vela, who has 19 tackles and a sack. Inside, the Midshipmen have a pair of bulky (by their standards) juniors in Tony Harberer (6-1, 225) and Ross Pospisil (6-0, 223). Pospisil leads all linebackers with 46 tackles, and is tied for the team lead with two fumble recoveries.

“The linebackers don’t ‘get into you’ like a lot of guys on other teams do,” Enright said. “They want to get you on your toes and then do a swim move on you, so it’s hard, as an offensive line, to get your hands on them.”

Enright said that against Navy perhaps more than any other team, the Mustangs’ offensive line has to pursue plays, almost like defensive players do.

“(SMU offensive line) Coach (Dennis) McKnight said that if they’re going to run to the ball, we (the offensive line) have to run with them. They swarm the ball so well — you watch them on film, and it seems like every time they make a tackle, there’s seven or eight guys getting up off the guy with the ball.

“When you play some other teams, sometimes offensive linemen can sort of stop after the ball carrier gets downfield. We’ve got to get downfield to get them off our ball carriers.”

Some of the best Navy defenders are in the secondary, where free safety Wyatt Middleton leads the team with 49 tackles, and “rover” Jeff Deliz is tied (with Johnson) for second with 48.

To come out of Annapolis with a victory, the Mustangs likely will have to keep alive their recent trend of scoring a lot of points, which shouldn’t be impossible for a Navy team that allows 28.0 points per game. But Midshipmen’s offense also averages 28.0 points per game can be potent. The Ponies must be true to their defensive assignments and resist the urge to abandon their man in an effort to make a play. Instead, they have to follow their assignments strictly, and ideally string out offensive plays to the sideline, where they can get the Midshipmen running laterally and then use the sideline as a 12th defender.