PITTSBURGH — A year ago, in one of Dave Wannstedt's worst moments as Pitt's coach, his Panthers looked as if they had never seen an offense like Navy's.

Probably because they hadn't.

Taking advantage of excellent field position created by repeated problems in Pitt's kicking game, the Midshipmen (4-2) ran their triple-option offense as if they were taping an instructional video on a system that is rarely seen in college football these days.

Quarterback Kaipo-Noa Kaheaku-Enhada ran for 122 yards and a touchdown and threw for 166 yards and two scores. Navy also rushed for 331 yards on 70 carries during a 48-45, two-overtime victory in Pittsburgh that was its first over the Panthers in 22 years.

Rather than remain in contention for one of the Big East's bowl berths, Pitt slipped to 2-4 and would lose seven times in nine games before upsetting West Virginia to end the season.

"It was a real shock for us," Pitt linebacker Scott McKillop said. "They came in and racked up (497) yards on us. And it hurts. You never see this offense, and they're going to get their yards. They've led the nation in rushing for a reason."

Former Navy coach Paul Johnson is now at Georgia Tech, but the troublesome-to-defend triple option remains and will test the No. 23 Panthers (4-1) in Annapolis on Saturday — their first game since a 26-21 upset of then-No. 10 South Florida on Oct. 2.

A bye week following that Thursday night game gave Pitt plenty of time to prepare for the triple option, which gets its name because a run-oriented quarterback has the option of throwing, handing the ball to a running back or running himself.

"We had a bye week before the Navy game last year, too, and that didn't help," McKillop said. "But our mentality is totally different this season. ..."

"They have multiple ways of blocking each play and multiple plays with each offensive formation," Wannstedt said. "It's really unique because you follow them during the course of a game, a defense will come out and change their front or slide somebody to take something away, and it's almost as if they just turn the page and say, `OK, that's over, let's go to this.' There's nothing that you're going to do on defense that they haven't seen before."