Navy @ Tulane preview

Last Meeting ( Oct 24, 2015 ) Tulane 14, Navy 31

Tulane is just starting to grasp the intricacies of first-year head coach Willie Fritz's offense, just in time to face a team that runs a similar option attack. The Green Wave will kick off American Athletic Conference play when they host Navy on Saturday.

Georgia Southern and Navy finished first and tied for second, respectively, in rushing average last season, when Keenan Reynolds was setting records for the Midshipmen and Fritz was the head coach for the Eagles. Fritz vowed to adapt his offense to the personnel on hand when he took over for Tulane, but the offense in the win over Southern last weekend looked very similar to the option attack he ran at Georgia Southern - and it was plenty explosive. The Green Wave rushed for 437 yards - the third-most in school history - in the 66-21 triumph while attempting only six passes, and forced four turnovers on defense to wash away the bad taste from a season-opening loss at Wake Forest. Navy played its AAC opener against Connecticut last week and totaled 235 yards on the ground in the 28-24 victory.

TV: 7 p.m. ET, ESPN3, American Sports Network. LINE: Navy -6

ABOUT NAVY (2-0): The Midshipmen were held almost 200 yards below their season rushing average against Tulane last season but forced three turnovers and managed a 31-14 victory. "Unfortunately, you do remember last year's game," Navy coach Ken Niumatalolo told reporters. "Tulane has some really athletic guys inside, a lot of good players on defense. They played really, really well against us." The big difference from last season for the Midshipmen is the absence of quarterback and leading rusher Reynolds, but Will Worth has been a solid replacement so far and Chris High rushed for 212 yards and three TDs in the first two games.

ABOUT TULANE (1-1): Fritz's triple-option attack is different from the one employed by Navy, and the Green Wave had some trouble grasping the nuances in the 7-3 loss at Wake Forest that opened the season. Fritz used freshman Johnathan Brantley at quarterback in Week 2 along with Week 1 starter Glen Cuiellette, and Brantley impressed with 119 rushing yards to earn himself the start against the Midshipmen. "I was pleased with our evolution on offense from the Wake Forest game," Fritz told reporters. "We had some explosive plays. We made the progress from Week 1 to Week 2 that we wanted."

EXTRA POINTS

1. Brantley and Dontrell Hilliard (103) became the first pair of Tulane teammates to rush for 100 or more yards in the same game since 1998.

2. Navy has not started 3-0 in back-to-back seasons since 1978 and 1979.

3. The Midshipmen have won 18 straight games against unranked opponents.

PREDICTION: Navy 35, Tulane 31