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WINSTON-SALEM -- By now, everybody knows that defensive coordinators would rather consume thumbtacks than face Navy's triple-option offense. The Midshipmen pose a unique challenge in any context.

For Wake Forest this week, the job is more pronounced.

"We're going from Florida State, where their philosophy was basically to throw the ball every snap, to a team that is not going to throw the ball nearly as much but may complete every one they throw," Demon Deacons coach Jim Grobe said.

Do the Seminoles have superior athletes?

Of course they do. That's not the point.

The issue is one of adjustment in the aftermath of an intradivisional ACC game that the Deacs won 12-3 with the help of seven FSU turnovers.

The Seminoles' speed is fueled by conventional, north-south athleticism. Officially, FSU ran the ball 28 times and threw it 36 last week, but that's misleading. Roughly 70 percent of the plays were called as passes but became runs when defensive pressure compelled quarterback scrambles.

The Seminoles are seldom into deception or sleight of hand.

Why should they be?

The Midshipmen are fast in their own right, but their greatest strength is side-to-side quickness that gives the quarterback the latitude to keep the ball or pitch it. In four games, Navy has run the ball more than six times for every pass it has attempted.

But when it has passed, its average of 16.7 yards per completion ranks second in the country. Things have been helped recently by the return to health of starter Kaipo-Noa Kaheaku-Enhada, who missed the first two games of the season with a hamstring injury.

"If you ever get caught up in the idea that you've got the quarterback on the option or you've got the pitch on the option," Grobe said, "the next thing you know they're throwing the ball on you. Knowing what to do is not enough. Being aggressive is not enough. You have to have a mix."

The contrasts don't stop there, of course. The Deacs don't expect Navy to duplicate FSU in rhetoric.

"We were kicking the (last) field goal," Wake center Trey Bailey recalled, "and Budd Thacker said, 'They're just still little, old Wake Forest.' And I said, 'Yeah, but we still beat you three years in a row.' "

While worried about the Navy ground game, Wake needs to get something from its own rushing offense, which ranks 105th out of 119 teams in the NCAA's highest division of football. Grobe said he saw signs of improvement against Florida State, but consistency remains an issue in a mix-and-match group that could use some depth. Converted defensive lineman Dennis Godfrey is probably the key guy on the offensive line in that regard.

There's something interesting about Wake's schedule beyond the FSU-Navy differences. The Middies are sandwiched between the Seminoles and the Clemson Tigers, whose appearance at BB&T Field one week from Thursday is likely to be hyped as one of the bigger ACC games of the season.

"We're not looking toward Clemson," Bailey promised.

Contact Rob Daniels at 373-7028 or rob.daniels@news-record.com