Optimism is high as the Pitt Panthers reach the midway point of their season, and for good reason -- they have won four in a row, have had a week off, they are 4-1 and ranked No. 23 in The Associated Press poll.

But that optimism should be tempered by this dose of reality about the Panthers' next four opponents -- Navy, Rutgers, Notre Dame and Louisville -- Dave Wannstedt has not beaten any of them since he became Pitt's head coach.

Pitt under Wannstedt is 0-8 against the next four opponents on the schedule, which means it has a lot of history to try to reverse if it wants to continue its march toward a Big East Conference title and a Bowl Championship Series game.

"We'll take it one week at a time and prepare for the team that is ahead of us," Pitt middle linebacker Scott McKillop said. "The only thing I am worried about is Navy. I haven't focused on that other stuff, but when you take a minute and think about that, I guess you're right, it isn't good."

McKillop is correct -- the Panthers can't get caught looking too far ahead in the schedule, particularly when their next opponent, Navy (4-2), is always a headache to prepare to play.

The Midshipmen are one of the few teams left that still run a triple-option offense -- similar to the wishbone or the option attacks run by powerhouses such as Oklahoma and Nebraska in days of yore.

Navy, which has beaten Rutgers, Wake Forest and Air Force in its previous three games, beat the Panthers, 48-45, in two overtimes at Heinz Field a year ago, running 70 times for 331 yards. The Midshipmen also passed the ball for 166 yards in that game, did not commit a turnover and were only penalized four times for 25 yards.

"They've got it all. It's triple-option. It's load option," Wannstedt said. It's really unique because you study the tape and follow them along during the course of the game, a defense will come out and change their front or slide somebody to take something else away. It's almost like they turn the page and say, 'this is over, let's go to this' and there's nothing that you're going to do on defense that they haven't seen before."

The chief concern of Wannstedt and the Panthers' defense will be stopping the Midshipmen's inside runs -- the fullback dives and leads, the "quarterback follow plays" -- because those are the plays that run Navy's offense.

In the game last year, the Midshipmen were able to gouge the Panthers' defense with fullback dives on first down, which enabled them to be in second-and-short situations almost the entire game. McKillop said a team virtually has no chance of stopping them from getting a first down if they are in second-and-short, especially since they have no problem going for it on fourth-and-short.

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."

NOTES -- Outside linebacker Shane Murray (knee) likely is out indefinitely. He has played sparingly in the past three games, and Wannstedt said his sprained knee has not healed as quickly as was hoped. ... The kickoff for the Rutgers game is 3:30 p.m. Oct. 25 at Heinz Field. The game will not be televised.