"Unfortunately, I did," Niumatalolo said.

Sitting in a hotel room in Colorado Springs, Niumatalolo and several Navy assistants saw Pittsburgh upset the 10th-ranked team in the country, 26-21. Tailback LeSean McCoy led a smash-mouth offense by rushing for 142 yards and two touchdowns while linebacker Scott McKillop anchored a bruising defense with 12 tackles as the Panthers stunned a crowd of 50,307 at Raymond James Stadium.

It was the fourth straight victory for Pittsburgh (4-1), which is ranked 23rd in the latest Associated Press poll. Pitt will try to remain on a roll this Saturday when it travels to Annapolis this week to take on Navy (4-2), which is riding a three-game winning streak.

Niumatalolo figures the Panthers will want to avenge last year's 48-45 double-overtime loss to the Midshipmen at Heinz Field. Kicker Joey Bullen booted a 29-yard field goal to put the Midshipmen ahead and cornerback Rashawn King knocked down a fade pass in the end zone to seal the wild win.

''Pitt is a good football team and is going to want revenge from last year," Niumatalolo said. "We snuck one out against them last year. I'm sure their coaches have been talking about that. That's not going to happen this year. If we think we're going to sneak up on them again, we're in for a rude awakening."

Navy is coming off back-to-back road games and will be playing at home for the first time in a month. The Midshipmen upset 16th-ranked Wake Forest then turned back service academy rival Air Force before getting their first bye week of the season. Niumatalolo did not hold practice last Monday and Tuesday then also gave the players this past weekend off.

"The pace of the academy is so fast, not to mention we've played some tough ball games. It was good for the kids to get off their feet a little bit, get away from the football complex and just be Midshipmen for a few days," said Niumatalolo, who felt the team was "refreshed" when it returned to practice yesterday.

Pittsburgh head coach Dave Wannstedt said the bye week gave his club a chance to come down off cloud nine and refocus on Navy. He believes the Panthers have put the South Florida upset behind them.

"There was a lot of excitement, but right now I think our players are pretty much back to square-one. You hate to say it's kind of a new season mentality, but it is," Wannstedt said. "It's been a while since we've played and we're playing a little bit of a different team and we're playing them on the road. Really, I like our team right now from the standpoint that I believe everyone has their feet on the ground and we know the importance of this Navy game."

Navy had several injured players return to practice yesterday. Defensive end Michael Walsh (foot) along with outside linebackers Corey Johnson and Ram Vela (concussions) are all expected to play on Saturday. However, Niumatalolo is still unsure about the status of starting quarterback Kaipo-Noa Kaheaku-Enhada, who sat out the Air Force game with an injured hamstring he aggravated in the first half against Wake Forest.

"Kaipo did more today than I thought he would. I'm pretty encouraged by what I saw," Niumatalolo said. "We didn't try to push him too hard. We told him not to open up. We want to be smart about that."

This will be Pittsburgh's first visit to Annapolis since 1987. Tailback Craig "Ironhead" Heyward led the Panthers to a 10-6 victory in a defensive struggle against a Midshipmen squad that would finish 2-9 that season.

Navy has not beaten two ranked opponents in the same season since 1957. Coach Eddie Erdelatz led the Midshipmen to victories over No. 5 Notre Dame, No. 10 Army and No. 8 Rice that year.