ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- Shun White carried the load for Navy and the Midshipmen took coach Ken Niumatalolo to a win in his debut.
White rushed for a school-record 348 yards Saturday as Navy ran past Towson 41-13 in its first game after Paul Johnson left to take his triple-option offense to Georgia Tech.
White scored on runs of 33, 87 and 73 yards to break Eddie Meyers' record of 298 set in 1981 against Syracuse.
"I had no idea how many yards I had until they announced it, said White, whose total was 17th best in NCAA Division 1-A history. "I'm glad I got the record, but records are meant to be broken. To be honest, I didn't care. I just wanted to win."
Navy, the top rushing team in the nation the last three seasons, totaled 558 yards against the Tigers, the third-best team total in school history.
Quarterback Jarod Bryant rushed for 75 yards, scored on a 20-yard run, and completed a 38-yard scoring pass to Bobby Doyle. Bryant started in place of Kaipo-Noa Kaheaku-Enhada, who had an injured left hamstring.
"We're an option team, we take what people give us. We go into a game and see what people key on and then adapt," Niumatalolo said. "That's the beauty of the triple option. We were going to ride (White) as long as we could.'
Navy's Matt Harmon also set a school record with his 52nd consecutive extra point.
Towson's Sean Schaefer passed for 330 yards, completing 29 of 47 passes. In the first half, he completed 20 of 31 passes for 225 yards and threw touchdown passes to Casey Cegles for 22 yards and Marcus Lee for 4 yards.
Rashawn King's interception stopped Towson's opening drive at the Navy 23 and the Mids turned around and drove 77 yards, capped by Bryant scoring from the 20 with 6:10 left in the first quarter.
After a 21-yard punt by Towson's Bill Shears gave the ball to Navy in Tigers' territory, White capped a 43-yard drive with his 33-yard run.
Towson scored on a 22-yard pass from Schaefer to Cegles, and missed the extra point. On the first Navy play following the score, White took a pitch from Bryant and raced 87 yards to put the Mids up 21-6.
"I know he made some big plays for us," Niumatalolo said. "I told him we were going to give him the ball and ride him as long as we could. He said 'Coach, give me the ball."'
Schaefer's 4-yard pass to Marcus Lee closed it to 21-13, but Harmon's 31-yard field goal as the half ended made the score 24-13.
Navy outscored Towson 17-0 in the second half, sacking Schaefer three times and holding the Tigers to 108 yards after allowing 252 before halftime.
"We came out to start the game and our first few drives were good, then we let them score," Navy linebacker Clint Sovie said. "We had a different attitude in the second half. We wanted to keep them from converting the third downs and get them off the field."
Bryant's pass to Doyle early in the third quarter put Navy up 31-13 and White's 73-yard run with 8:40 to play made it 38-13. Harmon added a 20-yard field goal to close the scoring.
