New London — This was many years ago now, back when Bill George was a graduate assistant at Ohio State. George, recalling the story earlier this week, flashed a wry grin.

"Earle Bruce (Ohio State's coach at the time) walks into a coaches' meeting and tells his staff, 'Here's why you're all lousy coaches. You've never had to coach a guy like Piggy Watson."

The coaches looked at each other, wondering whether Bruce's antenna had finally stopped picking up all the channels.

"Later we found out what he meant," George, now in his 19th year at Coast Guard, said. "You learn a lot about coaching when you have to coach guys who don't have the greatest ability. When they are undersized, for instance, you have to come up with other things."

This is what qualifies as "other things" at Coast Guard: A defensive scheme with two down linemen. And heading to Saturday's game on the banks of the Thames with Catholic, the Bears sported one of the best defenses in Division III college football.

Two down linemen. Linebackers, linebackers everywhere. Blitzing like they're in pursuit of $100 bills. Fun. Disruption. Confusion for the other guys.

George and his defensive staff — C.C. Grant, Dana Fleischmann and Jay Driscoll — watched freshmen linebackers on the scout team run around and tackle everything last year. And so knowing that Coast Guard doesn't normally get linemen who can pinch more than an inch, George and his guys got creative.

"Dick Vermeil said if you want to succeed, you've got to stop the run and you do that with big people," George said, recalling a speech he heard once. "We don't have that. But we have the ability to put small guys out there that give us more blitzing freedom and move people around. Eventually, someone could pound it down the field and there are some running teams where we'd need three down linemen. But so far, it's held up. We're bringing more blitzes than we ever have."

The players love it. Who wouldn't run around, as they say on NFL Films, with the wail and howl of the banshee?

"We're utilizing the strengths we have," senior safety Matt O'Donnell said. "We have quick people, but not 300 pounds. Put all your bodies in a position to do their job. We're not going to get the big D-tackle. We're going to stop the run with all 11 people."

Linebacker Kane Alletzhauser: "My first reaction was 'this is different.' We've never done this before. But it's an opportunity for all the guys to make a difference. A new tactic we could test. We might be undersized or smaller than the guys lined up against, but if we trust in the system, come game time you'll make some plays. It's definitely a switch from what (opponents) are used to."

George, as is his practice, deflected the praise to his players and staff. But he gets something here for creativity. It is a must at the Academy.

"Coach Grant, coach Fleischmann and coach Driscoll have done it. I just put some parameters on it," George said. "I figured that I'm getting old, I want to do this and have some fun. The nature of coaches is to be conservative. I'm probably more conservative on offense than defense. We talked about it last year in December. I just said we needed to have a four-man front but we don't have four defensive linemen, so use the linebackers. It's basically a 4-3 defense with two linemen. Our athletes are at linebacker."

The down linemen are Jack Brandt (230 pounds) and Tommy Jones (220). Many opposing linemen on Coast Guard's schedule weigh 230 with one leg tied behind their back.

Which invites the following thought: Doesn't Coast Guard's plight within Division III college football mirror what befalls many local high school coaches? Small enrollments, small linemen, hard to compete with the big boys. Darn, though, the dearth of local coaches who reach out and ask the Coast Guard guys, perpetually innovative, for some advice.

And let's just leave it here: Some of the coaching in high school around here doesn't make you forget about Bear Bryant.

Or Anita Bryant.

"Maybe we went to this because it's the nature of Academy," George said. "We graduate about 200, 40 percent female with 16 men's sports. You know how it is here. You've got to stay above the cutting edge."

This is the opinion of Day sports columnist Mike DiMauro