A performance like the one it had last week is something that the West Virginia State defense never wants to experience again.
The Yellow Jackets didn't have an answer for the potent Shepherd offense all game, with 10 of the Rams' 12 drives resulting in touchdowns in the 70-24 romp that dropped West Virginia State to 1-6 on the year.
Games like that one have the potential to do more damage over the course of the rest of the season. But that's where some of the upperclassmen have decided to take their stand.
"There's a choice we can make right now," senior linebacker Dennis Gardeck said. "We can let this kill our confidence or we can keep playing, embrace the fact that we have another game on Saturday and move on by preparing for that one."
That's been the key message throughout - the rallying cry, so to speak, as coach Jon Anderson tries to get the group to move forward. Just as they would with any game, a win or a loss, WVSU understands that it must take what happened, find where things went wrong and correct it in time for its next game.
Shepherd threw for nearly 500 yards and gained 804 yards of total offense. The Rams averaged 11.5 yards per play.
"We just have to have a short memory," junior defensive back Ayinde Warren said. "What happened against Shepherd is in the past, we can show what we're able to do if we can just move on from it and be ready for Glenville State."
After the game, the mood in the locker room was tense and angry, as Gardeck and Warren described it.
They were a team that knew they were better than they've been playing. West Virginia State is 10th in the 11-team Mountain East in both run and pass defense and last in scoring and total defense, allowing 38.9 points and 472.6 yards per game.
"Playing up to our potential has been our biggest struggle all year. I still believe our potential is very high. We're a better defensive football team than this," Anderson said.
"We're going to be talking about ways that we can reach that potential and it starts by coming in and practicing the right way."
To an extent, the Yellow Jackets think it's a good thing that there's no time to dwell on the past.
With this week's game against a talented Glenville State team, followed by a non-conference game against No. 20 UNC-Pembroke, there are tough tests on the horizon for which they must be prepared. But at the same time, they understand that the margin for error is small.
"You just have to attack each week as it comes. You don't have the time to worry about what's in the past," Gardeck said. "It works to our benefit that way. We can't just sit and feel sorry about ourselves, we have to get to work."
Anderson and the coaching staff have preached consistency all year, and that hasn't changed this week. But now more than ever the message has been about maintaining their position and working within themselves and the system.
"When things don't necessarily go your way, the guys care so much that they try to do more than they should," Anderson said. "We need guys who take care of what they have to take care of, focus on their assignment. We just need them to stay within themselves because if you try to do too much, you're going to end up having more breakdowns."
Contact Michael Carvelli at 304-348-4810 or michael.carvelli@wvgazettemail.com. Follow him on Twitter @carvelli3.