Coming off his team's first loss of the season last Thursday, West Virginia State coach John Pennington has been pleased with the way the Yellow Jackets have responded in the days since.
The group has been able to learn from its mistakes and improve as it prepares for a big test at noon Saturday at Dickerson Stadium against Notre Dame College.
"We loved the way our guys competed in that [UVa-Wise] game and how they've moved on since then," Pennington said. "Our guys see that we are doing good things and they've kept a good attitude this week. We have a really tight-knit team.
"We had a good evaluation after that loss and we talked about what we're doing well and the big thing is how close this team has become. We're a family now and we're ready to move on past that loss together."
The margin for error will be small against a Falcons team that has become one of the best in the Mountain East Conference, thanks in large part to the play of quarterback Malik Grove.
Grove, one of Division II's top dual-threat quarterbacks, has thrown for 479 yards and seven touchdowns against just one interception for the Falcons (1-1, 1-1 MEC) through NDC's first two games. He also has run for another 114 yards and a score. Preparing for a quarterback like that can be difficult for any defense. Pennington said first-year defensive coordinator George Shehl will have his WVSU defense ready for the Falcons on Saturday.
"[Grove is] very tough to prepare for because you have to make a decision about how you want to try to contain what he does," Pennington said. "It's a tough job for a defense, but I know that Coach Shehl has a great plan and has different ways to attack it. We're going to try to give them some different looks while keeping things as simple as possible for our guys.
"You have to stay disciplined. If one guy is out of place, that quarterback is going to make you pay. That's what makes playing these guys so tough."
If West Virginia State wants to bounce back from the UVa-Wise loss, the Yellow Jackets must make the adjustments after turning the ball over three times - one of which led to a touchdown for the Cavaliers defense.
Quarterback Matt Kinnick, who has completed 58 percent of his passes for his career at WVSU, threw for 195 yards and two touchdowns but had three interceptions in the loss. Redshirt freshman running back Calil Wilkins, the leading rusher in Division II with 392 yards, ran for the fifth-most yards in school history last week with 201 yards against the Cavaliers.
WVSU knows it will need a balanced effort, limiting mistakes on both offense and defense, in order to have a shot against a Notre Dame team that lost by five points to No. 4 Shepherd.
"We turned the ball over too much and gave up the defensive touchdown, and those things make a huge difference in any game," Pennington said. "We saw what this team is made of and if we can clean things up and play the type of football we know we are capable of, we know we can play with anybody."
Contact Michael Carvelli at 304-348-4810 or michael.carvelli@wvgazettemail.com. Follow him on Twitter @carvelli3.