After suffering a couple of tough losses following an impressive season-opening win, the West Virginia State football is itching to rebound.
Unfortunately for the Yellow Jackets (1-2), things won't get any easier this weekend at noon Saturday, when they visit No. 4 Shepherd.
"Our guys have continued to stay really focused and I think that's been a strength of our team," West Virginia State coach John Pennington said. "We've had some great practices this week and everyone has been improving, and that's what we need to keep doing coming into this game because it's going to be tough."
The Rams (2-0) are coming off a comeback victory against Glenville State a week ago where they scored 14 points in a fourth-quarter rally to prevail. The win gave Shepherd its 22nd straight victory over Mountain East Conference opponents.
"We have to take care of the little things and make sure that we take care of all of our little assignments," Pennington said. "They're a great football team and on Saturday the margin for error is going to be small. We just have to do a great job as coaches of not expecting them to be completely perfect, but knowing that they can be perfect in terms of their effort and the way they approach this one."
West Virginia State will get a huge test defensively against a Shepherd team averaging 48 points and 551 yards per game. Despite playing just two games so far, quarterback Connor Jessup is in the top 20 nationally in passing yards and leads Division II with 416.5 yards per game through the air.
While the offense has been strong for the Rams, it has been an unusual start for a Shepherd defense that is usually among the best in the country. The Rams have allowed more than 30 points in back-to-back games for the first time since 2009, and they haven't allowed that many points in three straight contests since 2003.
"It seemed like they corrected some things defensively last week against Glenville State with the exception of a couple of big plays they hit them for. They look like a very sound team," Pennington said. "And then offensively, we feel like it's a better matchup for us than last week was because our strength defensively is in the secondary. It will be a good matchup between their receivers and our secondary and we're going to make them earn it offensively."
Meanwhile, the Yellow Jackets are looking to avoid dropping a third game in a row, and they know that in order to have a chance to do that against Shepherd they will have to be strong in the passing game with quarterback Matt Kinnick and receivers like Quinton Gray and Tyrell Henderson leading the way.
Kinnick has thrown for 878 yards and eight touchdowns and is one completion shy of setting a school record. Gray has caught 24 passes for 268 yards and four scores.
That passing game is complemented by a solid running game, led by redshirt freshman Calil Wilkins, who tops the MEC and is fourth in the nation in rushing at 147 yards per game.
One thing State must correct, however, is lack of ball security. WVSU had a couple of crucial turnovers against Notre Dame last week and is ninth in the MEC in turnover margin.
"We know we have to be a gritty and relentless football team and we have to play fundamentally sound in order to have a chance to win these kinds of games," Pennington said. "We have to do a better job of taking care of the football because we know if we can do that we can beat anyone. We're ready for anyone in the conference as long as we do what we know we're capable of."
Contact Michael Carvelli at 304-348-4810 or michael.carvelli@wvgazettemail.com. Follow him on Twitter @carvelli3.