Slippery Rock University football coach George Mihalik and Shepherd coach Monte Cater agree on one thing this week.

"One of us is going to get healthy at the expense of the other," Cater said.

The Rock (0-2) travels to Shepherd (0-2) for a 1 p.m. kickoff in Shepherdstown, W.Va., for a battle of teams victimized by tough early-season schedules.

SRU dropped a 20-17 decision to PSAC East favorite Bloomsburg and led Division I-AA Youngstown State at halftime before succumbing by a 35-13 score.

Shepherd dropped its opener to Virginia State 13-8 before losing to PSAC West favorite Shippensburg 35-7 last week. Virginia State defeated Division I-AA Norfolk State 17-7 a week ago.

"They play a very physical style of football," Mihalik said of Shepherd. "We need to focus on their special teams, too, because they have good return schemes."

Dustin Dudinski led the WVIAC in kick returns last year and was among the leaders in all of Division II football. But he is far from the Rams' only weapon.

Two-time all-conference selection Alex Hortert rushed for 991 yards and eight touchdowns last year. He has 170 yards rushing so far this season and ranks fourth on Shepherd's all-time rushing list.

Quarterback Len Ferguson has thrown for 300 yards and receivers Jesse Correll (nine catches for 91 yards) and Rodney Jackson (4-101) are both threats.

Ferguson is a senior and replaces Dan Chlebowski, who threw for 1,937 yards and nine touchdowns as a freshman last season, as Shepherd's starting quarterback.

"We've shuffled some people around offensively," Cater said. "Leonard was a wide receiver one year, quarterback the next at Valley Forge. We decided to play him at wide receiver before switching him to quarterback last spring."

The Rams have seven starters back from last year's 4-6 season, which was only their second losing campaign since 1989.

"One of us is going to get a first win," Mihalik said. "They have an advantage in that they're playing at home. But if we can continue to control the football and keep the opponent off the field, that's a plus for our defense."

Josh Kniess has been the main cog in that ball-control attack for The Rock, rushing for 310 yards in two games. If Kniess rushes for 100 yards Saturday, it will mark the first time a Rock running back had three successive 100-yard games since Dorrian Glenn put together four in a row in 2001.

SRU's attack might be without H-Back Brandon Richardson, who suffered a slight ankle fracture against Youngstown State. Richardson already has 10 catches for 95 yards this year after compiling 10 catches for 135 yards all of last year.

"If Brandon's unable to play, Colin Golden and Justin Fisher will fill in," Mihalik said. "We won't have Brandon out there as a decoy. If he's on the field, he'll be out there as part of our full package.

"We want to take some of the work-load off Josh to make sure he's healthy for the long haul. Corey Manfull will get a few more carries Saturday," he added.

Kniess has 56 carries already this season.

Redshirt freshman Nate Crookshank passed for 266 yards in his first two games for SRU. By comparison, three-time PSAC West Player of the Year Randy McKavish had 264 yards passing in his first two games.

Cater is more concerned with The Rock's defense, however.

"Their defense is outstanding. It may be the best defense we play against all year," Cater said. "And we've struggled on offense so far. That's not a good matchup for us."

Cater is 142-87-2 in 23 seasons as a collegiate head coach, ranking him eighth in wins among active Division II coaches. He is 111-66-1 in 18 years at Shepherd.

Mihalik's 111 wins in 17 years at SRU rank him 15th among active Division II coaches.

SRU has defeated Shepherd in their only two previous meetings: 19-7 in 1960 and 31-20 in the 1998 Northeast Regional championship game.