A lesson taught to Slippery Rock University's football team last week? No doubt.

A lesson learned? Stay tuned.

Coming off a tighter than necessary 30-27 win at Shepherd, The Rock faces another West Virginia opponent Saturday when Fairmont State (1-1) invades N. Kerr Thompson Stadium for a 6 p.m. kickoff.

SRU (1-2) has dominated opponents from the West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, winning 14 straight against the league dating back to 1995.

The Rock has defeated Fairmont State 10 consecutive times by an average score of 38-8.

"All our guys have to do is look at what happened at Shepherd," SRU coach George Mihalik said. "You have to be ready to play every week.

"We came up with a great effort at Youngstown State, then went down there (Shepherd) and nearly gave one away," he added.

Shepherd scored touchdowns on a pair of interception returns and a punt return.

Two constants for SRU have been running back Josh Kniess and its rushing defense. Kniess leads the PSAC with 452 yards rushing - just 176 shy of his 2003 season total - and has enjoyed the three most productive games of his collegiate career already this season.

The Rock is third in the PSAC in rushing defense, allowing just 79.3 yards per game, including zero net yards on the ground to Shepherd.

By contrast, Fairmont State is second in the WVIAC with 201 yards rushing per game but ranks last in passing.

"We grew up a bit last week in our (35-15) loss to California (Pa.)," Falcons coach Rusty Elliott said. "We have a lot of freshmen on this team and they're learning they can't take any plays off at this level."

Wendell Johnson with 187 yards and JoJo Parker with 132 lead the Falcons' ground attack. Johnson is also a top-flight kick returner, ranking among the top six in all of Division II in that category last year.

Quarterback Marlon Burnette has completed just 11 passes for 124 yards in two games.

Pat Morrison also sees time behind center and has completed eight of 22 passes for 68 yards.

"Both guys play and I won't know which one will start until Saturday," Elliott said. "If one of them develops a hot hand, I'll stay with him."

Mihalik said the quarterbacks are different in style of play.

"Morrison's more of a pocket passer and Burnette is a smaller, more athletic kid who's tough to sack," he said. "We'll be prepared for them both."

Elliott is 14-32 at FSC and is in his third year as head coach. Also a graduate of Fairmont State, Elliott said he is trying to build the Falcon program in the mold of SRU.

"We have coaches on staff who went to school here and care about the program, just like SRU does," Elliott said. "Slippery Rock doesn't go to Florida to recruit players and they don't bring in many transfers.

"He (Mihalik) takes local players, develops them, makes them stronger and more physical football players. That's the pattern we're trying to follow," he added.

But it will take time. FSC has only six seniors and eight juniors on its roster. While The Rock has 60 redshirt or true freshmen on its roster, Fairmont State has 70.

Defensively, outside linebacker Jason Daugh (three QB sacks) and inside linebacker Mike Taylor (18 tackles) lead the Falcons.

"Our defense is tough, but Slippery Rock likes to control the football with the tailback running it, and we haven't faced a team like that yet," Elliott said.

Scheduling conflicts might cause this series to end after this season.

"If it were up to me, we'd play Slippery Rock every year," Elliott said. "They help make us better."

SRU linebacker Seth Randall has a knee injury and will likely miss Saturday's game. H-Back Brandon Richardson didn't play against Shepherd and is questionable this week with a high ankle sprain.

"We missed him," Mihalik said. "He's a big target."

The Rock will miss All-PSAC offensive lineman Don Harbison for the second straight game. He is serving a two-game suspension for violation of team rules and will be replaced by redshirt freshman Bron Clouser.