SLIPPERY ROCK — Forget about relaxing at the prospect of facing a winless opponent this weekend.

Slippery Rock University football coach George Mihalik knows better. He figures his players do, too.

“We’ve already learned that lesson (38-27 upset loss at Gannon),” Mihalik said. “Besides, this is a good team we’re playing. They’ve been victimized by a tough schedule.”

The Rock (3-1, 1-1) travels to Kutztown (0-4) for a 1 p.m. kickoff Saturday at University Field. The combined record of the Golden Bears’ first four opponents is 14-2 and two of their losses are by a single point.

That includes a 22-21 defeat to unbeaten West Chester last week.

“We gave up the winning touchdown with 1:09 to go,” first-year Kutztown coach Drew Folmar said. “Then we drove to the 40-yard line and threw an interception.

“We’re a very young group. We’re starting nine freshmen or sophomores on the defensive side of the ball.”

That defense will be facing a Rock offense that’s scored more than 50 points three times in four games. No SRU football team had posted three 50-point games in a season since 1923.

“We just have to try finding a way to match up with them,” Folmar said. “No one’s been able to do it so far.”

This game features the top two passing attacks in the PSAC. The Rock, behind senior quarterback Nigel Barksdale, averages 364.5 yards passing per game. Kutztown, behind freshman signal-caller Alec Werner, averages 344.5.

Werner has thrown for 1,378 yards and nine touchdowns, Barksdale 1,488 yards and 14 TDs.

“Alec has made some big plays at times ... and he’s played like a freshman at times,” Folmar said.

Werner does have a favorite target in freshman receiver Alex Tonnies, who leads all of Division II with 47 catches, good for 321 yards.

“They are the eighth-best passing team in the country and they have the leading receiver in the nation,” Mihalik said. “How do you overlook something like that? We can’t.

“They narrowly missed beating West Chester, the 17th-ranked team in the country. Kutztown is getting better with each week.”

The Golden Bears have replaced their entire offensive line and are paying the price. They’ve permitted 22 sacks and are rushing for a net eight yards per game.

“We need our down four linemen to be able to pressure the quarterback, so we can cover people,” Mihalik said.

SRU enjoys an 8-2 lead in the all-time series, but has dropped the last two meetings — 21-14 in the 2011 PSAC title game and 56-49 in a fumble-plagued game last year at Mihalik-Thompson Stadium.

While Folmar is in his rookie season as head coach, Kutztown won 28 of 36 games the previous four years while he served as offensive coordinator.

“He knows that offense and how to make it work,” Mihalik said.

Losing Kyle Henderson to injury last week and with Joe LoSchiavo still out for a few weeks, SRU is starting back-up right guard Nate Ehrlich at center. Seneca Valley graduate and would-be second-team center Dean Ketterer recently had surgery and will red-shirt this year.

Travis Gallagher, a red-shirt sophomore, is starting at left tackle for the injured Omarr Finn.

“We’re extremely thin up front right now,” Mihalik cautioned. “We’re working in true freshmen as back-ups.”

Folmar described Slippery Rock as having “a hard-nosed, physical bunch of players along with all of that skill.”

“This is yet another challenge for us,” he said.