SLIPPERY ROCK — Job well done — as expected.

Now Slippery Rock University football coach Shawn Lutz insists he will need more out of his team as The Rock — coming off a 42-10 trouncing of Wayne State — travels to West Chester for a noon kickoff Saturday.

“We played well, but we did what we were supposed to do,” Lutz said of SRU’s runaway win last week. “Looking at the film, we made a lot of mistakes we need to correct. Our linebacker play, kick coverage, we missed two field goals ... All of that has to improve.

“We’re going to need four solid quarters of football if we’re getting out of there with a win on Saturday.”

The Rams opened the season with a 17-16 win over Bentley, a Division II playoff team from last year. West Chester opened a 14-0 lead, lost it, and won the game on a 34-yard Sean Henry field goal with four minutes to play. West Chester was 6-5 last season.

“We lost early leads in a lot of games last year and went on to lose those games,” 20th-year West Chester coach Bill Zwaan said. “It looked like the same thing was going to happen again. It was good to see us pull that one out.

“We have a young team. We only have six seniors. We got hit with a double COVID year, I guess, losing two classes to graduation last season. We had 26 players leave after last year.”

The Rams return only one starter on the offensive line in right tackle Quinton Derr. Defensive end Zach Liggitt is the lone starter back on the defensive front. All of West Chester’s receivers are new.

The team does have two solid running backs in 6-foot-3, 230-pound Ja’Den McKenzie and Phil Poquie. Sophomore quarterback Shane Dooley threw a pair of touchdown passes in the season opener.

“McKenzie is a bruising, physical runner and Poquie played lacrosse at Virginia and is very fast,” Lutz said. “The quarterback rolls out a lot and plays physical. He’ll lower a shoulder and try to run over you. We have to get him on the ground.”

Zwaan admitted that establishing a running game would be effective against Slippery Rock, “but with an inexperienced offensive line, that is a lot to ask.”

Zwaan is the active leader among PSAC coaches with 151 career wins, more than twice as many as any other coach in the league. He ranks sixth on the PSAC’s all-time victory list. He’s also coached the Rams to six PSAC East championships.

SRU leads the series between the teams, 10-9. This will be their first meeting since West Chester came to The Rock in 2018 and won the PSAC Championship Game, 33-10. That is also the last time SRU’s offense has been held to fewer than 300 yards.

“I have a lot of respect for Coach Zwaan and that program,” Lutz said. “This is a pivotal game for us. We can gain a lot of momentum with a win there.”

Rock quarterback Noah Grover threw for 276 yards and three touchdowns in three quarters of play last week. In his two Rock starts against unranked opponents, Grover has completed 52 of 68 passes for 715 yards and 11 touchdowns.

SRU is ranked No. 18 on the AFCA poll and No. 20 on the D2football.com poll this week. West Chester is unranked.

Jacob Odom led SRU’s receivers with eight catches for 97 yards last week. Cohen Russell had two catches for 82 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Odom and Grover were teammates at North Dakota two years ago.

“They are roommates here,” Lutz said. “They’re good friends. They have a good rapport with each other. Noah was out here throwing passes to Jacob all summer. I’m sure that’s translating into games.”

Chris D’Or will start at running back for The Rock, though Tim Smith, Isaiah Edwards and Chris Wells figure into the backfield mix as well.

“It will be a challenge keeping all of those running backs happy,” Lutz said. “I liked the physicality we showed with the run and against the run last week. Wayne State bullied us last year and I think we bullied them this year.

“That mindset needs to continue.”

Zwaan described The Rock as big and physical.

“They have a lot of different names, but it’s the same Slippery Rock,” he said. “They’ve dominated the West in recent years. I believe we have talent, we’re just inexperienced. We’ll get better as we go and we have a chance to win the East this year, but we’ll have a better chance next year.

“Playing Bentley and Slippery Rock right out of the gate this year ... It’s a hard task right now.”