SLIPPERY ROCK — A quarterback's arm usually draws the attention of a defense.

In the case of Ben Fiscus, it's his feet.

The Clarion signal-caller came off the bench against Slippery Rock University last year and nearly engineered an upset, rushing for 147 yards on 17 carries in the Golden Eagles' 16-13 football loss.

Clarion (0-4, 0-1) visits The Rock (3-1, 1-0) for a 6 p.m. kickoff Saturday — and Fiscus is the quarterback on a fulltime basis now.

“And he's that much better,” Rock coach George Mihalik said. “They run the option out of the shotgun and Fiscus ball-fakes extremely well. We never did figure him out.

“He's the key to their offense and it's an offense we have trouble simulating in practice. We don't recruit option quarterbacks.”

The last time the Golden Eagles visited Mihalik-Thompson Stadium, they left with a 27-10 victory in 1999 that propelled them to an 8-3 record that year.

Clarion finished 4-7 last year and got out of the gate this season with losses of 31-17 to Fairmont State, 45-10 to Bloomsburg, 54-24 to Shippensburg and 40-13 to California. Those four teams have a combined 12-4 record in 2011.

“We've had periods of balance and periods of insanity,” said sixth-year Clarion coach Jay Foster, a defensive coordinator under Mihalik at SRU for 17 years before taking the Clarion post.

“Our own mistakes — that insanity — are killing us.”

Clarion allowed a 95-yard kickoff return for a touchdown and three other kicks to be returned across midfield in its loss to Fairmont State.

Against Shippensburg, a Clarion touchdown with two seconds left before halftime — that would have cut a deficit to 24-21 — was wiped out by a hands to the face penalty.

“We shank a field goal, give up an early score in the second half and we're down 17 when all of the momentum should have been with us,” Foster said. “Turnovers and mistakes have been costly to us. We can't afford them.”

The Golden Eagles return eight starters defensively and six offensively.

“We expected better,” Foster said. “If we get beat because an athlete made a play over another athlete, I can handle it. That's part of the game.

“Turnovers, penalties ... That kind of stuff is under our own control and we have veterans making those mistakes.”

Clarion does have a couple of strong weapons defensively in leading tackler and former SRU player Nate Sipes (34 tackles) and end Barrington Morrison, a preseason All-American who has nine tackles for loss and three quarterback sacks. He had 12 sacks last year.

“Morrison is an excellent player, one of these guys who can disrupt an offense,” Mihalik said.

While Clarion is fifth in the PSAC with 174 yards rushing per game, its passing game is among the worst in the league. And the Golden Eagles are last in scoring defense (42.5 points per game), total defense (485.2 yards per game) and rushing defense (308.8 ypg.).

SRU leads the PSAC in total defense per game at 194 yards and in third-down conversions allowed, permitting only 11 of 56.

Akeem Satterfield rushed for 104 yards against Indiana last week, his third 100-yard effort in four games. Devin Goda has 19 receptions in the past two games for SRU.

“Clarion is going to come in here with high energy, expecting to win the game,” Mihalik cautioned. “They're looking for that signature win.”

SRU sophomore cornerback Brandon Burley was named PSAC West Defensive Player of the Week with his two interceptions — one for a touchdown — last week. The Rock secondary expects to get Anthony Saunders back at corner as well. He had missed two games with a concussion.

Andre Freeman, the other veteran starting corner, remains suspended indefinitely for violation of team rules.

Karns City graduate Anthony Stimac, a junior at Clarion, starts at a cornerback spot and has 14 tackles this year. Two Clarion freshman offensive linemen, twins Cameron and Shane Cress from Mars, are being redshirted.

MIHALIK VS. CLARION

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Slippery Rock University leads its all-time football series with Clarion 46-23-3. Under coach George Mihalik, SRU is 18-5 vs. Clarion:

Year SRU Clarion2010 16 132009 10 272008 49 142007 41 182006 31 72005 38 102004 31 142003 17 192002 21 142001 33 262000 27 141999 45 71998 28 141997 28 71996 28 541995 41 171994 34 311993 25 291992 37 491991 43 361990 36 71989 16 101988 38 14