I hate to keep breaking these up, but gosh darn it, when we've got Thursday night games, well, it's kind of goes with the territory.

So here we are, once again, with the WVIAC going 3-6 in the opening week. Last year, three conference title contenders all opened the season with wins: Fairmont State, Shepherd, and West Virginia Wesleyan. Yet none of them actually won the title. This year, your winners were three completely different teams: Concord, Charleston, and West Virginia State. Will they all be in the hunt?

Wait, am I saying that West Virginia State could actually do something this year?

Okay, let's not get ahead of ourselves. We'll find out a little more over the next couple weeks, and frankly, it won't be at the expense of the Yellow Jackets' D-II record, as they face two FCS teams: North Carolina A&T and Elon. But be honest: for a squad that has struggled to have any semblance of offensive or defensive lines, getting a win over a Johnson C. Smith team that could at least be in the middle of the CIAA is real progress for Coach Earl Monroe and his team. I do like West Virginia State's chances to sneak up on some people.

Obviously, Shepherd is the favorite of the non-winning teams to take the conference title. But they have some pretty significant flaws I saw in the first half of my doubleheader Saturday, flaws that, if not dealt with, could leave Ram fans disappointed again.

But enough about that: there'll be more time to talk about that before Saturday. Two games are on the schedule for Thursday night:


Saint Joseph's Pumas (1-0) at Charleston Golden Eagles (1-0)

The Pumas aren't a stranger to the WVIAC: they played a home-and-home against Shepherd the last two years and have faced them several times prior. But this year, even though the opponent has changed, some things may not have.

Saint Joseph's, on paper, looks like they scored a big win over an FCS team in Valparaiso last weekend 36-34. Read between the lines, though, and you'll find that: 1. this isn't the first time the Pumas have beaten the Crusaders, 2. they've often done so in the past by larger margins, and 3. Valparaiso is in the non-scholarship Pioneer Football Conference, making them more like a Division III opponent. Plus it took a late game drive to pull off the win. All credit to the Pumas and especially to QB Billy VandeMerkt, who threw for 303 yards in the win, but I can't really hype them that much. After all, the Pumas outgained Valparaiso 549-350 and needed a last-minute touchdown to get the win (granted, a -2 turnover margin didn't help, but still, that's a huge difference). Julian Walker was the biggest asset last week, making 11 catches for 205 yards. You can expect that a more athletic Charleston secondary is going to be prepared for him.

There's also the small matter of a certain Jordan Roberts, who ran for 238 yards against Shaw last weekend. Now yes, the Bears simply don't have a great team, and I really don't know how they were picked #5 in the CIAA in the preseason, but presesaon rankings aren't worth much of anything, so that's really not worth worrying about. The fact is this: Charleston is a balanced team that will run first and pass second, holds onto the football, and doesn't have a particular weakness on defense.

It's worth noting that Charleston is now, under Pat Kirkland, 6-1 in their last seven games going back to last season. Included in those wins are quality opponents like Glenville State and West Virginia Wesleyan. This is a team that is finding ways to win and building up confidence, and they know this is another team they can beat. A tough two-game stretch at Concord and home against Shepherd awaits after this, so it's possible they may rest some guys in the fourth quarter; they'll be able to do that because they'll have enough of a lead that they can cruise to victory.

Prediction: Charleston 41, Saint Joseph's 21


Fairmont State (0-1) at Glenville State (0-1)

Well, so much for what I thought was going to be a nationally televised WVIAC matchup: instead, it's Bowie State at Benedict getting those honors on the CBS Sports Network. Still, for two teams with very different disappointing openings, this is a big one.

I'll say it again for impact: 7-0. I just couldn't understand how this Fairmont State offense could be kept off the scoreboard. But after last Thursday night, it was pretty clear: they relied way too much on the pass, and that's going to lead to more frequently stalled drives. RB Daniel Monroe had more yards on the ground (37) than did the entire team (34). QB Bobby Vega is clearly nothing like the model that Logan Moore was the last two years: he truly is a dropback passer who doesn't want to tuck and run. That's quite an adjustment for this team to have to make, and the end result could be more incompletions, more turnovers, and more stalled drives. Fairmont State wasn't bad, per se, against Clarion: they just didn't finish anything, and their kicking game is going to be very lacking compared to last season.

Glenville State's problem wasn't offense: they had plenty of that. The defense gave up 56 points, though, and that's just too much to expect any offense to be able to make up for. Coaching didn't help, though. Down 49-27 with six minutes left in the third quarter, the Pioneers miss an extra point. At the start of the fourth quarter, a GSC touchdown makes it 49-33. What do they do? They go for two. Why? It makes no sense: if you miss, you put HUGE pressure on the team to make two more two-point conversions right then. Save going for two until you absolutely need to, and it's not necessary there. This comes back to bite them as they put two more touchdowns on the board, going for two and failing again before kicking an extra point to make it 49-46. Go for an extra point on just one of those and, with five minutes to go, you have the chance to kick a field goal to WIN rather than TIE. Sure, it didn't matter, but those points add up.

Okay, rant over. I forgive the Pioneers' defense because they faced the Carson-Newman split veer, which they've been running probably since before Ken Sparks arrived there decades ago. Maybe Glenville State has trouble stopping the run, maybe not: this loss doesn't say anything about that. All I really see of value is that Darold Hughes can still throw, Orlandus Harris could be the team's #1 receiver, and Rahmann Lee looks like the new Joe Mesadieu, who pretty much appeared out of nowhere two seasons ago and took over the ground game. This offense may be much better than anyone was expecting.

I expect Fairmont State's defense to do better than Carson-Newman's: there's more experience in the Falcons' backfield alone than what Glenville State faced last week. And maybe Daniel Monroe can return to the form we saw him in last season when only a foot injury kept him from breaking 1000 yards, especially against a defense who may be susceptible to the run. But the key word there is "may," and I'm not ready to believe it quite yet; it could also be that Fairmont State's offensive line is just getting pushed around, and that would be a problem that would plague them all year long. The Falcons will score more than last week, the Pioneers will score less, but at the end of the night, I don't see Fairmont State's offense being able to do enough.

Prediction: Glenville State 28, Fairmont State 17


Coming up later this week in part 2, find out:
- What is wrong with West Virginia Wesleyan this season (no, it's not just the answer you might be thinking)?
- What's the real problem with Shepherd that is going to keep them from making a playoff run...if they get there?
- And what will happen as the Concord Mountain Lions face their second straight ranked opponent in their second straight (according to me) Game of the Week?

Then again, what do I know? I went 3-6 myself last week, making me no better than the WVIAC as a whole. Maybe, like the conference, it's time to break me up...or just take most of my best parts and give me a new name.