MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia begins its three-game homestand this Saturday at Milan Puskar Stadium under the lights against 1-0 Duquesne, a 49-7 winner over Edinboro last Saturday.
 
This will be the Dukes' first appearance in Morgantown since 1935 when Duquesne was playing major college football as an Eastern independent. Duquesne actually played in the 1937 Orange Bowl, a nugget that was relayed to me by former WVU football manager Paul Freese, before the Dukes deemphasized their grid program shortly after World War II.
 
Duquesne resumed football at the Division III level from 1979-92 before making the jump to FCS in 1993.
 
Today, veteran coach Jerry Schmitt has Duquesne performing in the Northeast Conference where it has posted more victories than any other NEC team since 2011 and has finished first or second in the conference eight times since joining the league in 2008.
 
"Duquesne is a proud program," West Virginia coach Neal Brown said earlier this week. "They've had several guys over the last three or four years that have been in NFL camps. They beat Ohio University, one of the better group of five programs in the country, in 2021, so it's a group that we respect."
 
This year, Duquesne was picked to finish third and boasts a pair of Preseason All-NEC choices in junior wide receiver Joey Isabella and junior defensive lineman A.J. Ackerman, who has power conference size standing 6-feet-5 and weighing 310 pounds.
 
The Dukes have a couple dozen transfers on their roster, including a handful from power conference schools.
 
Running back Taj Butts, who ran for 104 yards on just 10 attempts in last Saturday's win versus Edinboro, began his collegiate career at Missouri. The 5-foot-10, 210-pounder started the South Carolina game last year for the Tigers and appeared in six contests before hitting the transfer portal.
 
Pitt transfer Noah Palmer, a 6-foot-4, 240-pound defensive lineman from Thomas Jefferson High in Pittsburgh, saw action against the Fighting Scots, as did Wisconsin transfer Quan Easterling, a 6-foot-3, 230-pound tight end from Akron, Ohio.
 
Georgia Tech transfer Khatavian Franks, a 6-foot-2, 215-pounder from Fairburn, Georgia, is also listed on the Duquesne roster as a linebacker.
 
Brown said Duquesne is going to give West Virginia a variety of defensive looks on Saturday.
 
"Defensively, what they do is going to be a challenge because they are so multiple, and they are high pressure," he said. "They mix up four-down and three-down fronts, and they give you about every front look that you can draw up.
 
"They pressure about 60% of the time," Brown added. "They are going to heat it up, and they are going to come in here and not hold a lot back."
 
Offensively, quarterback Darius Perrantes likes to take shots down the field and that could test a Mountaineer secondary that gave up 332 yards and three touchdowns through the air against Penn State freshman quarterback Drew Allar last Saturday.
 
Secondary play was also a big issue last year when the Mountaineers allowed an average of 262.7 yards per game.
 
"Their quarterback threw the deep ball really well," Brown noted.
 
"A lot of the same, protection-wise, that Penn State does," WVU defensive coordinator Jordan Lesley added. "The two deep balls (WVU gave up last Saturday) were seven-man protections and essentially isolate part of your secondary, which is tough. All you are going to get on that is deep balls.
 
"You can say pressure is the answer, but it's still the same ask. We've got to figure out a way off those rushes to transition back into the pocket. On those two plays, I thought the pocket was a little too clean, even though we were rushing four and they were max protecting."
 
Brown said Monday the No. 1 objective on Saturday is to win the football game. After that, his hope is to get a lot of players into the game if circumstances are favorable.
 
"We need to get to 1-1 and get even and then continue to play clean football," he explained. "We've got to get better at the areas we're going to focus on, which is throwing the football in key situations and on defense play the pass better. 
 
"We've got to do a better job with our rush, and we've got to play tighter coverage. Those are our points of emphasis," he said. "The hope is we can play more people. It's going to be a warm week, so we have to be careful how we practice, and we've got to have more bodies ready just because of the heat and humidity on Saturday."
 
Mountaineer fans are certainly eager to see more of touted freshman Rodney Gallagher III at the slot receiver position. The four-star recruit from nearby Uniontown saw limited duty on special teams against Penn State and was targeted only once on the game's final possession.
 
Freshman Traylon Ray, who performed well during preseason camp, is another offensive player who could get more snaps on Saturday.
 
Running back Jahiem White, the star of the spring game, was held out of the Penn State game, but Brown anticipates he will be available on Saturday.
 
Defensively, Brown indicated he would like to get true freshman linebacker Ben Cutter some more work.
 
Running back C.J. Donaldson ran for a game-high 81 yards and scored a touchdown against Penn State behind a veteran offensive line that performed well against the seventh-ranked Nittany Lions.
 
Junior quarterback Garrett Greene was also effective running the ball, gaining 71 yards on 15 attempts and scoring the other touchdown.
 
Greene completed just 16 of 27 passes for 162 yards, five of those going to NC State transfer Devin Carter for 90 yards. LSU transfer Kole Taylor nabbed a pair of catches for 31 yards from his tight end position.
 
Defensively, linebacker Lee Kpogba produced a game-high 13 tackles while cornerback Beanie Bishop was credited with seven stops and two pass breakups.
 
WVU limited Penn State's touted rushing attack to just 146 yards, or 40 yards fewer than it averaged in 2022.
 
"We got moved off the ball on the first play of the game, but I don't feel like we did the rest of the game as far as giving up chunk yardage," Brown said. 
 
This will be the 16^th straight year West Virginia has faced an FCS opponent in Morgantown. WVU has won all 15 games, the closest being a 20-13 victory over James Madison in 2019.
 
Last year, West Virginia defeated Towson 65-7.
 
"The more schools that play football the better," Brown explained. "Why these FCS games are really important is because this game for Duquesne, the payout will continue to help finance their program. It gives you an opportunity to play some people if the game goes your way and if we're going to play these games, I think it makes more sense to do it regionally.
 
"Duquesne is going to take a lot more home with this one because it's a bus trip," Brown added. "They don't have to worry about a flight or anything like that. They've been to Hawaii and Florida State, and those are good money games, for sure, but there is also a lot of cost associated with it."
 
Saturday's game is a Family Day, meaning four tickets and a $25 concession voucher can be purchased for just $150. The season ticket holder deal of the game is a free fountain drink with an order of fried pickles at concession stands 9 and 22 on the East side of the stadium, and concession stand 26 on the West side.
 
The Mountaineer Team Shop is also offering a 10% discount off all WVU polos.
 
The fourth-annual Youth Sports Day, sponsored by US Cellular, is this Saturday and represents a great opportunity for local area youth to see the Mountaineers. A Youth Day ticket is just $40 and the first 500 kids to sign up will receive an exclusive WVU Youth Sports Day t-shirt. Kids are encouraged to take part in the exclusive pregame activities in the WVU Kids Zone inside the Caperton Indoor Practice Facility from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. on Saturday afternoon.
 
Additionally, WVU's Pride of West Virginia will be providing Mountaineer fans and band enthusiasts an exclusive, behind-the-scenes look at their game-day activities as part of Band Day. A portion of the special $40 ticket will go to support The Pride Travel Fund.
 
And, finally, Saturday's opener will debut Almost Heaven Village, a new fan experience area located between the Light Blue and Teal parking lots. Fans can enjoy food trucks, inflatables, great music, yard games, photo opportunities, WVU Team Shop merchandise and appearances from the WVU Spirit Squads. Almost Heaven Village opens 3 ½ hours before game time and closes 30 minutes prior to kickoff.
 
A special 6 p.m. kickoff time has been designated for the contest with Big 12 Now on ESPN+ (Noah Reed and Jay Sonnhalter) handling the television coverage.
 
Mountaineer Sports Network radio coverage begins at 3 p.m. with the GoMart Mountaineer Tailgate Show leading into the Coca-Cola Countdown to Kickoff with Tony Caridi, Dwight Wallace and Jed Drenning at 5 p.m. on many stations throughout West Virginia, online via WVUsports.com, and the popular WVU Gameday and Varsity Network apps.
 
Tickets are still available and can be purchased by logging on to WVUGAME.com or by calling the Mountaineer Ticket Office toll-free at 1-800-WVU GAME.