* Weekly Notes (PDF)
* Coaches Previews: Jacobs (NDC) | Cater (SU) | Damron (WISE) | Smith (GSC)

BRIDGEPORT, W.Va. -- The 2017 football season gets underway this Thursday night with four games on the schedule. Glenville State will welcome UVa-Wise in the MEC Game of the Week, while Urbana travels to take on West Liberty and West Virginia Wesleyan takes on Concord. Fairmont State also plays on Thursday night with a non-conference matchup against East Stroudsburg.

On Saturday, No. 7 Shepherd will play host to Notre Dame at noon as part of the NCAA Division II Showcase. The game will be aired on ESPN3 and available on the WatchESPN app. The Rams are the preaseason favorite to win the league, while Notre Dame was picked to finish second.

The Kanawha Classic will also be played on Saturday as Charleston will take on cross-town rival West Virginia State.

Preseason Notebook

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* The Shepherd Rams have been picked to win a third-straight Mountain East Conference football title after a vote conducted by the league’s coaches. Shepherd received 98 points and was picked to finish first on eight of the 11 ballots. 
* Four players from the MEC earned preseason All-America honors from D2Football.com, including a pair of first team honorees in Shepherd offensive lineman Lavonte Hights and Fairmont State defensive end Quincy Redmon. Charleston linebacker Kahzin Daniels and Shepherd defensive end Myles Humphrey earned second team recognition from the website.
* Shepherd begins 2017 ranked in both major polls (AFCA and D2Football.com). The Rams are ranked seventh in both polls. The University of Charleston and Fairmont State are both receiving votes in the AFCA poll.
* The MEC welcomes two new head coaches to the sidelines this year in Eric Smith (Glenville State) and John Pennington (West Virginia State). Not including Smith and Pennington, five other coaches in the league have spent fewer than three seasons at the helm of their programs in the league.
* Twenty seven of 65 regular season games (42 percent) involving MEC teams were decided by a single possession last year, including seven decided by a single point.
 

Thursday, Aug. 31
Matchup					Location	Coverage
	UVa-Wise	at		Glenville State	Glenville, W.Va.	Listen | Watch | Stats
Notes: Eric Smith has been at Glenville State since 2011 but will make his debut as head coach on Thursday night ... last year’s game started a four-game losing streak for Glenville State and a four-game winning streak for UVa-Wise ... the Cavs earned their first win over GSC last year ... the Cavs are coming off their first winning season since 2008 ... UVa-Wise was picked to finish fourth in the MEC preseason poll ... QB Brycen Lee threw for 2,306 yards and 13 TDs last year ... UVa-Wise is 3-3 in its last six season openers ... Carlton Griffith has led UVa-Wise in rushing in each of the last three seasons ... Ed Kargbo was second in the league with five interceptions last year.
Matchup					Location	Coverage
	East Stroudsburg	at		Fairmont State	Fairmont, W.Va.	Listen | Watch | Stats
Notes: FSU was ranked as high as No. 17 last year in the AFCA Poll .. the Falcons earned their first NCAA Playoff bid and hosted the first round ... Fairmont State will start Alabama State transfer JuJuan Young-Battle at quarterback ... Terrell Charles comes into his senior season with 1,435 yards and 16 career touchdowns ... Quincy Redmon, the reigning MEC Defensive Player of the Year, earned preseason All-America honors ... linebacker Marcus Porter needs just 55 stops to crack FSU’s top 10 list in that category ... ESU is 31-12 in season openers under head coach Dennis Douds and has won eight of its last nine  ... Douds is beginning his 44th season and has coached the most NCAA Division II games in history ... the Warriors have six starters returning on offense and six on defense ... five of those 12 have earned All-PSAC honors during their careers.
Matchup					Location	Coverage
	W.Va. Wesleyan	at		Concord	Athens, W.Va.	Listen | Watch | Stats
Notes: WVWC lost three first team All-MEC performers from last year’s squad, including the league’s Offensive Player of the Year, Michael Anderson ... the Bobcats do return five of its top seven tacklers ... CU head coach Paul Price played and coached at West Virginia Wesleyan ... WVWC had four loses that were by a combined 15 points ... CU has won six-straight against Wesleyan ... Jamal Petty is averaging 143 yards rushing in two previous meetings against WVWC .. the Mountain Lions have won five-straight home openers.
Matchup					Location	Coverage
	Urbana	at		West Liberty	West Liberty, W.Va.	Listen | Watch | Stats
Notes: WLU held Urbana to just 11 yards rushing and 128 yards of total offense in a win last year ... UU’s Trevon Saunders was held to a season-low three catches for 26 yards ... the Hilltoppers are 1-8 in their last nine season openers ... Saunders is on pace to set the school record for career TD receptions (currently with 24) ... UU will try to bolster a running game that averaged just over 100 yards per game last year ... eight starters return on defense for Urbana led by LB Josh Dillard and DL Clayton Bullard ... Urbana's last win in a season opener came in 2014.
Saturday, Sept. 2
Matchup					Location	Coverage
	Notre Dame	at		#7 Shepherd	Shepherdstown, W.Va.	Watch | Stats
Notes: Shepherd has a 20-game winning streak in MEC play ... Notre Dame is one of just two conference teams to defeat Shepherd since the league started in 2013 ... Jabre Lolley returns to the SU backfield after missing last season ... Lolley ranks 7th in the MEC for career rushing yards (2,372) and is first for career rushing TDs (41) ... SU has scored more than 30 points in each of the four meetings against NDC ... the Falcons are coming off their best season in school history (9-2) ... NDC’s only losses came to SU and Fairmont State -- two teams that made the NCAA Playoffs ... the Falcons bring back the league’s top passer (Malik Grove) and rusher (D.J. Greene) ... DL Claudy Mathieu has 29.5 career TFLs, including 17.5 sacks.
Matchup					Location	Coverage
	Charleston	at		W.Va. State	Institute, W.Va.	Watch | Stats
Notes: UC has won eight-straight in the series against WVSU ... Charleston will get back both Mason Olszewski and Jermaine Kelly at the quarterback position as they return from injuries that held them out for much of the 2016 season ... UC will try to get back to their high powered offense of 2015 where they averaged 41 ppg and ranked 12th in the nation as opposed to the 2016 campaign where they scored just 23 ppg ... WVSU senior quarterback Matt Kinnick enters his final season owning school records for career passes completed and yards gained ... he is just 19 yards shy of the school mark for passing yards ... WVSU’s Quinton Gray needs 53 catches and 368 yards to become the school’s all-time leader in those categories.