I thought it was going to be a factor. I knew they had a good kicking game. I thought if we could get momentum early. … They haven't scored a lot of points this year, to get an early score, I thought psychologically would have been good for us.

That's always been the nature of the teams in the league. They've earned it, every one of those teams have earned any rankings they might have, because those are three very good defensive football teams.

Scoring on that first possession was key because of the emotion that goes into this game.

It's tough, trying to figure out how fast they are and how strong they are compared to people that we've played. There will be a feeling out process in the first quarter, for sure.

It's not a burden you want the current players to carry. We know what we're trying to do. We made our decision. By most accounts, we're playing one of the toughest I-AA schedules in the country and we're playing with a half deck of cards because we're at half of the scholarships and loaded with lots of young players.

It has been a lot of fun preparing for the game. This is one everybody has been looking forward to for a long time. There's a lot excitement around here.