The Robert Morris Colonials will look to get head coach John Banaszak his first victory on Saturday when they travel to North Dakota.
Both teams will be looking for their first wins on the young season.
The Colonials were downed by a very good Eastern Kentucky team, while ND fell victim to FBS member San Jose State.
It was good for the Colonials to get the first one out of the way as a lot of their players were able to get their feet wet. Fourteen of the Colonials 22 starters were making their first career starts, including quarterback Luke Brumbaugh, who completed 28 passes in the Week 1 loss, the third-most in single game school history and the most since 2003.
More impressively is the fact that Brumbaugh didn’t turn the football over in his first career start.
One encouraging sign for the Colonials to hopefully build on in Week 2 is a defense that showed the knack for making big plays as RMU forced four turnovers last week. For them to come out of North Dakota with a win, it may take a similar effort.
Offensively it will be interesting to see how Brumbaugh progresses in his second collegiate start. One thing is for sure though and that is the Brumbaugh- Duane Mitchell combo could be potent this year in the NEC. Mitchell’s nine receptions in Week 1 were the most by a Colonial since 2011. Mitchell had a big junior year in which he set school records and he is off to a very nice start to 2014.
RMU faces a pretty tough start to the Banaszak era, but a tough non-conference slate should prepare them for a nice run in the NEC.
Known as a coach that likes to pound the football, Banaszak had to come away from Week 1 feeling pretty good about his QB-WR combo.
Another couple of productive weeks for Brumbaugh and Mitchell and they will start to open some eyes as NEC play nears.
Photo Credit: RMU Athletics
