SLIPPERY ROCK — Trap game? You could call it that.

Second-year Millersville football coach Greg Breitbach won’t.

His Marauders (0-2) host Slippery Rock (2-0) at 4 p.m. Saturday in Biemesderfer Stadium. SRU is coming off a stunning 56-24 win at East Stroudsburg and has its homecoming game next week.

Millersville is coming off a 55-16 drubbing by Clarion and hasn’t won more than three games in a season since 2006, losing 62 of 77 games since that year.

So, maybe The Rock doesn’t take the field Saturday with much intensity?

“Yeah, that could work out for us, but I’m not counting on it and we’re certainly not talking to the team about it,” Breitbach said. “We’re working on cutting down on turnovers, penalties, getting good field position, playing the game to our advantage.

“Getting a bunch of new players to jell as a team and improve on the field is my focus right now.”

SRU leads the series between the teams 15-4-1, including a 31-14 win in 2009, the last time the teams faced each other.

“It’s my job as a coach not to let that happen,” Mihalik said of the prospects of his team taking the Marauders lightly. “I’ve seen upsets happen under these circumstances before.

“In this league, you better respect every team, every week. We’ve worked too hard to get to this point to throw it all away. We don’t want a repeat of last year at this time (an upset loss at Gannon).”

The Rock has rushed for 652 yards in two games and Shamar Greene has already run for more than 360 yards. Greene has been named PSAC West Offensive Player of the Week twice in a row. Quarterback Zack Newsock only threw 16 passes against East Stroudsburg.

Millersville has allowed 101 points in two games. SRU has scored 93.

Mihalik anticipates his team trying to instill its will on the ground again.

“How much we run will depend on how our defense is playing,” the coach said. “If we’re having trouble stopping them, we’ll try to run more and keep their offense off the field.

“If we’re playing well defensively, we may try to incorporate the passing game a little more. Zack did hit some big throws when he needed to last week.”

Fifth-year senior quarterback Matt Misley leads Millersville’s attack. He has completed 29 of 53 passes for 400 yards, six touchdowns and only one interception.

Myron Miles, a junior, leads the Marauder running attack with 112 yards.

“We need to take care of the football,” Breitbach said. “The first two times we had the ball last week, we put it on the turf and we got behind by a bunch real quick against Clarion.

“We’ve got 49 new players on this team, 40 who are freshmen. Five true freshmen start for us and 11 are on our two-deep. We’ve got kids learning to play at this level on the fly and it’s exciting watching them come along.”

Misley is a transfer from Division I Wagner and has started games against Syracuse, Delaware and Georgetown.

“He’s been through it,” Breitbach said. “We need upperclassmen to show the way for this young team and Matt has been very helpful in that regard.”

SRU has permitted touchdowns on special teams in successive weeks and will face one of the top kick returners in Division II Saturday in David Coates.

“Nothing can turn the momentum of a game like a big play on special teams,” Mihalik said.”We can’t allow a big play there and that kid is dangerous.”

“He’s got a knack for it,” Breitbach said of Coates’ return ability. “He’s got great acceleration and good vision.”

The Rock is ranked No. 18 on the D2Football.com poll and No. 25 on the AFCA Division II poll this week.

“A victory over a ranked team could jump-start their program,” Mihalik said. “They’ll be fired up for us and we need to match that intensity.”

Millersville’s last winning season was in 2000, when it finished 6-4.