Coaches — Catawba coach Curtis Walker (27-19) is in his fifth season as head coach. He was a linebacker for the Indians in 1990 when they made their most recent visit to VMI. For whatever reason, Catawba has played better on the road than at home during Walker’s tenure. His teams are 15-8 on the road.

VMI coach Scott Wachenheim is 5-18 and in his third season. In his playing days, he started on the offensive line at the Air Force Academy and graduated in 1984. He served as an officer before entering the coaching ranks and contributing as an assistant at a long list of schools that includes Arkansas, Colorado, Rice, Utah State, Liberty and Virginia. He was offensive line coach at Virginia for five years before getting the call from VMI.

Last game: Pretty disastrous in every respect for VMI, which made only the second trip in program history west of the Mississippi and was rewarded with a 62-0 shellacking from Air Force. VMI lost starting quarterback Austin Coulling, who was strapped to a back brace and carted off the field following a big hit (and a person foul) as he was going into a slide. Offensively, VMI managed paltry numbers — 55 rushing yards on 28 carries and 40 passing yards on 19 attempts. Defensively, things weren’t any better. Air Force rushed for 457 yards while throwing for 190.

VMI trailed 35-0 at halftime last Saturday, while Catawba was on the positive side of 35-0 at the break against St. Augustine’s on Thursday. Catawba looked good, but it’s not like the opposition was powerful. Film of the game revealed Catawba made mistakes, but St. Augustine’s wasn’t able to take advantage of big-play opportunities.

Series: This is the 10th meeting. VMI leads 6-3, including the 24-7 victory over the Indians that opened the 1990 season. That was the only meeting in modern times. The series dates back to 1944, with the bulk of the meetings occurring in the 1940s. The Catawba victories came in 1944, 1945 and 1950.

Players to watch: VMI’s redshirt freshman linebacker Devin Carper made 12 tackles against Air Force in his first college action. VMI’s best player probably was punter Bill Hogan, who was both busy and effective. He averaged 45.9 yards on 10 punts. VMI has ample experience on defense with seven returning defensive starters, but there’s a lot of youth on offense. The top running back, Daz Palmer, is a sophomore, while today’s probable starting quarterback, Duncan Hodges, is a redshirt freshman.

Catawba’s standouts in the the opener included receiver Sam Mobley (three touchdowns),  quarterbacks Reid Carlton and Patrick O’Brien ( a combined five TD passes), linebacker Kyle Kitchens (three sacks) and kicker Lee Brackman, who was close to perfect on kickoffs as well as PATs.

Weather: It will be dry. Comfortable temperatures are in the forecast.

Outlook: VMI is an FCS school with more scholarships to give than Division II Catawba, but this doesn’t appear to be a physical mismatch. Catawba has size, speed and experience and travels north with the mindset of winning, not just competing. Catawba hasn’t played one of the FCS schools since it stayed with Western Carolina for a half in 2014.

VMI’s strengths are the discipline and toughness typical of military schools. These are athletes who sleep on cots in barracks, not on comfortable beds in dorms.

VMI shifted from the Big South Conference back to its old stomping grounds in the Southern Conference in 2014 and faces a difficult road in league play. Four SoCon teams — The Citadel, Wofford, Chattanooga and Samford — were ranked in the Top 25 and made the playoffs in 2016, so VMI desperately needs to win whenever it has a winnable game. No doubt, Catawba was scheduled as a sure win, but the Indians don’t plan to be cooperative guests. They have the quarterbacking and the linebacking to return to the D-II playoffs and a win today would provide a lot of momentum.

Catawba faces another road trip (at UNC Pembroke) next week.