FAIRMONT, W.Va. — The last two Saturdays have been the epitome of an up-and-down stretch for The University of North Carolina at Pembroke.

Two weeks ago, the Braves beat West Virginia Wesleyan 50-26 in a game they led by as many as 36 points. Then last week, UNCP suffered a 45-17 loss at Glenville State.

The Braves will look to play a more steady and consistent brand of football, and hope that results in a return to the win column, when they face Fairmont State for a 2 p.m. kickoff Saturday in Fairmont, West Virginia.

“We’re not that far away; if you look at the point spread, you’ll think that it’s really worse that what it really is, and that’s the team message that we tell our guys too,” Braves coach Shane Richardson said. “Of course, they’re very disappointed. But what it is is, we’ve got to learn how to travel, we’ve got to learn how to be intense and ready to play right away, from kick all the way until the fourth quarter ends.”

The Braves (1-2, 1-1 Mountain East Conference) were outscored 21-0 in a pivotal second quarter and were outrushed 372-36 in last week’s loss.

“We did not execute everything that we’re supposed to execute,” Richardson said. “We had a lot of drops on offense, we had a lot of missed tackles on defense; we didn’t get off blocks as quickly as we needed to. So when you go back and look at the film, it’s one of those things where it’s the fundamentals and the staples of what we talk about, those are not being performed on a consistent basis like they need to.”

UNCP now faces Fairmont State (0-3, 0-2), which is winless on the season but has lost by narrow margins in both its MEC games; Charleston beat the Falcons 40-38 in a quadruple-overtime contest on Sept. 8 before West Virginia State beat them 34-29 last week.

The Falcons have middle-of-the-pack numbers in passing and rushing yards per game, both for and against. They have forced five turnovers and have only committed two this season.

Quarterback Michael Floria has completed 50% of his passes for 419 yards, two touchdowns and one interception this season. Donte Cloude (206 receiving yards, two touchdowns), Kobe Harris (159 receiving yards), Joshawn Lewis (133 receiving yards, one touchdown) and Naseem Pacheco (126 receiving yards, two touchdowns) are all threats on the outside; Myles Miree is the Falcons’ leading rusher, though several backs have had significant carries this season.

Defensive back Jovon Jackson and linebacker Brocton Blair are both averaging over 10 tackles per game on the season.

“I think they’re very dangerous,” Richardson said. “I think what they’re going to be able to do well is, they’re going to play very consistent, both offensively and defensively; I think they’ve got weapons and they’ve got a plan, and they’re going to be disciplined in what they do. I think they were very capable in all of their games to play better, and there were a couple close ones they just lost recently. They’re a very good team.”

Fairmont State is hosting the Braves for its homecoming game, adding an extra element to the contest, with additional festivities and likely a large crowd.

“We’ve got to make sure we know that it’s really, a lot of the focus just has to stay on how good we do things and how well we play ourselves,” Richardson said. “If we start looking at the crowd, if we start overthinking the hype of everything, our focus will be diverted, and we can’t have that; we’ve got to make sure that we are very in tune to what our standard is and how we’re supposed to play.”

UNCP leads the all-time series 2-1, but Fairmont State won last year’s matchup 30-27 in Pembroke.