For whom is WVU preparing?

Just who are the Spartans from Norfolk State University?

And just how much time will West Virginia University head football coach Dana Holgorsen and his staff spend this week preparing to take on the FCS program with a road game lingering at Maryland a week away and a nationally televised showdown with SEC power LSU the week after that?

Those are the questions Mountaineer fans are asking themselves as they prepare to welcome the Spartans to Milan Puskar Stadium in their first, and only, visit on Saturday.

NSU is a member of the MEAC and is coming off of a 37-3 win over Virginia State last weekend.

Senior quarterback Chris Walley completed 25-of-29 passes for 255 yards and two touchdowns to earn Offensive Player of the Week in the conference while the defense limited Virginia State to 161 yards of total offense as the Spartans won for the sixth straight time between the two teams.

Impressed?

Probably not and it is hard to believe that Saturday's 1 p.m. contest at Mountaineer Field will be anything less than a final warm-up before WVU embarks on the two most important weeks of its non-conference schedule.

But, it will be the last chance for Holgorsen and his staff to evaluate their players and finalize the three-deep depth chart that every coach likes to have when the "meaningful" games come around.

So, what can Mountaineer fans expected to see against the Spartans?

Not much as far as schemes are concerned. It would be hard to understand why WVU's first-year coach would show anything but the team's base offensive and defensive alignments to give Maryland and LSU any more film study than they already will get from the Marshall contest.

Conventional wisdom says "do only what you have to do to get a win on Saturday" and it would be hard to believe that Holgorsen will do more than that.

So, while fans will be wanting WVU to put up 70 points against the Spartans - an event that may be impossible to not do given the talent level of both schools - the likelihood of backups seeing as much playing time as starters may be the game plan coming into Holgorsen's second game as head coach of the old gold and blue.

What goes on during the team's practices is of most importance.

Watching Maryland's victory over Miami on Monday and LSU's dismantling of Oregon four days earlier should be more than enough reasons for the coaching staff to begin paying more attention to those contests in hopes that an under-prepared Mountaineer team will still be good enough to get past an over-matched NSU squad.

Fans concerned over Saturday's contest turning into an Appalachian State-moment if WVU takes the Spartans too lightly only have to look at the talent level at the two schools to see that, while anything can happen, it is unlikely that NSU will be able to line up against the Mountaineers for 60 minutes.

Norfolk State will pose a challenge to West Virginia only if the Mountaineer players play down to its level and it would be hard to believe that WVU's coaching staff will permit that to happen.