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FLORENCE, Ala. -- Coming off its first regular-season Gulf South Conference loss at home since 2013, the University of North Alabama will look to rebound this Saturday when the Lions travel to Carrolton, Ga., to face the 3-1 West Georgia Wolves in a key GSC battle for UNA.

UNA, now 1-2 overall and 1-1 in the GSC, has faced a rugged early season schedule that included a non-conference game with now second ranked Texas A&M-Commerce, as well as contests with traditional GSC rivals Valdosta State and West Alabama.

That road doesn't get any easier this weekend when the Lions travel to West Georgia for a 1 p.m. kickoff at University Stadium.

Under new head coach David Dean, who won two national championships at Valdosta State, the Wolves are off to a 3-1 start and coming off a 48-16 pounding of Albany State.

For UNA head coach Chris Willis, it's all about attitude and improvement.

"We've got to play better than we did last Saturday," said Willis of UNA's 38-17 loss to West Alabama. "We're a work in progress but our guys are working hard and showing great attitudes."

"We're trying to get a football team of a bunch of new people to come together and we've got to keep building," Willis said. "Expectations are always high at UNA and we accept that. We'll get the ship turned. I think it is still a wide-open conference race and there are a lot of teams with a chance to win it. We have to get back on the field and compete and continue to improve."
 
Despite returning just five starters from last season, UNA was the pre-season pick to win a fifth straight GSC football title this fall. The Lions returned just one defensive starter, three on offense and one on special teams. While Willis has worked to mesh an influx of newcomers, injuries have also taken a toll early in the year.  

"We've got to get some people back, injury-wise," Willis said. "We had six guys miss last week's game due to injuries and we had already lost a couple of others for the season."

At the top of that list is starting quarterback Blake Hawkins, whose status is still uncertain after sustaining a concussion in week two against Valdosta State.

Junior Rico Bruton got his first start of the season at quarterback for the Lions against West Alabama and threw for 186 yards and one touchdown and rushed for 61 yards. He completed just 10-of-30 passes, however, with three interceptions. The Lions also have to improve their offensive line play as Bruton was sacked seven times by the Tigers.

Defensively, UNA also must improve on its performance from last weekend.

"We can't have a defensive letdown," Willis said. "The timing has been a litle off offensively with new folks in there. When you are struggling a little on the offense, you need to play almost perfectly on defense and we haven't done that."

West Georgia is averaging 33 points and 453 yards per game offensively, while allowing just 12 points and 253 yards on the defensive side.

Neither team is nationally ranked but both are receiving votes in the latest AFCA Division II poll. The Lions were nationally ranked in 47 consecutive polls prior to dropping out of the Top 25 this week and this will be UNA's first game as an unranked team since November 2, 2013. For UNA's senior class of 2017, this will be the first game they have ever played at UNA as an unranked team.

UNA is looking for its first win in Carrollton since 2010 but the Lions have won 10 of the last 12 games in the series.