Putting together a college football team that wins some games is one thing.

Building a college football program that consistently excels on the field and its players off the field, a program like the one first-year Head Coach Jon Anderson is dedicated to building at West Virginia State, takes time.

It also takes patience and faith.

Saturday's 56-3 loss at Fairmont State was a reminder of that fact.

"At times we're a resilient group," Anderson said. "Then, at times, we don't work through the rough patches well."

Unfortunately there were too many of those patches Saturday as the Falcons' defense returned a Yellow Jacket fumble and two pass interceptions to the end zone.

The 21 points off of turnovers made it tough to try and come back.

The first, a 43 yard fumble recovery, gave Fairmont State a 14-0 lead just as the Yellow Jackets were looking to answer the Falcons' first score.

Still, The Jackets fought back and drove 63 yards on 11 plays, including an 11 yard run by senior quarterback Tyler Seals on a fourth and four at the Fairmont 32, to set up a Josh Reuber field goal to cut the lead to 14-3.

The WVSU defense held the Falcons to eight yards to force a punt, getting the ball back with a little momentum late in the first quarter.

The Jackets took over on their own 19 yard line but Seals sideline pass on the second play of the possession ended up in the arms of a Fairmont defender who took it in untouched for a 21-3 lead.

"When we got behind our kids continued to play hard," Anderson said. "Right now we're not made to come back from that kind of deficit, we're just not putting together drives on offense."

The Yellow Jackets could manage just one first down in the second quarter as Fairmont State dominated the time of possession.

A bright spot on the offensive side of the ball was wide receiver Shanin Bennefield. The 6-foot-3 junior had six catches for 104 yards including one grab that went for 33.

"It was good to see him get some catches," Anderson said.

The kicking game was also solid with Cory Broughton averaging 36.8 yards on eight punts and freshman place kicker Reuber hitting his only field goal attempt from 23 yards out.

The Yellow Jackets also cut down on penalties being flagged just three times for 40 yards.

Also, Dominique Matthews intercepted a Falcon pass in the second quarter to give WVSU eight picks on the season.

Still, the squad has yet to put together a game when it is hitting on all cylinders.

"Our energy remains high," Anderson said. "We just need to put a whole game together."

The Yellow Jackets will head back to the practice field next week in preparation for Saturday's 1:30 p.m. Homecoming contest against Urbana.

"I'm still proud of the way the kids are preparing," Anderson said. "I just wish it would show up on the scoreboard."

Which is where the patience and faith is important.

"We will get there," Anderson said.