Kudos to Ron Strollo for scheduling a night game. Despite some people complaining about them, I recall some great crowds and outstanding games at night in the past, i.e. UNI last year and James Madison in 2007. Although a giant cold front will plow through tonight and cool us off this week, the weather a week out looks very good! Per the National Weather Service, the forecast is 73 and SUNNY for Saturday! The game will also be State Farm Kids Day should a big crowd should be in store.
This is what Youngstown wanted.... a winner. We come home 5-1 after starting the league portion of our schedule 2-0 on the road. We have won 9 straight FCS games dating back to last year and our team is beginning to believe they have a team that can be in the top 3 in the league and make the playoffs.
Illinois State rolls into town 2-3 on the year. They are nowhere near as good as last year, but still are a formidable opponent that can go after our weak pass defense. They got killed this year by a very good Eastern Illinois team, a weak Ball State, and a bad Missouri State team. They responded this week with a 35-21 win over Western Illinois.
This is a game we need to win and should win by double-digits. Hopefully the athletic department does their job and gets a huge crowd for this one.
As easy as our schedule is, we are still favored to win the next 3 games before heading into the UNI Dome the 2nd weekend of November. Although they own us in the series, we have played them very tough in the UNI Dome in the past, so all hope is not lost.
However, let's focus on the task at hand. Hope to see 17-18k on hand and a YSU 38-21 win!
GO YSU!
