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YSU Penguin Athletics / Re: Official Preview: YSU Begins Key October Stretch With Home Tilt vs. SDSU
« on: October 05, 2011, 01:18:00 PM »
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YSU Penguin Athletics / Official Preview: YSU Begins Key October Stretch With Home Tilt vs. SDSU
« on: October 05, 2011, 01:14:03 PM »
The Youngstown State football team begins a key stretch of three home games in the month of October against South Dakota State on Saturday. Kickoff at Stambaugh Stadium is set for 4 p.m. and will be carried live on 570 WKBN and televised on tape delay by MyYTV.
Both teams are coming off losses to Indiana State entering Saturday's tilt. YSU dropped a 37-35 decision at Terre Haute on Sept. 24 while the Jackrabbits lost at home 38-28 to the Sycamores last Saturday. The Penguins and SDSU each allowed 21-point spurts to Indiana State, which proved to be the difference in both contests.
YSU (2-2 overall and 1-1 in the MVFC) trailed 21-0 just 10 minutes into the contest at Indiana State, and, although battling back all afternoon, came up just short falling 37-35. Kurt Hess threw two touchdown passes and Jamaine Cook ran for two scores in the comeback bid. After allowing 34 points in the first 26 minutes, the Penguins allowed just three the remainder of the game. However, a 22-yard fourth-quarter field goal by Cory Little proved to the be the difference.
SDSU (1-4 and 0-2) trailed Indiana State 17-15 late in the third quarter on Saturday, but three straight Sycamore touchdowns were too much to overcome in a 38-28 loss. The Jackrabbits had 414 yards of total offense, including 305 yards passing by Austin Sumner. The Jacks led 9-3 midway through the second quarter making three chip-shot field goals. SDSU was driving down 24-15, but a 78-yard interception return for a touchdown by ISU helped turned the momentum of the game.
The Jackrabbits have won all three conference meetings between the two programs in a series that dates back to 1942. Last season in Brookings, the Jackrabbits earned a 30-20 win over the Penguins. In 2009 at YSU, SDSU scored two second-half touchdowns for a 17-3 win. At Brookings in 2008, the Guins lost 40-7. The Penguins' most recent win in the series was 23-17 triumph in 2007. The schools played seven times from 1968 through 1979, with the final contest coming in the Division II playoffs at Austintown Fitch High School.
YSU returns to the road next Saturday for a contest at nationally-ranked Southern Illinois. The Guins then close out October with home games agianst Saint Francis (Pa.) and Western Illinois.
Indiana State Game Notes
• In the first 10:30 of the game, YSU was outyarded 187 to minus-1. Indiana State had drives of 62, 58, 2 and 65 compared to YSU's minus-11, 6 and 4.
• The 34 points scored in the first half were the most allowed in a half since Georgia Southern had 38 in the first half of the National Championship Game on Dec. 18, 1999.
• The three second half points by ISU were the fewest since Butler was held scoreless last season.
• The Penguins had more first downs (30-14), more total plays (92-47), more time of possession (37:38 to 22:22), more rushing attempts (51-30), more passing attempts (41-17), more third-down conversions (8-2), more fourth-down conversions (3-0) and more total yards (470-467) in the game.
• Of Indiana State's 467 yards of total offense, 280 came on five plays (rushes of 62, 61, 51 and 39 and a fourth-quarter pass completion of 67 yards).
• Sophomore WR Jelani Berassa caught two four-yard touchdown passes in the game.
• Junior TB Jamaine Cook eclipsed the 100-yard mark for the third time this season and ninth time in his career. Cook had a season-high 177 yards on 33 carries.
• WR Christian Bryan caught a school freshman record seven passes in the game. He had seven catches for 75 yards.
• The 14 fourth-quarter points scored were a season-high for the Penguins.
• YSU was 5-for-5 in the red zone while Indiana State was 2-of-2.
• The Penguins converted three fourth-down plays. Two came on the same drive in the second quarter trailing 27-7, and the other came on the final snap of the third quarter with YSU trailing 34-21.
• The Penguins scored 21 of the game's final 24 points.
ISU Recap: ISU 37, YSU 35
The Penguins battled the final 50 minutes trying to dig out of a 21-0 hole, but in the end they came up just short losing 37-35 to Indiana State at Memorial Stadium in Terre Haute, Ind.
The Sycamores shot out of the gate scoring 21 points in just over 10 minutes to put the Guins in a tight spot.
YSU scored on the final play of the first quarter, but Shakir Bell answered with a 61-yard run on ISU's first play of the second.
Kurt Hess connected with Jelani Berassa on a four-yard pass midway through the period, but Bell's fourth touchdown of the first half gave ISU a 34-14 lead. Jamaine Cook found the end zone in the final minute of the first half as the Guins trailed 34-21 at the break.
After a scoreless third quarter, YSU pulled within 34-28 early in the fourth on a one-yard run by Cook. But a 22-yard field goal by Cory Little pushed the lead to nine. YSU was able to get within two on a toss from Hess to Berassa with just over a minute left.
Jacks Scouting Report
South Dakota State enters the contest with the Penguins following a 38-28 loss to Indiana State. The Jackrabbits opened the year with a nail-biting 29-28 win over Southern Utah, but has since lost their last five contests, including MVFC games to Illinois State and Indiana State.
Twice this year the Jackrabbits have scored 28-or-more points while allowing more than 28 in four contests.
Quarterback Austin Sumner has started the past two games for SDSU. The Jackrabbits have 13 turnovers on the season while averaging 284.6 yards per game. They are allowing 417.6 yards a contest so far this year.
Last Year's Recap: SDSU 30, YSU 20
Big passing plays by South Dakota State and Kyle Minett's legs made the difference as the Penguins suffered a 30-20 loss to the Jackrabbits at Coughlin-Alumni Stadium.
SDSU had four passes of 33 yards or more, all of which came on scoring drives, and Minett rushed for 185 yards on 26 attempts to lead the Jackrabbits.
Trailing 7-0, YSU went up 9-7 following a Stephen Blose 34-yard field goal and a 33-yard touchdown pass from Kurt Hess to Dominique Barnes with 1:41 left in the first quarter.
But South Dakota State scored 23 of the next 26 points to go on top 30-12 midway through the fourth quarter. The Guins lone points during that stretch came on a 19-yard field goal by Blose that cut the deficit to 17-12.
YSU pulled within 30-20 on a 15-yard pass from Hess to Ely Ducatel and a two-point conversion run by Hess with 5:34 left in the game.
Series History
The Jackrabbits have won all three Missouri Valley Football Conference clashes between the two progams and lead the overall series 7-5.
Last season in Brookings, the Jackrabbits earned a 30-20 win over the Penguins. In 2009 at YSU, SDSU scored two second-half touchdowns for a 17-3 win. At Brookings in 2008, the Guins lost 40-7.
The series with SDSU dates back to a 1942 meeting, and the schools played seven times from 1968 through 1979, with the final contest coming in the Divison II playoffs at Austintown Fitch High School. The teams resumed the series in 2007 with a YSU win, but SDSU has won the past three games.
Extra Week Pays Off
The Penguins have won six of their last seven games following a bye week dating back to the 1998 campaign. A 2009 loss at Southern Illinois snapped YSU's six-game winning streak coming off idle Saturdays. Historically, the Guins have had success following some time to catch their breath and get healthy. Since 1975, YSU has won 24 of 28 games following an idle weekend. The Oct. 1 respite was just the second off Saturday in October since 1997 (2009 at SIU was the other time).
Don't Leave Early
The Penguins' last 11 Missouri Valley Football Conference games have all been decided by 10 points or fewer. Dating back to a 39-35 win over North Dakota State on Nov. 21, 2009, YSU has played nine MVFC games decided by a touchdown or less out of those 11. The Guins' last five league games dating back to last season have been decided by a total of 21 points. Also, six of those 11 have been decided by five points or less.
Sharing the Ice Castle
The Penguins welcomed some special visitors to Stambaugh Stadium last week. The San Francisco 49ers practiced at the Stadium on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday and used the weight and athletic training rooms throughout the week. The 49ers are owned by John and Denise DeBartolo-York, who have a residence in nearby Canfield. Instead of make consecutive treks from the West Coast for East Coast games, the 49ers headquartered in Youngstown last week after beating the Cincinnati Bengals. San Francisco ended the trip on positive note, rallying to beat Philadelphia 24-23 on Sunday.
Cook Remains Steady
Junior tailback Jamaine Cook has rushed for more than 100 yards in the past three games following the ninth 100-yard rushing performance of his career at Indiana State.
He rushed for a season-high 177 yards in the loss to the Sycamores. Cook had 30 carries in the contest.
For the year, he has rushed for 501 yards on 95 carries. Now that conference action has started his workload has increased. In two non-conference games, Cook rushed 32 times. He had 30 carries last time out at Indiana State after a season-high 33 in the win over Illinois State.
Hess Continues to Impress
Sophomore QB Kurt Hess has averaged 240.3 yards passing per game the past three outings. Highlighting Hess' strong performances was a career-high 293-yard and four-touchdown effort in the win over Illinois State.
At Indiana State, Hess completed 25-of-41 passes for 224 yards and two touchdowns. It marked the eighth time in his 15 career games that he eclipsed the 200-yard mark.
He is now the seventh quarterback in school history to throw for at least 200 yards in eight games. The school mark is 13 set by Tom Zetts during a four-year career that featured 47 starts.
For the season Hess has completed 75-of-118 passes (63.6 percent) for 847 yards and nine touchdowns while throwing just two interceptions. In his career, he has completed 254-of-422 passes (60.1 percent) for 2,964 yards and 21 touchdowns.
Bryan Already Up to 23
Freshman wide receiver Christian Bryan has 23 catches in his first four games as a Penguin. Bryan had a career-high seven catches at Indiana State, which set a school record for most grabs in a game by a freshman.
His 23 catches are already more than YSU's top receiver had in 2001 (21) and 2002 (20).
In his other three contests, Bryan had five catches against both Illinois State and Valparaiso and six in his debut at Michigan State.
Against the Redbirds, Bryan caught his first career touchdown pass – a 25-yarder from Kurt Hess in the first quarter.
The freshman mark for catches in a game was six, held previously by TB Jake Andreadis, which he established in 1995.
Milestone Update
Junior TB Jamaine Cook needs 112 yards to become the 17th player in school history to rush for more than 2,000 yards in a career. Kurt Hess needs just 36 yards to become the 12th quarterback in YSU history to throw for more than 3,000 yards as a Guin. Hess's 21 career touchdown passes ranks him 11th in school history as well. Senior LB John Sasson went over 200 tackles for his career at Indiana State.
Preaching Red-Zone Success
Head Coach Eric Wolford continues to stress Red Zone play in his second campaign. In 17 trips this year, the Penguins have scored 16 touchdowns and missed a field goal (at Michigan State).
In his 15 games as coach, the Penguins are 57-for-62 (91.9 percent) when moving the ball inside the red zone.
Last year, YSU was 41-of-45 in the red zone, which ranked third in the FCS, for a conversion percentage of 91.1 percent.
So far through five weeks of FCS action, the Penguins rank sixth in the nation at 94 percent. UNI leads the nation and is the only remaining team in the country to be perfect so far.
Berassa A Playmaker
Sophomore WR Jelani Berassa caught two four-yard touchdown passes against Indiana State. Berassa caught the first touchdown pass of his career in the season opener at Michigan State.
Against the Sycamores, he had six catches for 44 yards and the two scores. Berassa had six catches in the first three games, including three for a career-best 46 yards against Illinois State.
New Line Holding up Well
Through the first four games, the YSU offensive line is allowing an average of one sack per game, which ranks 15th in the FCS. The same unit has started each contest together - LT Andrew Radakovich, LG Lamar Mady, C Mark Pratt, RG Chris Elkins and RT D.J. Main.
Offense High In FCS Ranks
The Penguins rank in the top 20 in the FCS in 12 offensive categories (out of 15). YSU is first in fewest fumbles lost; second in first downs per game and third-down conversion pct.; fourth in turnovers lost; sixth in red zone percentage; seventh in rushing offense; eighth in total offense and scoring offense; 10th in time of possession; 14th in interceptions thrown and fourth-down conversion percentage and 15th in sacks allowed.
Impressive First Halves
The Penguins have scored 118 of their 152 points in the first half this year. YSU has scored 56 points in the first quarter and 62 in the second quarter.
YSU did not punt in the first half against either Illinois State and Valparaiso. Against the Redbirds, YSU scored touchdowns on each of its four first-half scoring drives. In the Valpo game, YSU scored on its first nine possessions and took a knee to end the opening half.
Defense Stepping Up
YSU's defense has been strong in the second half this season. In the past three games, the Guins have allowed 24 second-half points, including a season-low three at Indiana State.
Last year, the Penguins allowed an average of 17 points in the second half. In four games this year, they are allowing just 9.2 a contest.
Since the opener at Michigan State, YSU has allowed just eight first downs and seven pass completions in the past three fourth quarters.
Big Plays Hurt at ISU
YSU had done a good job of limiting big plays in the first three games of the season before the Indiana State game.
In the first three games of the year, the Guins had allowed just six plays longer than 20 yards on 187 opponent snaps.
Indiana State ran just 47 plays, but five were big gainers, including four on the ground. ISU had runs of 62, 61, 51 and 39 (all touchdowns) and connected on 67 yard pass in the fourth quarter.
Otherwise in 42 plays, YSU allowed 187 total yards, 122 yards passing and 65 yards rushing. Shakir Bell had 43 yards on his 17 other attempts that did not go for touchdowns.
Third-Down Conversions
The Penguins have converted 29-of-54 third-down situations so far this year (53.7 percent). YSU was 8-of-18 at Indiana State, 7-of-14 versus Illinois State, 6-of-9 against Valpo and 8-of-15 at Michigan State. The Penguins rank second behind Towson (56 percent) in successful third-downs converted at the FCS level.
Last year, YSU was fourth in the FCS in third-down conversions at 47.8 percent.
Distributing the Ball
YSU quarterback Kurt Hess has completed passes to 12 different players so far this season. Six wide receivers, three running backs and three tight ends have combined for 50 receptions so far this year.
Of that group, only TE David Rogers and WR Andre Barboza are seniors. YSU's leading receiver is freshman Christian Bryan with 23 catches for 262 yards. Sophomores Jelani Berassa and Kevin Watts have combined for 21 receptions.
Now We're Cooking
Junior TB Jamaine Cook, who is on the preseason Watch List for the Walter Payton Award, is making a good candidacy for the award averaging 125.2 yards and nearly 24 carries per contest. He is averaging 5.3 yards per rush. He is 10th in the FCS in yards per game average.
For his career, Cook has rushed for 1,888 yards on 357 carries and scored 15 touchdowns while averaging 5.3 yards per carry. He also has 31 receptions for 272 yards.
Cook, a second-team All-MVFC selection in 2010, has nine 100-yard plus rushing games in his career.
Last season against South Dakota State, he rushed for 78 yards on 18 carries.
Youngsters at LB
YSU started three freshmen linebackers at Indiana State. Redshirts Davion Rogers and Travis Williams along with true freshman Teven Williams were all in the starting lineup. Travis Williams was credited with a team-high eight total tackles while Rogers and Teven Williams were each credited with five.
Barboza is Mr. Touchdown
Senior WR Andre Barboza has 10 career receptions, and four are for touchdowns. This year, Barboza has seven catches in four games after having just three in the 2010 campaign. He has three touchdown grabs this year, including 20 and 44-yard touchdown strikes against Illinois State. The previous week against Valparaiso, he had a 24-yard scoring reception.
Turnovers Hard to Come By
After four games, the Penguins have three giveaways and four takeaways. In fact, YSU's lone lost fumble of the season was when DT Aronde Stanton tried to return an Indiana State fumble for a touchdown, only to fumble the ball as well on the one-yard line. Two fourth-quarter Kurt Hess interceptions are the other two giveaways. YSU does not have a turnover in the first or third quarters this season.
However, the opposition has held onto the ball as well. Michigan State fumbled a punt, LB Dom Rich intercepted a pass in the final minute of the first half against Valparaiso and Quentin Jones recovered a fourth-quarter fumble. Shakir Bell was stripped by Stanton at Indiana State.
Top of the Liste
Sophomore punter Nick Liste has been a key contributor as both punter and kickoff specialist this season.
Liste is averaging 38.1 yards per punt while six of his 15 attempts have been inside the opposition's 20-yard line. The coverage has been solid with six of his punts resulting in fair catches while the six that have been returned have resulted in a gain of 28 yards (4.7 avg.).
He averaged 41.1 yards per kick last season, but the trade off was that 15 were returned for an average of 11.7 yards.
Liste has kicked off 22 times this season and because of his kicks and coverages, the Guins are allowing three fewer yards per return than in 2010.
Our Teams are Special
The Penguins have blocked three kicks - two PATs and one punt - and returned a punt for a touchdown so far this season.
The last time the Guins blocked four in one campaign was 2004.
After not punting against Valparaiso, a well-rested Nick Liste had an impressive performance against Illinois State. He placed three of his four punts inside the 20-yard line.
Against Valpo, YSU returned a punt for a touchdown, while blocking a punt and an extra-point. Junior PK David Brown set a school record with 11 extra-point kicks made in a single game while Josh Lee returned his punt for a touchdown a school-record 96 yards.
D-Line Each With a Sack
After four games, each member of the starting defensive line -- Daniel Stewart, Andrew Johnson, Aronde Stanton and Obinna Ekweremuba - has recorded a sack. YSU's four-sack total is already one-third of the way toward last year's 12.
Stewart is the active team leader in career sacks with three ahead of Obinna Ekweremuba (2.0), Andrew Johnson (2.0), Deonta Tate (1.5), Aronde Stanton (1.0) and John Sasson (0.5).
Another QB With Four TDs
QB Kurt Hess became the eighth quarterback in school history to throw four touchdown passes in a game when he accomplished the feat against Illinois State. Hess had scoring throws of 44, 25 20 and 10 in the game.
It was the first time a YSU quarterback threw four in a single game since Brandon Summers against Austin Peay in 2009.
Lee Sets Return Record
Senior CB Josh Lee set a school and conference record with his 96-yard punt return for a touchdown in the second quarter against Valparaiso. It was the second straight season that a Penguin returned a punt for a touchdown in the home opener (Dominique Barnes returned one 80 yards vs. Butler).
No Seniors on the Line
The Penguins have no seniors on the offensive line this year. The last time no seniors started on the line was in 1998.
Since at least 1978, this is the first time no seniors at all were part of the offensive line.
Wolford in Second Year
Head Coach Eric Wolford is in his second season looking to build on last year's three-win campaign. Historically, the second years of head coaches have gone either way.
Here is a look at the previous five coaches and how they fared their first two years: Coach Dwight Beede won four games in each of his first two seasons; Rey Dempsey improved from four to eight; Bill Narduzzi went from five to four, Jim Tressel went from two to eight and Jon Heacock went from eight to seven.
Eight is Enough
The last three times the Penguins dropped eight games in one campaign, they rebounded strong the next year.
YSU is 2-2 in 2011 following a hard-luck 3-8 season last year. Most recently, the Guins lost eight times in 1995 and rebounded to win eight in 1996.
In 1986 (Coach Jim Tressel's first season), YSU suffered nine defeats but regrouped to win eight games and reach the postseason in 1987. In 1980, YSU was 2-8-1 and rebounded with a 7-4 mark the following year.
The only time YSU did not win at least seven games in the immediate year following an eight or nine-loss season was following the lone winless campaign in school history (0-9 in 1970). The Guins won twice in 1971.
WATTS New at YSU
Most visually will be the WATTS, the Watson and Tressel Training Site, an indoor practice facility east of the Stadium. The project was ongoing during last year's football campaign. The building is open for football and sports team practices.
YSU also had a new turf surface installed over the summer. The Sports Construction Group of Brecksville, Ohio, installed Shaw Sportexe's PowerBlade HP+ in Stambaugh Stadium for use by the football and soccer programs.
Single Digits in Fumbles
The Guins have lost one fumble (and that was on a returned fumble by DT Aronde Stanton at Indiana State) after four games this season.
Last year, YSU lost just nine fumbles marking the seventh straight season they have lost single digits in fumbles.
In 2009, YSU lost just three fumbles. In 2008, YSU lost nine in 12 games. YSU had nine fumbles lost in 2007, five in 2006, eight in 2005 and eight in 2004. Prior to the current seven-year streak, the Guins had committed single digits in fumbles lost in consecutive years just twice in school history (1986-87 and 1958-59).
The offense has run 309 plays with special teams chipping in 27 without a lost fumble.
And Your Captains Are:
The Penguins announced their 2011 captains on Aug. 27. Those selected were sophomore quarterback Kurt Hess, junior tailback Jamaine Cook, senior linebacker John Sasson and senior defensive tackle Andrew Johnson. Hess, who started every game at quarterback last year, is believed to be the first sophomore to be named a team captain in school history.
Building a Turnaround
Coach Eric Wolford is working to turn the Penguins' fortunes around quickly.
YSU has 15 junior-college transfers, eight Division I transfers and three lower-division transfers on the current roster.
The FBS transfers are QB Adam Charles (Akron), CB Devonta' Davis (Miami, Fla.), WR Juilian Harrell (Miami, Ohio), DT Andrew Johnson (Bowling Green), OT Andrew Radakovich (Penn State), Anthony Stryffeler (Ball State) and LB Travis Williams (Miami, Fla.).
Fresh Faces Past Two Years
This season the Penguins have played nine true freshmen - three have started - through the first four games. A total of 18 others have made their YSU debuts this year as well.
Last year, a total of 13 freshmen saw the field, including five who started.
Of the eight that are true sophomores in 2011, five are on offense and three are on defense. Donald D'Alesio, Jamarious Boatwright and Zach Larson will redshirt because of injuries while two are no longer with the program.
Numbers of Note
• Turnover Margin: Since 1996, the Penguins are 98-22 when they win or tie in the turnover margin. When committing more turnovers, YSU is just 13-47.
Since 1990 YSU is:
• 130-18-2 when holding opponents to fewer than 21 points in a game.
• 102-11 when rushing for 200-plus yards.
• 123-18 when scoring 28-or-more points.
• 65-6-1 when holding opponents to fewer than 100 yards rushing in a game.
• 150-8 when leading entering the fourth.
• 68-3-2 when holding opponents to 10 points-or-less in a game.
Up Next: at Southern Illinois
YSU plays its lone road game in the month of October at Southern Illinois next Saturday. The Penguins will be making their first trip to SIU's two-year-old Saluki Stadium. Kickoff for the contest is set for 3 p.m. Eastern/2 p.m. Central time.
Southern Illinois, which is ranked 20th this week, plays host to North Dakota State on Saturday.
Both teams are coming off losses to Indiana State entering Saturday's tilt. YSU dropped a 37-35 decision at Terre Haute on Sept. 24 while the Jackrabbits lost at home 38-28 to the Sycamores last Saturday. The Penguins and SDSU each allowed 21-point spurts to Indiana State, which proved to be the difference in both contests.
YSU (2-2 overall and 1-1 in the MVFC) trailed 21-0 just 10 minutes into the contest at Indiana State, and, although battling back all afternoon, came up just short falling 37-35. Kurt Hess threw two touchdown passes and Jamaine Cook ran for two scores in the comeback bid. After allowing 34 points in the first 26 minutes, the Penguins allowed just three the remainder of the game. However, a 22-yard fourth-quarter field goal by Cory Little proved to the be the difference.
SDSU (1-4 and 0-2) trailed Indiana State 17-15 late in the third quarter on Saturday, but three straight Sycamore touchdowns were too much to overcome in a 38-28 loss. The Jackrabbits had 414 yards of total offense, including 305 yards passing by Austin Sumner. The Jacks led 9-3 midway through the second quarter making three chip-shot field goals. SDSU was driving down 24-15, but a 78-yard interception return for a touchdown by ISU helped turned the momentum of the game.
The Jackrabbits have won all three conference meetings between the two programs in a series that dates back to 1942. Last season in Brookings, the Jackrabbits earned a 30-20 win over the Penguins. In 2009 at YSU, SDSU scored two second-half touchdowns for a 17-3 win. At Brookings in 2008, the Guins lost 40-7. The Penguins' most recent win in the series was 23-17 triumph in 2007. The schools played seven times from 1968 through 1979, with the final contest coming in the Division II playoffs at Austintown Fitch High School.
YSU returns to the road next Saturday for a contest at nationally-ranked Southern Illinois. The Guins then close out October with home games agianst Saint Francis (Pa.) and Western Illinois.
Indiana State Game Notes
• In the first 10:30 of the game, YSU was outyarded 187 to minus-1. Indiana State had drives of 62, 58, 2 and 65 compared to YSU's minus-11, 6 and 4.
• The 34 points scored in the first half were the most allowed in a half since Georgia Southern had 38 in the first half of the National Championship Game on Dec. 18, 1999.
• The three second half points by ISU were the fewest since Butler was held scoreless last season.
• The Penguins had more first downs (30-14), more total plays (92-47), more time of possession (37:38 to 22:22), more rushing attempts (51-30), more passing attempts (41-17), more third-down conversions (8-2), more fourth-down conversions (3-0) and more total yards (470-467) in the game.
• Of Indiana State's 467 yards of total offense, 280 came on five plays (rushes of 62, 61, 51 and 39 and a fourth-quarter pass completion of 67 yards).
• Sophomore WR Jelani Berassa caught two four-yard touchdown passes in the game.
• Junior TB Jamaine Cook eclipsed the 100-yard mark for the third time this season and ninth time in his career. Cook had a season-high 177 yards on 33 carries.
• WR Christian Bryan caught a school freshman record seven passes in the game. He had seven catches for 75 yards.
• The 14 fourth-quarter points scored were a season-high for the Penguins.
• YSU was 5-for-5 in the red zone while Indiana State was 2-of-2.
• The Penguins converted three fourth-down plays. Two came on the same drive in the second quarter trailing 27-7, and the other came on the final snap of the third quarter with YSU trailing 34-21.
• The Penguins scored 21 of the game's final 24 points.
ISU Recap: ISU 37, YSU 35
The Penguins battled the final 50 minutes trying to dig out of a 21-0 hole, but in the end they came up just short losing 37-35 to Indiana State at Memorial Stadium in Terre Haute, Ind.
The Sycamores shot out of the gate scoring 21 points in just over 10 minutes to put the Guins in a tight spot.
YSU scored on the final play of the first quarter, but Shakir Bell answered with a 61-yard run on ISU's first play of the second.
Kurt Hess connected with Jelani Berassa on a four-yard pass midway through the period, but Bell's fourth touchdown of the first half gave ISU a 34-14 lead. Jamaine Cook found the end zone in the final minute of the first half as the Guins trailed 34-21 at the break.
After a scoreless third quarter, YSU pulled within 34-28 early in the fourth on a one-yard run by Cook. But a 22-yard field goal by Cory Little pushed the lead to nine. YSU was able to get within two on a toss from Hess to Berassa with just over a minute left.
Jacks Scouting Report
South Dakota State enters the contest with the Penguins following a 38-28 loss to Indiana State. The Jackrabbits opened the year with a nail-biting 29-28 win over Southern Utah, but has since lost their last five contests, including MVFC games to Illinois State and Indiana State.
Twice this year the Jackrabbits have scored 28-or-more points while allowing more than 28 in four contests.
Quarterback Austin Sumner has started the past two games for SDSU. The Jackrabbits have 13 turnovers on the season while averaging 284.6 yards per game. They are allowing 417.6 yards a contest so far this year.
Last Year's Recap: SDSU 30, YSU 20
Big passing plays by South Dakota State and Kyle Minett's legs made the difference as the Penguins suffered a 30-20 loss to the Jackrabbits at Coughlin-Alumni Stadium.
SDSU had four passes of 33 yards or more, all of which came on scoring drives, and Minett rushed for 185 yards on 26 attempts to lead the Jackrabbits.
Trailing 7-0, YSU went up 9-7 following a Stephen Blose 34-yard field goal and a 33-yard touchdown pass from Kurt Hess to Dominique Barnes with 1:41 left in the first quarter.
But South Dakota State scored 23 of the next 26 points to go on top 30-12 midway through the fourth quarter. The Guins lone points during that stretch came on a 19-yard field goal by Blose that cut the deficit to 17-12.
YSU pulled within 30-20 on a 15-yard pass from Hess to Ely Ducatel and a two-point conversion run by Hess with 5:34 left in the game.
Series History
The Jackrabbits have won all three Missouri Valley Football Conference clashes between the two progams and lead the overall series 7-5.
Last season in Brookings, the Jackrabbits earned a 30-20 win over the Penguins. In 2009 at YSU, SDSU scored two second-half touchdowns for a 17-3 win. At Brookings in 2008, the Guins lost 40-7.
The series with SDSU dates back to a 1942 meeting, and the schools played seven times from 1968 through 1979, with the final contest coming in the Divison II playoffs at Austintown Fitch High School. The teams resumed the series in 2007 with a YSU win, but SDSU has won the past three games.
Extra Week Pays Off
The Penguins have won six of their last seven games following a bye week dating back to the 1998 campaign. A 2009 loss at Southern Illinois snapped YSU's six-game winning streak coming off idle Saturdays. Historically, the Guins have had success following some time to catch their breath and get healthy. Since 1975, YSU has won 24 of 28 games following an idle weekend. The Oct. 1 respite was just the second off Saturday in October since 1997 (2009 at SIU was the other time).
Don't Leave Early
The Penguins' last 11 Missouri Valley Football Conference games have all been decided by 10 points or fewer. Dating back to a 39-35 win over North Dakota State on Nov. 21, 2009, YSU has played nine MVFC games decided by a touchdown or less out of those 11. The Guins' last five league games dating back to last season have been decided by a total of 21 points. Also, six of those 11 have been decided by five points or less.
Sharing the Ice Castle
The Penguins welcomed some special visitors to Stambaugh Stadium last week. The San Francisco 49ers practiced at the Stadium on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday and used the weight and athletic training rooms throughout the week. The 49ers are owned by John and Denise DeBartolo-York, who have a residence in nearby Canfield. Instead of make consecutive treks from the West Coast for East Coast games, the 49ers headquartered in Youngstown last week after beating the Cincinnati Bengals. San Francisco ended the trip on positive note, rallying to beat Philadelphia 24-23 on Sunday.
Cook Remains Steady
Junior tailback Jamaine Cook has rushed for more than 100 yards in the past three games following the ninth 100-yard rushing performance of his career at Indiana State.
He rushed for a season-high 177 yards in the loss to the Sycamores. Cook had 30 carries in the contest.
For the year, he has rushed for 501 yards on 95 carries. Now that conference action has started his workload has increased. In two non-conference games, Cook rushed 32 times. He had 30 carries last time out at Indiana State after a season-high 33 in the win over Illinois State.
Hess Continues to Impress
Sophomore QB Kurt Hess has averaged 240.3 yards passing per game the past three outings. Highlighting Hess' strong performances was a career-high 293-yard and four-touchdown effort in the win over Illinois State.
At Indiana State, Hess completed 25-of-41 passes for 224 yards and two touchdowns. It marked the eighth time in his 15 career games that he eclipsed the 200-yard mark.
He is now the seventh quarterback in school history to throw for at least 200 yards in eight games. The school mark is 13 set by Tom Zetts during a four-year career that featured 47 starts.
For the season Hess has completed 75-of-118 passes (63.6 percent) for 847 yards and nine touchdowns while throwing just two interceptions. In his career, he has completed 254-of-422 passes (60.1 percent) for 2,964 yards and 21 touchdowns.
Bryan Already Up to 23
Freshman wide receiver Christian Bryan has 23 catches in his first four games as a Penguin. Bryan had a career-high seven catches at Indiana State, which set a school record for most grabs in a game by a freshman.
His 23 catches are already more than YSU's top receiver had in 2001 (21) and 2002 (20).
In his other three contests, Bryan had five catches against both Illinois State and Valparaiso and six in his debut at Michigan State.
Against the Redbirds, Bryan caught his first career touchdown pass – a 25-yarder from Kurt Hess in the first quarter.
The freshman mark for catches in a game was six, held previously by TB Jake Andreadis, which he established in 1995.
Milestone Update
Junior TB Jamaine Cook needs 112 yards to become the 17th player in school history to rush for more than 2,000 yards in a career. Kurt Hess needs just 36 yards to become the 12th quarterback in YSU history to throw for more than 3,000 yards as a Guin. Hess's 21 career touchdown passes ranks him 11th in school history as well. Senior LB John Sasson went over 200 tackles for his career at Indiana State.
Preaching Red-Zone Success
Head Coach Eric Wolford continues to stress Red Zone play in his second campaign. In 17 trips this year, the Penguins have scored 16 touchdowns and missed a field goal (at Michigan State).
In his 15 games as coach, the Penguins are 57-for-62 (91.9 percent) when moving the ball inside the red zone.
Last year, YSU was 41-of-45 in the red zone, which ranked third in the FCS, for a conversion percentage of 91.1 percent.
So far through five weeks of FCS action, the Penguins rank sixth in the nation at 94 percent. UNI leads the nation and is the only remaining team in the country to be perfect so far.
Berassa A Playmaker
Sophomore WR Jelani Berassa caught two four-yard touchdown passes against Indiana State. Berassa caught the first touchdown pass of his career in the season opener at Michigan State.
Against the Sycamores, he had six catches for 44 yards and the two scores. Berassa had six catches in the first three games, including three for a career-best 46 yards against Illinois State.
New Line Holding up Well
Through the first four games, the YSU offensive line is allowing an average of one sack per game, which ranks 15th in the FCS. The same unit has started each contest together - LT Andrew Radakovich, LG Lamar Mady, C Mark Pratt, RG Chris Elkins and RT D.J. Main.
Offense High In FCS Ranks
The Penguins rank in the top 20 in the FCS in 12 offensive categories (out of 15). YSU is first in fewest fumbles lost; second in first downs per game and third-down conversion pct.; fourth in turnovers lost; sixth in red zone percentage; seventh in rushing offense; eighth in total offense and scoring offense; 10th in time of possession; 14th in interceptions thrown and fourth-down conversion percentage and 15th in sacks allowed.
Impressive First Halves
The Penguins have scored 118 of their 152 points in the first half this year. YSU has scored 56 points in the first quarter and 62 in the second quarter.
YSU did not punt in the first half against either Illinois State and Valparaiso. Against the Redbirds, YSU scored touchdowns on each of its four first-half scoring drives. In the Valpo game, YSU scored on its first nine possessions and took a knee to end the opening half.
Defense Stepping Up
YSU's defense has been strong in the second half this season. In the past three games, the Guins have allowed 24 second-half points, including a season-low three at Indiana State.
Last year, the Penguins allowed an average of 17 points in the second half. In four games this year, they are allowing just 9.2 a contest.
Since the opener at Michigan State, YSU has allowed just eight first downs and seven pass completions in the past three fourth quarters.
Big Plays Hurt at ISU
YSU had done a good job of limiting big plays in the first three games of the season before the Indiana State game.
In the first three games of the year, the Guins had allowed just six plays longer than 20 yards on 187 opponent snaps.
Indiana State ran just 47 plays, but five were big gainers, including four on the ground. ISU had runs of 62, 61, 51 and 39 (all touchdowns) and connected on 67 yard pass in the fourth quarter.
Otherwise in 42 plays, YSU allowed 187 total yards, 122 yards passing and 65 yards rushing. Shakir Bell had 43 yards on his 17 other attempts that did not go for touchdowns.
Third-Down Conversions
The Penguins have converted 29-of-54 third-down situations so far this year (53.7 percent). YSU was 8-of-18 at Indiana State, 7-of-14 versus Illinois State, 6-of-9 against Valpo and 8-of-15 at Michigan State. The Penguins rank second behind Towson (56 percent) in successful third-downs converted at the FCS level.
Last year, YSU was fourth in the FCS in third-down conversions at 47.8 percent.
Distributing the Ball
YSU quarterback Kurt Hess has completed passes to 12 different players so far this season. Six wide receivers, three running backs and three tight ends have combined for 50 receptions so far this year.
Of that group, only TE David Rogers and WR Andre Barboza are seniors. YSU's leading receiver is freshman Christian Bryan with 23 catches for 262 yards. Sophomores Jelani Berassa and Kevin Watts have combined for 21 receptions.
Now We're Cooking
Junior TB Jamaine Cook, who is on the preseason Watch List for the Walter Payton Award, is making a good candidacy for the award averaging 125.2 yards and nearly 24 carries per contest. He is averaging 5.3 yards per rush. He is 10th in the FCS in yards per game average.
For his career, Cook has rushed for 1,888 yards on 357 carries and scored 15 touchdowns while averaging 5.3 yards per carry. He also has 31 receptions for 272 yards.
Cook, a second-team All-MVFC selection in 2010, has nine 100-yard plus rushing games in his career.
Last season against South Dakota State, he rushed for 78 yards on 18 carries.
Youngsters at LB
YSU started three freshmen linebackers at Indiana State. Redshirts Davion Rogers and Travis Williams along with true freshman Teven Williams were all in the starting lineup. Travis Williams was credited with a team-high eight total tackles while Rogers and Teven Williams were each credited with five.
Barboza is Mr. Touchdown
Senior WR Andre Barboza has 10 career receptions, and four are for touchdowns. This year, Barboza has seven catches in four games after having just three in the 2010 campaign. He has three touchdown grabs this year, including 20 and 44-yard touchdown strikes against Illinois State. The previous week against Valparaiso, he had a 24-yard scoring reception.
Turnovers Hard to Come By
After four games, the Penguins have three giveaways and four takeaways. In fact, YSU's lone lost fumble of the season was when DT Aronde Stanton tried to return an Indiana State fumble for a touchdown, only to fumble the ball as well on the one-yard line. Two fourth-quarter Kurt Hess interceptions are the other two giveaways. YSU does not have a turnover in the first or third quarters this season.
However, the opposition has held onto the ball as well. Michigan State fumbled a punt, LB Dom Rich intercepted a pass in the final minute of the first half against Valparaiso and Quentin Jones recovered a fourth-quarter fumble. Shakir Bell was stripped by Stanton at Indiana State.
Top of the Liste
Sophomore punter Nick Liste has been a key contributor as both punter and kickoff specialist this season.
Liste is averaging 38.1 yards per punt while six of his 15 attempts have been inside the opposition's 20-yard line. The coverage has been solid with six of his punts resulting in fair catches while the six that have been returned have resulted in a gain of 28 yards (4.7 avg.).
He averaged 41.1 yards per kick last season, but the trade off was that 15 were returned for an average of 11.7 yards.
Liste has kicked off 22 times this season and because of his kicks and coverages, the Guins are allowing three fewer yards per return than in 2010.
Our Teams are Special
The Penguins have blocked three kicks - two PATs and one punt - and returned a punt for a touchdown so far this season.
The last time the Guins blocked four in one campaign was 2004.
After not punting against Valparaiso, a well-rested Nick Liste had an impressive performance against Illinois State. He placed three of his four punts inside the 20-yard line.
Against Valpo, YSU returned a punt for a touchdown, while blocking a punt and an extra-point. Junior PK David Brown set a school record with 11 extra-point kicks made in a single game while Josh Lee returned his punt for a touchdown a school-record 96 yards.
D-Line Each With a Sack
After four games, each member of the starting defensive line -- Daniel Stewart, Andrew Johnson, Aronde Stanton and Obinna Ekweremuba - has recorded a sack. YSU's four-sack total is already one-third of the way toward last year's 12.
Stewart is the active team leader in career sacks with three ahead of Obinna Ekweremuba (2.0), Andrew Johnson (2.0), Deonta Tate (1.5), Aronde Stanton (1.0) and John Sasson (0.5).
Another QB With Four TDs
QB Kurt Hess became the eighth quarterback in school history to throw four touchdown passes in a game when he accomplished the feat against Illinois State. Hess had scoring throws of 44, 25 20 and 10 in the game.
It was the first time a YSU quarterback threw four in a single game since Brandon Summers against Austin Peay in 2009.
Lee Sets Return Record
Senior CB Josh Lee set a school and conference record with his 96-yard punt return for a touchdown in the second quarter against Valparaiso. It was the second straight season that a Penguin returned a punt for a touchdown in the home opener (Dominique Barnes returned one 80 yards vs. Butler).
No Seniors on the Line
The Penguins have no seniors on the offensive line this year. The last time no seniors started on the line was in 1998.
Since at least 1978, this is the first time no seniors at all were part of the offensive line.
Wolford in Second Year
Head Coach Eric Wolford is in his second season looking to build on last year's three-win campaign. Historically, the second years of head coaches have gone either way.
Here is a look at the previous five coaches and how they fared their first two years: Coach Dwight Beede won four games in each of his first two seasons; Rey Dempsey improved from four to eight; Bill Narduzzi went from five to four, Jim Tressel went from two to eight and Jon Heacock went from eight to seven.
Eight is Enough
The last three times the Penguins dropped eight games in one campaign, they rebounded strong the next year.
YSU is 2-2 in 2011 following a hard-luck 3-8 season last year. Most recently, the Guins lost eight times in 1995 and rebounded to win eight in 1996.
In 1986 (Coach Jim Tressel's first season), YSU suffered nine defeats but regrouped to win eight games and reach the postseason in 1987. In 1980, YSU was 2-8-1 and rebounded with a 7-4 mark the following year.
The only time YSU did not win at least seven games in the immediate year following an eight or nine-loss season was following the lone winless campaign in school history (0-9 in 1970). The Guins won twice in 1971.
WATTS New at YSU
Most visually will be the WATTS, the Watson and Tressel Training Site, an indoor practice facility east of the Stadium. The project was ongoing during last year's football campaign. The building is open for football and sports team practices.
YSU also had a new turf surface installed over the summer. The Sports Construction Group of Brecksville, Ohio, installed Shaw Sportexe's PowerBlade HP+ in Stambaugh Stadium for use by the football and soccer programs.
Single Digits in Fumbles
The Guins have lost one fumble (and that was on a returned fumble by DT Aronde Stanton at Indiana State) after four games this season.
Last year, YSU lost just nine fumbles marking the seventh straight season they have lost single digits in fumbles.
In 2009, YSU lost just three fumbles. In 2008, YSU lost nine in 12 games. YSU had nine fumbles lost in 2007, five in 2006, eight in 2005 and eight in 2004. Prior to the current seven-year streak, the Guins had committed single digits in fumbles lost in consecutive years just twice in school history (1986-87 and 1958-59).
The offense has run 309 plays with special teams chipping in 27 without a lost fumble.
And Your Captains Are:
The Penguins announced their 2011 captains on Aug. 27. Those selected were sophomore quarterback Kurt Hess, junior tailback Jamaine Cook, senior linebacker John Sasson and senior defensive tackle Andrew Johnson. Hess, who started every game at quarterback last year, is believed to be the first sophomore to be named a team captain in school history.
Building a Turnaround
Coach Eric Wolford is working to turn the Penguins' fortunes around quickly.
YSU has 15 junior-college transfers, eight Division I transfers and three lower-division transfers on the current roster.
The FBS transfers are QB Adam Charles (Akron), CB Devonta' Davis (Miami, Fla.), WR Juilian Harrell (Miami, Ohio), DT Andrew Johnson (Bowling Green), OT Andrew Radakovich (Penn State), Anthony Stryffeler (Ball State) and LB Travis Williams (Miami, Fla.).
Fresh Faces Past Two Years
This season the Penguins have played nine true freshmen - three have started - through the first four games. A total of 18 others have made their YSU debuts this year as well.
Last year, a total of 13 freshmen saw the field, including five who started.
Of the eight that are true sophomores in 2011, five are on offense and three are on defense. Donald D'Alesio, Jamarious Boatwright and Zach Larson will redshirt because of injuries while two are no longer with the program.
Numbers of Note
• Turnover Margin: Since 1996, the Penguins are 98-22 when they win or tie in the turnover margin. When committing more turnovers, YSU is just 13-47.
Since 1990 YSU is:
• 130-18-2 when holding opponents to fewer than 21 points in a game.
• 102-11 when rushing for 200-plus yards.
• 123-18 when scoring 28-or-more points.
• 65-6-1 when holding opponents to fewer than 100 yards rushing in a game.
• 150-8 when leading entering the fourth.
• 68-3-2 when holding opponents to 10 points-or-less in a game.
Up Next: at Southern Illinois
YSU plays its lone road game in the month of October at Southern Illinois next Saturday. The Penguins will be making their first trip to SIU's two-year-old Saluki Stadium. Kickoff for the contest is set for 3 p.m. Eastern/2 p.m. Central time.
Southern Illinois, which is ranked 20th this week, plays host to North Dakota State on Saturday.
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YSU Penguin Athletics / Scalzo: YSU looking for defensive leaders
« on: October 05, 2011, 06:19:51 AM »
By Joe Scalzo
scalzo@vindy.com
YOUNGSTOWN
On Tuesday morning, YSU football coach Eric Wolford met with one of his defensive players — he didn’t say who — to talk about the team’s leadership void in the back seven.
“This leadership thing has been on my mind quite a bit,” Wolford said. “The Sam [strongside] linebacker can’t text to the safety that you need to get yourself ready to go. You can’t email ’em. Can’t text ’em. You’ve gotta be able to be vocal, communicate, be loud, be precise about it, be demanding.
“We need a little more of that.”
Of the three defensive units — defensive line, linebackers, defensive backs — the line has performed the best so far this season, thanks in part to having a senior co-captain in Andrew Johnson at defensive tackle. But the other defensive co-captain, senior linebacker John Sasson, has lost his starting spot.
After starting every game last season and leading the team in tackles, Sasson came off the bench for the first time against Indiana State on Sept. 24 and is once again behind true freshman Teven Williams on the Mike [middle] linebacker depth chart.
In fact, the depth chart is basically unchanged from the Indiana State game, where the Penguins were gashed for 467 total yards, including 256 from running back Shakir Bell.
When asked to define Sasson’s role at this point, Wolford first brought up his captaincy and his experience, but said “whoever plays better in the previous game is who we’re going to roll with.”
“He still plays quite a bit,” Wolford said of Sasson. “He’s obviously a leader for us on and off the field. He does everything right. He wants to help in all the ways he can. I think he’s given us all the effort and everything you can ask for from a guy in his role.”
But, increasingly, that role seems like it will be limited to special teams and game-specific situations, leaving a void for someone else to fill.
Cornerback Josh Lee is the only starting senior in the back seven and he’s spent most of his career at wide receiver. But in an encouraging sign, Lee was given the team’s leadership award for last week’s off week.
Considering there are three freshmen starting at linebacker, YSU needs someone who can make sure the back end of the defense is aligned properly and ready to play.
That didn’t happen in the first quarter against the Sycamores as YSU fell behind 21-0 in the first 101/2 minutes.
“I’ve explained to them several times that I can’t scream and yell like a mad man and almost have a heart attack every game,” Wolford said. “There’s a maturity level that needs to take place.
“I feel like you can manufacture a lot of excuses about why we weren’t ready to play but at the end of the day I don’t think we were mature enough.”
The Penguins were off last week and you can bet Wolford and his staff spent plenty of practice time making sure the Penguins knew they needed to grow up and play better.
You can also be sure they didn’t deliver that message by text.
scalzo@vindy.com
YOUNGSTOWN
On Tuesday morning, YSU football coach Eric Wolford met with one of his defensive players — he didn’t say who — to talk about the team’s leadership void in the back seven.
“This leadership thing has been on my mind quite a bit,” Wolford said. “The Sam [strongside] linebacker can’t text to the safety that you need to get yourself ready to go. You can’t email ’em. Can’t text ’em. You’ve gotta be able to be vocal, communicate, be loud, be precise about it, be demanding.
“We need a little more of that.”
Of the three defensive units — defensive line, linebackers, defensive backs — the line has performed the best so far this season, thanks in part to having a senior co-captain in Andrew Johnson at defensive tackle. But the other defensive co-captain, senior linebacker John Sasson, has lost his starting spot.
After starting every game last season and leading the team in tackles, Sasson came off the bench for the first time against Indiana State on Sept. 24 and is once again behind true freshman Teven Williams on the Mike [middle] linebacker depth chart.
In fact, the depth chart is basically unchanged from the Indiana State game, where the Penguins were gashed for 467 total yards, including 256 from running back Shakir Bell.
When asked to define Sasson’s role at this point, Wolford first brought up his captaincy and his experience, but said “whoever plays better in the previous game is who we’re going to roll with.”
“He still plays quite a bit,” Wolford said of Sasson. “He’s obviously a leader for us on and off the field. He does everything right. He wants to help in all the ways he can. I think he’s given us all the effort and everything you can ask for from a guy in his role.”
But, increasingly, that role seems like it will be limited to special teams and game-specific situations, leaving a void for someone else to fill.
Cornerback Josh Lee is the only starting senior in the back seven and he’s spent most of his career at wide receiver. But in an encouraging sign, Lee was given the team’s leadership award for last week’s off week.
Considering there are three freshmen starting at linebacker, YSU needs someone who can make sure the back end of the defense is aligned properly and ready to play.
That didn’t happen in the first quarter against the Sycamores as YSU fell behind 21-0 in the first 101/2 minutes.
“I’ve explained to them several times that I can’t scream and yell like a mad man and almost have a heart attack every game,” Wolford said. “There’s a maturity level that needs to take place.
“I feel like you can manufacture a lot of excuses about why we weren’t ready to play but at the end of the day I don’t think we were mature enough.”
The Penguins were off last week and you can bet Wolford and his staff spent plenty of practice time making sure the Penguins knew they needed to grow up and play better.
You can also be sure they didn’t deliver that message by text.
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YSU Penguin Athletics / Football: Indiana State Players of the Week
« on: October 05, 2011, 06:17:46 AM »
Offense: Kurt Hess (6-3, 235, Soph.), QB from Dayton
Defense: None
Special teams: Davion Rogers (6-6, 215, RFr.), LB from Warren
Offensive line: None
Defensive line: None
Scout offense: Demond Hymes (5-9, 190, Fr.), TB from Warren
Scout defense: Emmanuel Kromah (6-1, 245, Fr.), DE from Trenton, N.J.
Scout special teams: Cy Edison (5-11, 230, Soph.), LB from East Liverpool
Hit of the week: Rogers
Player of the game (radio): Hess
Leadership award (Indiana State week): Hess
Leadership award (off week): Josh Lee (5-10, 195, Sr.), CB from Lutz, Fla.
Note: All awards, unless noted, are from the Sept. 24 game against Indiana State.
Defense: None
Special teams: Davion Rogers (6-6, 215, RFr.), LB from Warren
Offensive line: None
Defensive line: None
Scout offense: Demond Hymes (5-9, 190, Fr.), TB from Warren
Scout defense: Emmanuel Kromah (6-1, 245, Fr.), DE from Trenton, N.J.
Scout special teams: Cy Edison (5-11, 230, Soph.), LB from East Liverpool
Hit of the week: Rogers
Player of the game (radio): Hess
Leadership award (Indiana State week): Hess
Leadership award (off week): Josh Lee (5-10, 195, Sr.), CB from Lutz, Fla.
Note: All awards, unless noted, are from the Sept. 24 game against Indiana State.
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YSU Penguin Athletics / Re: Kurt Hess
« on: October 04, 2011, 01:35:04 PM »Colby Street.Ha! I want to change mine to Marshall which his first name escapes me
I liked Aaron. I especially liked his brother Willis. We had Matt Rycraft at the same time as aaron
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YSU Penguin Athletics / 2011-12 Women's Basketball Gets Under Way
« on: October 04, 2011, 06:11:15 AM »
The Youngstown State women's basketball team opened practice in preparation for the 2011-12 season on Sunday evening in its first of 30 scheduled sessions prior to the season opener at West Virginia on Nov. 11.
Individual and small group sessions had been held for several weeks, but Sunday's practice at Beeghly Center was the first session of considerable length with the entire team.
The team worked out for roughly 90 minutes on Sunday, and the Penguins had sessions in the weight room and in the Stambaugh Stadium gymnasium on Monday.
"We're a lot further along this year than we were last year," head coach Bob Boldon said. "We're trying to get as much offensive movement and development in as we can, and defense will come in a couple of weeks."
Boldon, who is in his second year with the program, has especially noticed an increase an intensity from a year ago.
"Our effort has been fantastic. Your biggest concern [at this time of year] is that your kids are working hard and that they're learning. We're doing both of those, and I'm happy from that standpoint."
Boldon is welcoming newcomers Kelsea Fickiesen, Ashley Lawson, Devan Matkin and Melanie Poorman to the program, and he'll also have the use of redshirt-freshman forward Heidi Schlegel, who missed the final 22 games of 2010-11 with a foot injury. Those five join seniors Tieara Jones, Kenya Middlebrooks and Macey Nortey; junior all-league candidate Brandi Brown; and sophomores Liz Hornberger, Melissa Thompson and Monica Touvelle.
Boldon inherited a program that had gone 0-30 the year prior to his arrival, and the Penguins improved well beyond their six-win increase. Most indicative was closing the scoring margin by 15.2 points from 2009-10 to 2010-11. That was the second-best improvement in the country. The Penguins finished last season by winning three of their final seven contests, and they had shots in the final 20 seconds in three of those losses that would have tied the game.
"They know what it takes to win games, and there's an expectation of what's to be done at practice to prepare to win games," Boldon said. "They're taking that preparation more seriously than they were a year ago."
Boldon said the weight room report from the preseason lifting program came back with pleasing results, thanks in large part to a large portion of the team lifting on campus during the summer.
"We definitely look more athletic, and we're moving better," he said. "Everybody's weights are up, and that's exciting. That means they took what Coach Danzer's doing very seriously, and he's done a great job of working with them and raising his standards. They've done a good job of meeting those standards."
The Penguins will practice on Tuesday and Thursday before having three straight off days. As a general pattern, they have scheduled off days on Wednesdays and Sundays through October.
Individual and small group sessions had been held for several weeks, but Sunday's practice at Beeghly Center was the first session of considerable length with the entire team.
The team worked out for roughly 90 minutes on Sunday, and the Penguins had sessions in the weight room and in the Stambaugh Stadium gymnasium on Monday.
"We're a lot further along this year than we were last year," head coach Bob Boldon said. "We're trying to get as much offensive movement and development in as we can, and defense will come in a couple of weeks."
Boldon, who is in his second year with the program, has especially noticed an increase an intensity from a year ago.
"Our effort has been fantastic. Your biggest concern [at this time of year] is that your kids are working hard and that they're learning. We're doing both of those, and I'm happy from that standpoint."
Boldon is welcoming newcomers Kelsea Fickiesen, Ashley Lawson, Devan Matkin and Melanie Poorman to the program, and he'll also have the use of redshirt-freshman forward Heidi Schlegel, who missed the final 22 games of 2010-11 with a foot injury. Those five join seniors Tieara Jones, Kenya Middlebrooks and Macey Nortey; junior all-league candidate Brandi Brown; and sophomores Liz Hornberger, Melissa Thompson and Monica Touvelle.
Boldon inherited a program that had gone 0-30 the year prior to his arrival, and the Penguins improved well beyond their six-win increase. Most indicative was closing the scoring margin by 15.2 points from 2009-10 to 2010-11. That was the second-best improvement in the country. The Penguins finished last season by winning three of their final seven contests, and they had shots in the final 20 seconds in three of those losses that would have tied the game.
"They know what it takes to win games, and there's an expectation of what's to be done at practice to prepare to win games," Boldon said. "They're taking that preparation more seriously than they were a year ago."
Boldon said the weight room report from the preseason lifting program came back with pleasing results, thanks in large part to a large portion of the team lifting on campus during the summer.
"We definitely look more athletic, and we're moving better," he said. "Everybody's weights are up, and that's exciting. That means they took what Coach Danzer's doing very seriously, and he's done a great job of working with them and raising his standards. They've done a good job of meeting those standards."
The Penguins will practice on Tuesday and Thursday before having three straight off days. As a general pattern, they have scheduled off days on Wednesdays and Sundays through October.
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YSU Penguin Athletics / Marta Burak
« on: October 03, 2011, 11:25:20 AM »
Did any see our frosh tennis player from the Ukraine? I guess she is pretty bright, and/or they have different education over there. In any case she plays tennis for the lady Pens, at age 15, won Flight-A singles and doubles in her first collegiate meet this weekend. Welcome and GREAT JOB Marta!!
5483
YSU Penguin Athletics / Re: Interesting Changes for this Years Play-Off
« on: October 03, 2011, 07:25:48 AM »so we should jump to 1-A while we are rebuilding and get our a$$ handed to us insted of working on contending for confrence and national championships again first?
if we were going to move to 1-A it should have been 1997 (after our last NC win and 3rd of the decade, and 3rd in the last 6 years) not durring a rebuilding mode
Actually we should have moved in the early 90's when we planned to do so. For that matter we should have done it in 1978 or 1982 when we also planned to. Well, I like where we are now. However, different conferences require different styles of ball. ISU used to run the option and gave everyone in the GFC troubles with it. So did we as an independent. Look how much Tressel changed YSU after we joined the GFC. Look at the 1999 title game because of this. Look at the APP State game? We were lost against the read option and Heacock started the process of change. If we are going to another conference, we will need to rebuild if we want to compete. We are supposedly rebuilding already. Besides, if we build ourselves into an FCS power, why would we want to leave at all?
I am in favor of serious change in FCS as a whole.
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YSU Penguin Athletics / Re: Kurt Hess
« on: October 03, 2011, 06:52:35 AM »
Good, but loaded, topic. Maybe we need to break it up by coach? I am not certain that winning a title is a perquisite for being the best QB. In my mind, only 2 of my 6 favorite Penguin signal callers even won a title. Tressel was the only Head-coach we ever had that did not modify his teams to fit the strength of the QB ...he was a system guy.
Brandon Summers is the most talented QB we have had since maybe Trenton Lykes ...or maybe all-time. We needed Summers about three years earlier than we got him. Never had time to mature. He would have been the best QB ever.
Stoudt & Jawosrski were the most successful. Stoudt was probably the better all-around QB. Jaws threw low and hard, required a special receiver ...which we had two of at the time.
Between Isaacs and Cochran ...Isaac was much faster than Cochran, and could throw on the run. There was not a better option QB in all DI at the time. He would hold on to that ball until he looked down, then pitch it. I remember seeing a pile of defenders on him ...then this ball would pop out of the top, and Clark would be there & take off. Ray just drove officials crazy, as they did not know when to call him down. Cochran was a better game manager and had a cannon of an arm. All we had to do with Cochran was use an unbalanced look up front.
Brandon Summers is the most talented QB we have had since maybe Trenton Lykes ...or maybe all-time. We needed Summers about three years earlier than we got him. Never had time to mature. He would have been the best QB ever.
Stoudt & Jawosrski were the most successful. Stoudt was probably the better all-around QB. Jaws threw low and hard, required a special receiver ...which we had two of at the time.
Between Isaacs and Cochran ...Isaac was much faster than Cochran, and could throw on the run. There was not a better option QB in all DI at the time. He would hold on to that ball until he looked down, then pitch it. I remember seeing a pile of defenders on him ...then this ball would pop out of the top, and Clark would be there & take off. Ray just drove officials crazy, as they did not know when to call him down. Cochran was a better game manager and had a cannon of an arm. All we had to do with Cochran was use an unbalanced look up front.
5485
YSU Penguin Athletics / Other Scores of Interest
« on: October 02, 2011, 01:25:42 PM »
UNI Big Over Missouri State
Wofford over Appy State
NDSU over ILS 20-10. This is a good team we beat. We just need defense. ILS scored late. Score really 20-3. What ever ILS did in the first quarter, to keep NDSU from scoring, we need to do the same.
Maine over Delaware 31-17
North Dakota over Southern Utah. This is not NDSU, these guys are really good.
WIU over SIU 27-21. WOW. I thought the conference was SIU's this year.
Wofford over Appy State
NDSU over ILS 20-10. This is a good team we beat. We just need defense. ILS scored late. Score really 20-3. What ever ILS did in the first quarter, to keep NDSU from scoring, we need to do the same.
Maine over Delaware 31-17
North Dakota over Southern Utah. This is not NDSU, these guys are really good.
WIU over SIU 27-21. WOW. I thought the conference was SIU's this year.
5486
YSU Penguin Athletics / Vindy: Honoring YSU's '91 champions
« on: October 02, 2011, 01:12:40 PM »
At Saturday’s home game against South Dakota State, Youngstown State will honor the 1991 national championship team — the school’s first.
Vindicator sports writer Joe Scalzo recently spoke with former YSU coach Jim Tressel and five players from that of that team: senior quarterback Ray Isaac (a Rayen High graduate), senior tight end Ron Strollo (Fitch), senior linebacker Kevin Brown (East), junior linebacker Chris Vecchione (Mooney) and sophomore running back Tamron Smith (South). Of the 90 players on the roster, 39 attended high schools in either Mahoning or Trumbull County.
Ray Isaac: I think the ’91 tone was set in 1989. Coach Tressel brought me in and told me he wanted to be in the upper echelon of [I-AA] like Florida A&M, Eastern Kentucky and Georgia Southern and that he wanted to go start playing those teams.
Kevin Brown: I remember coming in as a freshman when I was being recruited by YSU and someone had written on the wall that the season goal was winning the conference. After my freshman year, it seemed like the coaches and the team realized we had to set our goals higher. Our goal was the national championship.
Youngstown State started the 1990 season 11-0 but lost to Central Florida, 20-17, in the first round of the playoffs.
Ron Strollo: The 1990 season came to an abrupt end. It was disturbing and that was something that lived with you all offseason. So our expectations were really, really high coming into the season.
Tressel: We kind of came to the conclusion that we were looking too far down the road and not getting better as the season went on. Our slogan that year was RYFP: Reach your full potential.
Chris Vecchione: In 1990, as well as 1991, the expectations were that we were going to win the national championship. That didn’t happen right away. When I first came in 1988, there were a few guys on the team who would tell me, “Oh, we can’t compete with teams like Georgia Southern.” And I was like, “What do you mean we can’t compete with them? We can take on anybody.” I think it took Coach Tressel a few years to start changing the attitude.
Isaac: Of the 1989, 1990 and 1991 teams, I believe our best team was probably the 1989 team. Then the 1990 team. I don’t believe the 1991 team was as talented as the previous two. I’ll probably get tarred and feathered for saying that. But we were able to compete at a high level and had the experience.
Vecchione: The 1990 team was a very talented team but certainly the talent and the desire were more apparent on the 1991 squad.
Brown: We learned a lot from 1989 and 1990. By 1991, we knew what it took to win. And I think for the seniors on that team there was a sense of urgency. We were out of time.
After starting the season with a 24-0 win over Edinboro, the eighth-ranked Penguins lost at Delaware State 33-29 in Week Two.
Strollo: Offensively, I don’t think they could stop us. But they ran the Wing-T and our defense couldn’t stop them. We had a lot of young guys out there and they were getting blocked from all different angles and they kept gashing us for big yards. It was a clear upset. In my opinion, we were a much better team.
Brown: I think some guys were taken aback by the whole environment. That’s a game we should have won. We were more talented than those guys.
The Penguins then posted easy home wins over Morgan State (57-22) and Northeastern (59-7) before traveling to Nacogdoches, Texas, to play Stephen F. Austin, winning 16-9.
Isaac: That was a brutal game. Brutal. Coach Tressel kept saying he wanted to keep running the option because he wanted to do an option pass. I was like, “You need to get somebody to block these cats.”
YSU then lost at Akron, 38-24, briefly losing Brown and Smith to knee injuries. They followed it up with a stunning 10-8 loss to Liberty on Homecoming weekend.
Smith: My dad suffered a brain aneurysm a few days before the Akron game. He was an ironworker and he was working on a bridge in East Liverpool when he collapsed. It happened on Thursday morning and my family rode down there while he was in the hospital and a couple of the guys came with me. He was there but he wasn’t there no more. For me, personally, I didn’t want to play in the Akron game. I was kind of lost at that point. I ended up getting hurt on the third play and it was around 1:15 [p.m.] and my dad passed around 1:15. I knew something was wrong and it wasn’t just my knee.
Tressel: The whole next week leading up to the Liberty game, we were all wrapped up in Tamron’s dad’s funeral. It was a sad time.
Smith: A lot of the guys on the team from Florida would come over to our house for Thanksgiving and my dad would always look out for them. His funeral was tough for a lot of guys. I think it bonded us for the rest of the season.
Vecchione: Akron was a game that probably set us back a little bit. I think that Liberty loss was because that Akron loss beat us down a little bit. Liberty was a team we knew we should have beaten. I remember the frustration of knowing, “Dammit, we’ve got to win the rest of our games now to get in the playoffs.”
Tressel: Ray Isaac, after that game, I kind of gave him an ultimatum: Either you play better or Nick Cochran is taking over.
Now 4-3, YSU had an open week before heading to Statesboro, Ga., to play two-time defending national champion Georgia Southern, which was also 4-3. Neither team could afford another loss.
It would be the turning point of the season and, arguably, the program.
Strollo: What’s hard to look back at now is, to play Georgia Southern at Georgia Southern was almost a guaranteed loss. That’s where I think Coach Tressel did a magnificent job keeping us together. In my four years of playing with him, that two-week period stood out more than anything. Although we had a small senior class and maybe not an extremely talented class, we had a lot of local guys that cared about it.
Smith: After the Liberty game, there was a little bit of bickering because a couple guys weren’t carrying their weight. Tress did keep the team together. We had a couple really good practices that week. That’s when “The Colonel” [Isaac] really started playing well and the offensive line started jelling.
Brown: Coach Tressel asked me the night before [the game] to speak the next morning. I tried to write a speech and I ended up throwing it out. I wish I could give you word-for-word [what I said], but I just talked about how it was a do-or-die, now or never moment. We were out of time.
Vecchione: Kevin Brown was one of the quietest senior captains you’ll ever meet. But he stood up there crying at the table, saying, “We are the best team and we talked about winning a national championship all year long and it’s slipping away.” It had a tremendous impact on all of us.
Smith: Coach Tressel had a friend of his named Doc Spurgeon talk to us before the game and he had some cards and he was talking about how the deck was stacked against us. He said they have all the aces but we had the king of clubs, the queen of clubs, the jack of clubs and the 10 of clubs. And it all came down to this last card. Ray Isaac’s number was No. 9 and Doc said, “It’s all gonna come down to No. 9. If he plays well, you’re gonna win.”
YSU jumped out to a 19-3 lead entering the fourth quarter. The Eagles scored two touchdowns but were stuffed on a two-point conversion try with 5:40 left. YSU never gave them the ball back, converting two fourth downs to run out the clock.
Brown: We had a couple hours of free time [the night before] and the people in that community were telling us, “You guys are about to get beat.” They were so confident. And we were like, “All right, you’re going to see.”
Strollo: A lot of the good teams, including Georgia Southern, just assumed they were going to beat us. By the time they found out we were pretty good, it was too late.
Tressel: Georgia Southern was 53-2 at home and they said it was because of the magic of [nearby] Eagle Creek River. Every week they would pour some water from Eagle Creek and put it on the field. So we said, We’re going to go down and beat them and get some of that Eagle Creek water and mix it with some Mahoning River water and take it back down to the national championship game.
Brown: Once we beat them, we pretty much felt like we had a sense of destiny.
Isaac: After we beat Georgia Southern ... they put the cameras in my face and I told them we were going to win the championship.
Bolstered by the victory, YSU ran off three straight wins to end the regular season against James Madison (28-21), Slippery Rock (40-21) and Towson State (27-17). The Penguins made the playoffs with an 8-3 record and despite being the 13th-ranked team in the country, earned a home playoff game against seventh-ranked Villanova.
Strollo: I remember going to the playoff show and at that point, as a senior, all I wanted was another opportunity to play another game. I didn’t want the season to end that way because we were starting to feel pretty good about how good of a team we are. And the thing I remember most was seeing our name pop up and being so happy and going back to the dorm and not even realizing until later that night that we got a home bid.
Tressel: It was Thanksgiving weekend and we felt like we could get a good crowd and Villanova was kind of the opposite. They were concerned they were going to lose a lot of money because you had to guarantee X amount of income. It wasn’t just seating. Our athletic director, Joe Malmisur, rolled the dice and put in a healthy bid and that enabled us to get the home game.
Isaac: I didn’t think we were gonna get in. Then we got in and Villanova had the higher seed and had to come to us. I thought that was crap but I’ll take it.
Vecchione: That showed the Youngstown fan base. I think we promised we would bring in 14,000 [actually 9,500] fans as part of that deal and that was the loudest [9,500] fans I ever heard in my career.
Villanova took a 16-7 halftime lead but YSU 17-6 won on a 33-yard field goal by future NFL kicker Jeff Wilkins with seconds left. The key play was a 41-yard pass from Isaac to Herb Williams on fourth-and-11 with less than two minutes left.
Isaac: Superb Herb Williams. The only time he couldn’t catch the ball was when girls were around. Other than that, I could throw it anywhere near him and he’d catch it. In all the years I played — and I played in 43 games — I thought Villanova’s defense was the most brutal defense I faced. They really brought the wood.
YSU then traveled to Reno to play top-ranked Nevada.
Strollo: They had this huge student section in the end zone and the whole pregame we were getting taunted and I think our guys actually got fired up over that. Throughout the pregame and much of the first half, there were announcements over the P.A. about national championship travel packages. They had that kind of confidence.
Tressel: They were ranked No. 1 and they said they were going to win a I-AA championship and then go on to Division I. In my mind, they had already forgotten about our game.
YSU led throughout but, trailing 30-28, the Wolfpack had a chance to win on the game’s final play. But kicker Rick Schwendinger slipped, missing a 27-yard field goal wide left.
Isaac: Oh man, he wasn’t even close. He kicked the track. After that, I said we’re going to win this whole thing.
Vecchione: Defensively, we knew we had that kicker shook because we had blocked an extra point and we were getting in there every time. I think once he missed that kick, we started to notice we were a team of destiny. We said, “There is something special going on here.”
Strollo: At that point, you felt like it was meant to be. That was a team that probably was better than us but they had so much confidence that by the time they realized they were in a game, it was too late.
In the semifinals, YSU returned home to play Samford. A then-record crowd of 17,003 came out for a brutally cold game that the Penguins won 10-0.
Tressel: It had to be a below zero wind chill. Those boys from Alabama didn’t like that.
The key play came late in the first quarter when Chris Vecchione returned a fumble six yards for a touchdown.
Vecchione: Kevin Brown just smashed their running back and took the quarterback with him. I knew Kevin was blitzing so I was holding my man when I saw the football. Nobody else saw [the ball] and I kind of couldn’t believe it. The fumble went past the line of scrimmage and back then, if it happened behind the line of scrimmage, you couldn’t advance it. I just scooped it up and ran with it. I can remember Tressel’s exact words when I got off the field, “Great awareness, Vech.”
Isaac: I’m going to be honest, I overlooked Samford because I had never heard of them. They had just come on the scene and I wasn’t impressed. But that was a war. It was pretty easy for me, though. I handed it to Tamron Smith 46 times.
Smith: I could have carried 146 times.
YSU then traveled back to Statesboro, Ga., to play Marshall in the Dec. 21 national championship game.
Tressel: I brought the water back down and sprinkled it in the end zone.
Strollo: I remember walking through the city of Savannah and we had some free time and we saw the guys from Marshall wearing new sweatsuits and we were hearing, “Oh yeah, they gave us this much spending money.” And we didn’t have anything. Not that we had any expectation of getting a new sweatsuit. And I remember they had a clambake for the teams and I heard the Marshall kids saying, “Yeah, our coaches barely spent any time looking at the film. You guys only run three plays.” And they were probably right. We ran dive and we ran option.
Smith: For me personally and a lot of guys on the team, we felt we deserved to be in that spotlight. We were supposed to get blown out but couldn’t nobody convince me we wasn’t good enough to be in the national championship game. I remember CBS had this theme music for all their games and we were whistling it all week. I was fired up and ready to play on Monday.
Marshall took a 17-6 lead after three quarters thanks to two TD passes from Thundering Herd QB Michael Payton.
Vecchione: I don’t think one person thought we weren’t going to come back. Being down was not an uncomfortable position for us.
Tressel: The one thing I knew about our kids was they believed in each other. They never got shook. We had been behind in a lot of games and they always found a way.
Brown: We believed if the offense was struggling, it was the defense’s job to get it done. At the same time, if the defense was struggling and we needed another touchdown, we felt like the offense would somehow find a way. There was just a believe in each other. I don’t know if I can relay to you, but it’s something I remember a lot.
Early in the fourth, Isaac hit Williams with a 33-yard TD pass to start the comeback.
Isaac: I had the X receiver and the Z receiver next to me in the huddle and we all held hands. And if we called a pass play, I’d squeeze the hand of the guy I was gonna look for first. Sometimes the guy whose hand I was squeezing was not the particular guy on the play Coach Tressel called. On that play, Tressel called Fake 37 X-comeback, a play where Trent Boykin runs an 18-yard comeback route and Williams runs the backside post. I faked the option to the boundary, set up to throw and Trent Boykins was wide open. But it was 17-6 and we had no momentum, so I threw the ball on a strike to Herb and he catches it for a TD. When I got back to the sideline, Coach Tressel asks me, “Did you see that Trent was wide open?” And I said, “Coach, I couldn’t see him.” He was only about 5-1 anyway. I had already predetermined that if anybody was going to make a play for me, it was going to be Superb Herb.
I haven’t told Coach Tressel to this day [that I knew Boykins was open]. Once he sees this article, he’s going to call me.
Fullback Ryan Wood and running back Tamron Smith added touchdown runs to make it 25-17 — Boykins caught a 56-yard pass to set up the first touchdown — and Marshall’s last-second pass was knocked down by Malcolm Everette in the end zone to secure the win.
Smith: I remember being in the huddle around the 4 or 5 yard line with like two minutes left in the game. And I’m like, “Man, all y’all got to do is sell out on this one play. If you do, we’re gonna win this game.” We ran Day [the team’s favorite off-tackle play] and the blocking was perfect and I hit it right where I was supposed to hit it. After I scored, I looked into the cameras and felt spiritual at that point.
Vecchione: I remember both the offensive line and the defensive line — neither of us had any energy left on that last play. There was very little blocking and very little rushing. It was just a desperation play.
Isaac: That day happened so fast. I often look back on that season and that year took me by storm. I tell people all the time we should have won in 1990; it took six weeks to get over that one. I was too young. We should have went to three national championship games [from 1989-91] and Tressel should have at least two more titles than he does.
The Penguins returned home to a frenzied welcome at the airport, then had a parade through downtown. They won on to lose the 1992 national title game against Marshall, then won in 1993 and 1994.
Strollo: I played baseball, basketball and football [at Fitch] and I was never able to finish a year saying I was the best. And for me, it was great feeling like I ended my athletic career being able to say we were the best. We had a parade through downtown and it was jam-packed. And with all the celebrations that followed, you got a sense of what it meant. What that stretch meant to the community.
Tressel: The thing I remember most was it took forever to get through the airport because there were thousands of people there. And I remember finally getting to the bus and there was this old gentleman there, who had to be in his 80s. And he was crying and he told me, “This is the greatest day of my life since VE [Victory in Europe] Day.” I’ll never forget that.
Vecchione: We just had so many local guys and I think it showed the best of the town. You could look at all the local faces and say, “This is Youngstown. These are our kids.” After the championship game, I remember Ron Strollo wearing his letterman jacket at the mall and he had to take it off because so many people came up to him and thanked him. I had former teachers of mine saying, “Do you know what you did for this town?” And their faces were glowing.
Of course, I don’t think we realized it at the time. But we do now.
Vindicator sports writer Joe Scalzo recently spoke with former YSU coach Jim Tressel and five players from that of that team: senior quarterback Ray Isaac (a Rayen High graduate), senior tight end Ron Strollo (Fitch), senior linebacker Kevin Brown (East), junior linebacker Chris Vecchione (Mooney) and sophomore running back Tamron Smith (South). Of the 90 players on the roster, 39 attended high schools in either Mahoning or Trumbull County.
Ray Isaac: I think the ’91 tone was set in 1989. Coach Tressel brought me in and told me he wanted to be in the upper echelon of [I-AA] like Florida A&M, Eastern Kentucky and Georgia Southern and that he wanted to go start playing those teams.
Kevin Brown: I remember coming in as a freshman when I was being recruited by YSU and someone had written on the wall that the season goal was winning the conference. After my freshman year, it seemed like the coaches and the team realized we had to set our goals higher. Our goal was the national championship.
Youngstown State started the 1990 season 11-0 but lost to Central Florida, 20-17, in the first round of the playoffs.
Ron Strollo: The 1990 season came to an abrupt end. It was disturbing and that was something that lived with you all offseason. So our expectations were really, really high coming into the season.
Tressel: We kind of came to the conclusion that we were looking too far down the road and not getting better as the season went on. Our slogan that year was RYFP: Reach your full potential.
Chris Vecchione: In 1990, as well as 1991, the expectations were that we were going to win the national championship. That didn’t happen right away. When I first came in 1988, there were a few guys on the team who would tell me, “Oh, we can’t compete with teams like Georgia Southern.” And I was like, “What do you mean we can’t compete with them? We can take on anybody.” I think it took Coach Tressel a few years to start changing the attitude.
Isaac: Of the 1989, 1990 and 1991 teams, I believe our best team was probably the 1989 team. Then the 1990 team. I don’t believe the 1991 team was as talented as the previous two. I’ll probably get tarred and feathered for saying that. But we were able to compete at a high level and had the experience.
Vecchione: The 1990 team was a very talented team but certainly the talent and the desire were more apparent on the 1991 squad.
Brown: We learned a lot from 1989 and 1990. By 1991, we knew what it took to win. And I think for the seniors on that team there was a sense of urgency. We were out of time.
After starting the season with a 24-0 win over Edinboro, the eighth-ranked Penguins lost at Delaware State 33-29 in Week Two.
Strollo: Offensively, I don’t think they could stop us. But they ran the Wing-T and our defense couldn’t stop them. We had a lot of young guys out there and they were getting blocked from all different angles and they kept gashing us for big yards. It was a clear upset. In my opinion, we were a much better team.
Brown: I think some guys were taken aback by the whole environment. That’s a game we should have won. We were more talented than those guys.
The Penguins then posted easy home wins over Morgan State (57-22) and Northeastern (59-7) before traveling to Nacogdoches, Texas, to play Stephen F. Austin, winning 16-9.
Isaac: That was a brutal game. Brutal. Coach Tressel kept saying he wanted to keep running the option because he wanted to do an option pass. I was like, “You need to get somebody to block these cats.”
YSU then lost at Akron, 38-24, briefly losing Brown and Smith to knee injuries. They followed it up with a stunning 10-8 loss to Liberty on Homecoming weekend.
Smith: My dad suffered a brain aneurysm a few days before the Akron game. He was an ironworker and he was working on a bridge in East Liverpool when he collapsed. It happened on Thursday morning and my family rode down there while he was in the hospital and a couple of the guys came with me. He was there but he wasn’t there no more. For me, personally, I didn’t want to play in the Akron game. I was kind of lost at that point. I ended up getting hurt on the third play and it was around 1:15 [p.m.] and my dad passed around 1:15. I knew something was wrong and it wasn’t just my knee.
Tressel: The whole next week leading up to the Liberty game, we were all wrapped up in Tamron’s dad’s funeral. It was a sad time.
Smith: A lot of the guys on the team from Florida would come over to our house for Thanksgiving and my dad would always look out for them. His funeral was tough for a lot of guys. I think it bonded us for the rest of the season.
Vecchione: Akron was a game that probably set us back a little bit. I think that Liberty loss was because that Akron loss beat us down a little bit. Liberty was a team we knew we should have beaten. I remember the frustration of knowing, “Dammit, we’ve got to win the rest of our games now to get in the playoffs.”
Tressel: Ray Isaac, after that game, I kind of gave him an ultimatum: Either you play better or Nick Cochran is taking over.
Now 4-3, YSU had an open week before heading to Statesboro, Ga., to play two-time defending national champion Georgia Southern, which was also 4-3. Neither team could afford another loss.
It would be the turning point of the season and, arguably, the program.
Strollo: What’s hard to look back at now is, to play Georgia Southern at Georgia Southern was almost a guaranteed loss. That’s where I think Coach Tressel did a magnificent job keeping us together. In my four years of playing with him, that two-week period stood out more than anything. Although we had a small senior class and maybe not an extremely talented class, we had a lot of local guys that cared about it.
Smith: After the Liberty game, there was a little bit of bickering because a couple guys weren’t carrying their weight. Tress did keep the team together. We had a couple really good practices that week. That’s when “The Colonel” [Isaac] really started playing well and the offensive line started jelling.
Brown: Coach Tressel asked me the night before [the game] to speak the next morning. I tried to write a speech and I ended up throwing it out. I wish I could give you word-for-word [what I said], but I just talked about how it was a do-or-die, now or never moment. We were out of time.
Vecchione: Kevin Brown was one of the quietest senior captains you’ll ever meet. But he stood up there crying at the table, saying, “We are the best team and we talked about winning a national championship all year long and it’s slipping away.” It had a tremendous impact on all of us.
Smith: Coach Tressel had a friend of his named Doc Spurgeon talk to us before the game and he had some cards and he was talking about how the deck was stacked against us. He said they have all the aces but we had the king of clubs, the queen of clubs, the jack of clubs and the 10 of clubs. And it all came down to this last card. Ray Isaac’s number was No. 9 and Doc said, “It’s all gonna come down to No. 9. If he plays well, you’re gonna win.”
YSU jumped out to a 19-3 lead entering the fourth quarter. The Eagles scored two touchdowns but were stuffed on a two-point conversion try with 5:40 left. YSU never gave them the ball back, converting two fourth downs to run out the clock.
Brown: We had a couple hours of free time [the night before] and the people in that community were telling us, “You guys are about to get beat.” They were so confident. And we were like, “All right, you’re going to see.”
Strollo: A lot of the good teams, including Georgia Southern, just assumed they were going to beat us. By the time they found out we were pretty good, it was too late.
Tressel: Georgia Southern was 53-2 at home and they said it was because of the magic of [nearby] Eagle Creek River. Every week they would pour some water from Eagle Creek and put it on the field. So we said, We’re going to go down and beat them and get some of that Eagle Creek water and mix it with some Mahoning River water and take it back down to the national championship game.
Brown: Once we beat them, we pretty much felt like we had a sense of destiny.
Isaac: After we beat Georgia Southern ... they put the cameras in my face and I told them we were going to win the championship.
Bolstered by the victory, YSU ran off three straight wins to end the regular season against James Madison (28-21), Slippery Rock (40-21) and Towson State (27-17). The Penguins made the playoffs with an 8-3 record and despite being the 13th-ranked team in the country, earned a home playoff game against seventh-ranked Villanova.
Strollo: I remember going to the playoff show and at that point, as a senior, all I wanted was another opportunity to play another game. I didn’t want the season to end that way because we were starting to feel pretty good about how good of a team we are. And the thing I remember most was seeing our name pop up and being so happy and going back to the dorm and not even realizing until later that night that we got a home bid.
Tressel: It was Thanksgiving weekend and we felt like we could get a good crowd and Villanova was kind of the opposite. They were concerned they were going to lose a lot of money because you had to guarantee X amount of income. It wasn’t just seating. Our athletic director, Joe Malmisur, rolled the dice and put in a healthy bid and that enabled us to get the home game.
Isaac: I didn’t think we were gonna get in. Then we got in and Villanova had the higher seed and had to come to us. I thought that was crap but I’ll take it.
Vecchione: That showed the Youngstown fan base. I think we promised we would bring in 14,000 [actually 9,500] fans as part of that deal and that was the loudest [9,500] fans I ever heard in my career.
Villanova took a 16-7 halftime lead but YSU 17-6 won on a 33-yard field goal by future NFL kicker Jeff Wilkins with seconds left. The key play was a 41-yard pass from Isaac to Herb Williams on fourth-and-11 with less than two minutes left.
Isaac: Superb Herb Williams. The only time he couldn’t catch the ball was when girls were around. Other than that, I could throw it anywhere near him and he’d catch it. In all the years I played — and I played in 43 games — I thought Villanova’s defense was the most brutal defense I faced. They really brought the wood.
YSU then traveled to Reno to play top-ranked Nevada.
Strollo: They had this huge student section in the end zone and the whole pregame we were getting taunted and I think our guys actually got fired up over that. Throughout the pregame and much of the first half, there were announcements over the P.A. about national championship travel packages. They had that kind of confidence.
Tressel: They were ranked No. 1 and they said they were going to win a I-AA championship and then go on to Division I. In my mind, they had already forgotten about our game.
YSU led throughout but, trailing 30-28, the Wolfpack had a chance to win on the game’s final play. But kicker Rick Schwendinger slipped, missing a 27-yard field goal wide left.
Isaac: Oh man, he wasn’t even close. He kicked the track. After that, I said we’re going to win this whole thing.
Vecchione: Defensively, we knew we had that kicker shook because we had blocked an extra point and we were getting in there every time. I think once he missed that kick, we started to notice we were a team of destiny. We said, “There is something special going on here.”
Strollo: At that point, you felt like it was meant to be. That was a team that probably was better than us but they had so much confidence that by the time they realized they were in a game, it was too late.
In the semifinals, YSU returned home to play Samford. A then-record crowd of 17,003 came out for a brutally cold game that the Penguins won 10-0.
Tressel: It had to be a below zero wind chill. Those boys from Alabama didn’t like that.
The key play came late in the first quarter when Chris Vecchione returned a fumble six yards for a touchdown.
Vecchione: Kevin Brown just smashed their running back and took the quarterback with him. I knew Kevin was blitzing so I was holding my man when I saw the football. Nobody else saw [the ball] and I kind of couldn’t believe it. The fumble went past the line of scrimmage and back then, if it happened behind the line of scrimmage, you couldn’t advance it. I just scooped it up and ran with it. I can remember Tressel’s exact words when I got off the field, “Great awareness, Vech.”
Isaac: I’m going to be honest, I overlooked Samford because I had never heard of them. They had just come on the scene and I wasn’t impressed. But that was a war. It was pretty easy for me, though. I handed it to Tamron Smith 46 times.
Smith: I could have carried 146 times.
YSU then traveled back to Statesboro, Ga., to play Marshall in the Dec. 21 national championship game.
Tressel: I brought the water back down and sprinkled it in the end zone.
Strollo: I remember walking through the city of Savannah and we had some free time and we saw the guys from Marshall wearing new sweatsuits and we were hearing, “Oh yeah, they gave us this much spending money.” And we didn’t have anything. Not that we had any expectation of getting a new sweatsuit. And I remember they had a clambake for the teams and I heard the Marshall kids saying, “Yeah, our coaches barely spent any time looking at the film. You guys only run three plays.” And they were probably right. We ran dive and we ran option.
Smith: For me personally and a lot of guys on the team, we felt we deserved to be in that spotlight. We were supposed to get blown out but couldn’t nobody convince me we wasn’t good enough to be in the national championship game. I remember CBS had this theme music for all their games and we were whistling it all week. I was fired up and ready to play on Monday.
Marshall took a 17-6 lead after three quarters thanks to two TD passes from Thundering Herd QB Michael Payton.
Vecchione: I don’t think one person thought we weren’t going to come back. Being down was not an uncomfortable position for us.
Tressel: The one thing I knew about our kids was they believed in each other. They never got shook. We had been behind in a lot of games and they always found a way.
Brown: We believed if the offense was struggling, it was the defense’s job to get it done. At the same time, if the defense was struggling and we needed another touchdown, we felt like the offense would somehow find a way. There was just a believe in each other. I don’t know if I can relay to you, but it’s something I remember a lot.
Early in the fourth, Isaac hit Williams with a 33-yard TD pass to start the comeback.
Isaac: I had the X receiver and the Z receiver next to me in the huddle and we all held hands. And if we called a pass play, I’d squeeze the hand of the guy I was gonna look for first. Sometimes the guy whose hand I was squeezing was not the particular guy on the play Coach Tressel called. On that play, Tressel called Fake 37 X-comeback, a play where Trent Boykin runs an 18-yard comeback route and Williams runs the backside post. I faked the option to the boundary, set up to throw and Trent Boykins was wide open. But it was 17-6 and we had no momentum, so I threw the ball on a strike to Herb and he catches it for a TD. When I got back to the sideline, Coach Tressel asks me, “Did you see that Trent was wide open?” And I said, “Coach, I couldn’t see him.” He was only about 5-1 anyway. I had already predetermined that if anybody was going to make a play for me, it was going to be Superb Herb.
I haven’t told Coach Tressel to this day [that I knew Boykins was open]. Once he sees this article, he’s going to call me.
Fullback Ryan Wood and running back Tamron Smith added touchdown runs to make it 25-17 — Boykins caught a 56-yard pass to set up the first touchdown — and Marshall’s last-second pass was knocked down by Malcolm Everette in the end zone to secure the win.
Smith: I remember being in the huddle around the 4 or 5 yard line with like two minutes left in the game. And I’m like, “Man, all y’all got to do is sell out on this one play. If you do, we’re gonna win this game.” We ran Day [the team’s favorite off-tackle play] and the blocking was perfect and I hit it right where I was supposed to hit it. After I scored, I looked into the cameras and felt spiritual at that point.
Vecchione: I remember both the offensive line and the defensive line — neither of us had any energy left on that last play. There was very little blocking and very little rushing. It was just a desperation play.
Isaac: That day happened so fast. I often look back on that season and that year took me by storm. I tell people all the time we should have won in 1990; it took six weeks to get over that one. I was too young. We should have went to three national championship games [from 1989-91] and Tressel should have at least two more titles than he does.
The Penguins returned home to a frenzied welcome at the airport, then had a parade through downtown. They won on to lose the 1992 national title game against Marshall, then won in 1993 and 1994.
Strollo: I played baseball, basketball and football [at Fitch] and I was never able to finish a year saying I was the best. And for me, it was great feeling like I ended my athletic career being able to say we were the best. We had a parade through downtown and it was jam-packed. And with all the celebrations that followed, you got a sense of what it meant. What that stretch meant to the community.
Tressel: The thing I remember most was it took forever to get through the airport because there were thousands of people there. And I remember finally getting to the bus and there was this old gentleman there, who had to be in his 80s. And he was crying and he told me, “This is the greatest day of my life since VE [Victory in Europe] Day.” I’ll never forget that.
Vecchione: We just had so many local guys and I think it showed the best of the town. You could look at all the local faces and say, “This is Youngstown. These are our kids.” After the championship game, I remember Ron Strollo wearing his letterman jacket at the mall and he had to take it off because so many people came up to him and thanked him. I had former teachers of mine saying, “Do you know what you did for this town?” And their faces were glowing.
Of course, I don’t think we realized it at the time. But we do now.
5487
YSU Penguin Athletics / Re: Interesting Changes for this Years Play-Off
« on: September 30, 2011, 10:31:50 PM »
I agree with the super conferences in IA, but I do not like the idea that automatic qualifier conferences are now no longer "automatic". Makes recruiting far more difficult. Also make have a true representation of the entire country less likely. Not that we have this now. i have always believed in an equal number of schools from each region and conference in the post-season.
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YSU Penguin Athletics / Interesting Changes for this Years Play-Off
« on: September 30, 2011, 12:34:21 PM »Automatic Qualification Criteria/Process
The Division I Football Championship Committee will annually make the determinationof which eligible conferences will receive automatic qualification. The following criteria
are used when determining which conferences shall receive annual automatic qualification
for the NCAA Division I Football Championship:
1. Non-conference records;
2. Strength of non-conference opponents;
3. Recent postseason history; and
4. Competition against Football Bowl Subdivision opponents.
The Division I Championships/Sports Management Cabinet policy stipulates that for the
Division I Football Championship at least 50 percent of the bracket shall be reserved for at-large
selections, and no more than 50 percent of the bracket shall be available for automatic
qualification of eligible conferences.
For those conferences that qualify for automatic qualification but do not receive it,
a guaranteed at-large position shall be awarded in any year in which its conference
champion team meets all of the following conditions:
a. Team wins a minimum of eight Division I games during the season;
b. Team wins a minimum of two non-conference games against Division I teams
representing a conference that has earned an automatic qualification in that year;
and
c. Team finishes the season ranked 20 or higher in an average of the last regular-season
media, coaches and/or computer polls (which will be determined by
the committee on an annual basis). For 2011, the media poll will be the Sports
Network Poll, the coaches poll will be the FCS Coaches poll and the computer
poll using the following computer rankings: The Massey Ratings, Wolfe Rankings, Ashburn Rankings,
Self Rankings and the Laz Index.
So for those of you complaining about playing two Non-Scholarship teams ...the above is why. Which is also why you will see the Pioneer with an automatic berth soon. When this happens, only the schedules will keep the conferences in contention for an automatic berth. Also, the media people are so east-coast biased, all of the votes are going to continue to go to the Colonial. Then when they break back into 2 again ...they will just dominate the participants. Another good reason to look at any IA conference that will have us.
5489
YSU Penguin Athletics / Andrew Johnson Nominated for 2011 William V. Campbell Trophy
« on: September 30, 2011, 09:49:03 AM »
Dallas, Texas - Selected as the best and brightest from the college gridiron, The National Football Foundation (NFF) & College Hall of Fame announced today the 127 candidates for the 2011 NFF National Scholar-Athlete Awards, presented by Fidelity Investments®, a leading provider of not-for-profit workplace retirement savings plans in higher education. The 127 nominees also comprise the list of semifinalists for the 2011 William V. Campbell Trophy, endowed by HealthSouth, which recognizes an individual as the absolute best scholar-athlete in the nation.
Youngstown State senior defensive tackle Andrew Johnson (Detroit, Mich.) is one of 33 Football Championship Subdivision student-athletes who were nominated for the award.
"This year's candidates truly embody the National Football Foundation's mission of building leaders through football," said NFF Chairman Archie Manning whose sons Peyton (1997 Campbell Trophy winner) and Eli were named NFF National Scholar-Athletes in 1997 and 2003, respectively. "They are standouts in the classroom and on the field and have become leaders in their respective communities. Each school should take great pride in being represented by such well-rounded young men who will undoubtedly go on to do great things in life."
Nominated by their schools, which are limited to one nominee each, candidates for the awards must be a senior or graduate student in their final year of eligibility, have a GPA of at least 3.2 on a 4.0 scale, have outstanding football ability as a first team player or significant contributor, and have demonstrated strong leadership and citizenship. The class is selected each year by the NFF Awards Committee, which is comprised of a nationally recognized group of media, College Football Hall of Famers and athletics administrators.
"The NFF would like to personally congratulate each of the nominees for maintaining such high standards throughout their collegiate careers," said NFF President & CEO Steven J. Hatchell. "We are extremely proud to showcase their achievements, and there is no question that the NFF Awards Committee will have an incredibly difficult task in selecting the final group of honorees from among this esteemed group."
The NFF Awards Committee will select up to 16 recipients, and the results will be announced via a national press release on Wednesday, October 26. Each recipient will receive an $18,000 postgraduate scholarship, and they will vie as finalists for the 2011 William V. Campbell Trophy. Each member of the 2011 National Scholar-Athlete Class will also travel to New York City be honored Dec. 6 during the 54th NFF Annual Awards Dinner at the Waldorf-Astoria where their accomplishments will be highlighted in front of one of the most powerful audiences in all of sports. One member of the class will also be announced live at the event as the winner of the Campbell Trophy.
Named in honor of Bill Campbell, the chairman of Intuit, former player and head coach at Columbia University and the 2004 recipient of the NFF's Gold Medal, the award comes with a 25-pound bronze trophy and increases the amount of the recipient's grant by $7,000 for a total post-graduate scholarship of $25,000. A total distribution of $300,000 in scholarships will be awarded at the NFF Annual Awards Dinner, pushing the program's all-time distributions to more than $9.8 million. Launched in 1959, the NFF scholar-athlete program became the first initiative in history to award post-graduate scholarships based on both a player's academic and athletic accomplishments. The Campbell Trophy, first awarded in 1990, adds to the program's mystique, having previously honored two Rhodes Scholars, a Rhodes Scholar finalist, two Heisman Trophy winners and five first-round NFL draft picks.
Youngstown State senior defensive tackle Andrew Johnson (Detroit, Mich.) is one of 33 Football Championship Subdivision student-athletes who were nominated for the award.
"This year's candidates truly embody the National Football Foundation's mission of building leaders through football," said NFF Chairman Archie Manning whose sons Peyton (1997 Campbell Trophy winner) and Eli were named NFF National Scholar-Athletes in 1997 and 2003, respectively. "They are standouts in the classroom and on the field and have become leaders in their respective communities. Each school should take great pride in being represented by such well-rounded young men who will undoubtedly go on to do great things in life."
Nominated by their schools, which are limited to one nominee each, candidates for the awards must be a senior or graduate student in their final year of eligibility, have a GPA of at least 3.2 on a 4.0 scale, have outstanding football ability as a first team player or significant contributor, and have demonstrated strong leadership and citizenship. The class is selected each year by the NFF Awards Committee, which is comprised of a nationally recognized group of media, College Football Hall of Famers and athletics administrators.
"The NFF would like to personally congratulate each of the nominees for maintaining such high standards throughout their collegiate careers," said NFF President & CEO Steven J. Hatchell. "We are extremely proud to showcase their achievements, and there is no question that the NFF Awards Committee will have an incredibly difficult task in selecting the final group of honorees from among this esteemed group."
The NFF Awards Committee will select up to 16 recipients, and the results will be announced via a national press release on Wednesday, October 26. Each recipient will receive an $18,000 postgraduate scholarship, and they will vie as finalists for the 2011 William V. Campbell Trophy. Each member of the 2011 National Scholar-Athlete Class will also travel to New York City be honored Dec. 6 during the 54th NFF Annual Awards Dinner at the Waldorf-Astoria where their accomplishments will be highlighted in front of one of the most powerful audiences in all of sports. One member of the class will also be announced live at the event as the winner of the Campbell Trophy.
Named in honor of Bill Campbell, the chairman of Intuit, former player and head coach at Columbia University and the 2004 recipient of the NFF's Gold Medal, the award comes with a 25-pound bronze trophy and increases the amount of the recipient's grant by $7,000 for a total post-graduate scholarship of $25,000. A total distribution of $300,000 in scholarships will be awarded at the NFF Annual Awards Dinner, pushing the program's all-time distributions to more than $9.8 million. Launched in 1959, the NFF scholar-athlete program became the first initiative in history to award post-graduate scholarships based on both a player's academic and athletic accomplishments. The Campbell Trophy, first awarded in 1990, adds to the program's mystique, having previously honored two Rhodes Scholars, a Rhodes Scholar finalist, two Heisman Trophy winners and five first-round NFL draft picks.
5490
YSU Penguin Athletics / Celebration of 1991 National Title Team Set for Oct. 8
« on: September 30, 2011, 08:03:15 AM »
Members of Youngstown State's 1991 National Championship football team will be honored on Saturday, Oct. 8, when the Penguins return home to play host to South Dakota State. Kickoff for the contest against the Jackrabbits is set for 4 p.m. at Stambaugh Stadium.
In honor of the 20th anniversary of the school's first national-title winning team the Athletic Department will be selling special commemorative gameday programs and fans in attendance will receive a trading card set featuring standouts from the 1991 team.
The Penguins defeated Marshall 25-17 in the National Championship Game in 1991 held in Statesboro, Ga.. In the playoffs, YSU came-from-behind to defeat Villanova in the first round (17-16) won at Nevada (30-28) in the quarterfinals and advanced to the finals beating Samford 10-0 in the semis at Stambaugh.
During the year, the Penguins were 4-3 heading to Statesboro for a contest against defending champion Georgia Southern. YSU held on for a 19-17 victory over the Eagles and went on to win its final eight games of the season on the way to winning the national championship.
Programs featuring a commemorative cover are just $3 while the collector's edition trading-card set is being sponsored by McDonald's and MyValleySports.com.
The YSU Football Alumni Group will be hosting their annual Tailgate Blast party prior to the game. The River Saints Band will perform live in the M-7 tailgate lot prior to the game beginning at 1 p.m.
For ticket information contact the YSU Athletic Ticket Office at (330) 941-1978 or visit the office located in North End of Stambaugh Stadium.
In honor of the 20th anniversary of the school's first national-title winning team the Athletic Department will be selling special commemorative gameday programs and fans in attendance will receive a trading card set featuring standouts from the 1991 team.
The Penguins defeated Marshall 25-17 in the National Championship Game in 1991 held in Statesboro, Ga.. In the playoffs, YSU came-from-behind to defeat Villanova in the first round (17-16) won at Nevada (30-28) in the quarterfinals and advanced to the finals beating Samford 10-0 in the semis at Stambaugh.
During the year, the Penguins were 4-3 heading to Statesboro for a contest against defending champion Georgia Southern. YSU held on for a 19-17 victory over the Eagles and went on to win its final eight games of the season on the way to winning the national championship.
Programs featuring a commemorative cover are just $3 while the collector's edition trading-card set is being sponsored by McDonald's and MyValleySports.com.
The YSU Football Alumni Group will be hosting their annual Tailgate Blast party prior to the game. The River Saints Band will perform live in the M-7 tailgate lot prior to the game beginning at 1 p.m.
For ticket information contact the YSU Athletic Ticket Office at (330) 941-1978 or visit the office located in North End of Stambaugh Stadium.