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Penguins Open Tough Stretch With Contest at Illinois State
by YSU
Friday, Nov 7, 2014 3:10 pm

    The 10th-ranked Youngstown State football team begins a stretch of playing three straight rated foes with a contest at No. 12 Illinois State on Saturday. Kickoff for the contest at Hancock Stadium is set for 2 p.m. Eastern/1 p.m. Central time. The game is available on WKBN 570 AM, iHeartRadio, ESPN3 and on WBCB "The CW" in Youngstown.
    YSU (7-2 overall and 4-1 in the MVFC) used a 21-point fourth quarter to overcome an upstart South Dakota squad and earn a 28-17 win over the Coyotes. Trailing 17-7, Hunter Wells threw a 58-yard touchdown pass to Andrew Williams on the first play of the fourth quarter. After forcing a USD punt, the Guins moved 96 yards in three plays, the last 60 on a run by TB Jody Webb. With 2:58 left, Martin Ruiz scored on a two-yard run to seal the Penguins' third straight victory. Ruiz rushed for 185 yards on 28 carries while Webb had 128 on 11 attempts and scored a pair of touchdowns. Wells competed 12-of-23 passes for 244 yards and a score. On defense, DE Derek Rivers had his second straight standout performance, tying a school record with four sacks.
    Illinois State (7-1 and 4-1) will be looking to rebound from its first loss of the season. In a wild game at UNI, the contest was tied seven-all at halftime before the teams combined for 56 second half points. The Panthers opened up a 21-7 lead, but the Redbirds tied the contest on a pair of Marshaun Coprich touchdowns, including a 76-yard jaunt. However, UNI's David Johnson returned a kickoff 98 yards for a touchdown, and ISU was never able to quite get back in the game. Coprich ran for 166 yards on 27 carries and scored three times in the game. The Redbirds had four turnovers, including three interceptions by QB Tre Robinson. ISU has been tough to beat in Normal having won 10 straight home games.
    The YSU-Illinois State series has been an entertaining one through the years. The Penguins own a 12-11 series lead thanks to an impressive 59-21 win at Stambaugh Stadium in 2013. YSU's last two defeats at Illinois State have been heartbreaking. In 2012, the Guins built a 28-7 lead only to lose 35-28. In 2010, the Redbirds scored the game-winning touchdown with 0.7 seconds remaining. YSU last won at Hancock Stadium in 2006.

South Dakota Notes
• The Penguins' 21 fourth-quarter points were the most points in a fourth period since scoring 21 against Duquesne last Sept. 21, 2013.
• For just the second time this year, YSU did not score on its opening drive.
• TB Jody Webb has scored a touchdown in six straight contests after scoring on runs of 60 and 34 yards in the game.
• TB Martin Ruiz rushed for a season-high 185 yards on 28 carries for his sixth 100-plus yard performance of the season. He has rushed for 79-or-more yards in each game this season.
• WR Andrew Williams had a career-high 140 yards on six receptions. His previous best was 139 a week prior at South Dakota State.
• DE Derek Rivers tied a school record with four sacks in the game. It was the first time since 1991 that a YSU player had four sacks in a game.
• YSU had 278 yards of offense on its final four drives of the game. The Penguins' 10 previous drives yielded 279 yards.
• It marked the second straight time the Guins committed three turnovers against the Coyotes.
• QB Hunter Wells started the game by missing his first six passes. He completed 12 of his final 17 for 244 yards and a TD.
• USD scored 17 straight points before YSU ended the game by scoring the final 21.
• The Guins forced punts on the first seven Coyotes drives. Also, YSU held USD to just 2-of-14 on third-down conversions. South Dakota was 0-for-9 before converting its first down in the third quarter.
• YSU allowed points off turnovers for the first time this year. USD had 10 points off two Penguin giveaways.

South Dakota Recap
    YSU scored three fourth-quarter touchdowns to overcome an upset bid by South Dakota with a 28-17 win over the Coyotes last Saturday at Stambaugh Stadium.
    After a scoreless first quarter, Jody Webb scored on a 34-yard run to put the Penguins in front 7-0. Just before halftime, USD knotted the game at seven when Jasper Sanders scored on a seven-yard pass from Kevin Earl with nine seconds remaining.
    In the third quarter, Miles Bergner drilled a 50-yard field goal, and the Coyotes extended their lead to 17-7 on a one-yard plunge by Earl.
    On the first play of the fourth quarter, Hunter Wells connected with Andrew Williams on 58-yard touchdown pass to cut the deficit to 17-14.
    Another long score gave the Penguins a 21-17 lead as Webb scored on a 60-yard run  with 11:15 left. Martin Ruiz closed out the scoring with a two-yard run late in the game.

Last Year's ISU Recap
    Quarterback Kurt Hess had the best performance of his stellar career, throwing four touchdown passes and rushing for another, as the Penguins defeated Illinois State 59-21 at Stambaugh Stadium.
    YSU trailed 7-0 before scoring four unanswered touchdowns to grab a 28-7 cushion. After the Redbirds cut the deficit to 28-14 on a 73-yard touchdown pass, the Guins went on another impressive run scoring 24 consecutive points.
    Eight different Penguins scored touchdowns - four rushing and four receiving - to highlight an impressive offensive performance. The Guins had 569 yards of total offense, 311 through the air and 258 via the ground.
    The defense had a solid night forcing three turnovers, which led to 21 points. Donald D'Alesio and Dale Peterman had interceptions while Travis Williams forced a fumble that Julius Childs recovered.
    The game was tied at seven after the first quarter before YSU stormed to the win.

ISU-YSU Connections
    Illinois State offensive coordinator Kurt Beatherd served as the Penguins' wide receivers coach last season. Also, former Redbird baseball player, Joe Gallanatti, is a member of YSU's special teams units. Gallanatti was a member of the ISU baseball team in 2013 and attended junior college last year. He has played in the past two games for the Guins.

Series History
    YSU and Illinois State have played many entertaining contests during a series that dates back to 1979. In the past three games at Hancock Stadium, both teams have scored more than 28 points in each contest. Unfortunately for YSU it has lost those three contests.
    The Guins have four wins at Illinois State with those coming in 1979, 2000, 2002 and 2006. Since an Illinois State win in Youngstown in 2007, the home team have won the last six contests.
    This is the ninth time the two have been foes in November with Illinois State holding a 5-3 record in the previous eight meetings.

Road Warriors
    Dating back to November 2012, the Penguins have won six of their last seven MVFC road games. The Guins are 2-0 this year with wins at Missouri State and South Dakota State. In 2013, YSU beat Indiana State, Southern Illinois and South Dakota and lost by two points on a last-play field goal at UNI. YSU closed out the 2012 season with a win at Western Illinois.
    YSU plays at unbeaten Illinois State on Nov. 8 and visits top-ranked North Dakota State on Nov. 22.

Knocking Off Ranked Foes
    The Penguins defeated their third ranked foe of the season beating the 16th-ranked Jackrabbits 30-27 last Saturday. Earlier in the year, the Guins beat 23rd-ranked Missouri State 14-7 in Springfield and clipped then No. 14 Southern Illinois at home 26-14.
    SIU, MSU and SDSU all suffered losses the week following their defeats to YSU and have taken a hit in the rankings. The contest against SDSU featured two one-loss league teams trying to keep pace with the league leaders. Saturday's matchup at ISU is for sole possession of second place in the MVFC.
    The last time YSU beat three ranked teams in a regular season was 2006. The Guins close out the year with three games against teams ranked in this week's top 20.

Ruiz Over 1,000 and 2,000
    Against South Dakota, TB Martin Ruiz rushed for a season-best 185 yards on 28 carries. During the game, Ruiz exceeded the 1,000-yard mark for the season and the 2,000-yard mark for his Penguins career. In nine games this year he has 1,039 yards on 202 attempts. In his 21-game career he has rushed for 2,133 yards on 394 yards and scored 23 touchdowns.

Rivers Excels in League Games
    Sophomore DE Derek Rivers has 32 tackles and eight sacks in five league games. Of his 32 stops, 20 have been unassisted.
    In the past two games, he has seven sacks, including a school-record-tying four in the win over South Dakota. Rivers joins Pat Danko (1991 vs. Morgan State) and Chris Stec (1984 vs. Morehead State) as the only players in school history to register four sacks in a single game.

Wells Remains Perfect
    Freshman QB Hunter Wells improved to 4-0 as the Penguins' starting quarterback with a pair of wins coming over ranked MVFC foes - Southern Illinois and South Dakota State. Against South Dakota, Wells engineered the first fourth-quarter comeback of his career.
    In his four starts, Wells is 65-of-100 for 1,066 yards and eight touchdowns. Following a slow start against South Dakota, he completed 12 of his final 17 passes for 244 yards and a score.
Wells was 16-of-27 for 256 yards and two touchdowns at South Dakota State. Against Southern Illinois he was 21-of-28 for 269 yards and a score. In his first career start vs. Butler, Wells threw four touchdown passes while completing 16-of-27 passes for 297 yards.
    He was 14-of-25 for 187 yards in playing the last three quarters against Western Illinois. He did not play against Illinois and Missouri State and just saw a few snaps against Duquesne in the fourth quarter.

Big Plays Propel Rally
    YSU took advantage of some big plays to complete its comeback against South Dakota. On the first play of the fourth quarter, Hunter Wells connected on a 58-yard scoring pass to Andrew Williams. Three offensive plays later, Jody Webb scored on a 60-yard run.
    It was the second-longest run of the season for Webb, who scored on an 81-yard gallop at Missouri State.
    Impressively, the Guins have 11 offensive plays of 54 yards or more this year. Of those, eight have been passes. The South Dakota game was the fourth time this year that the Guins had two plays of 54-plus yards in the same contest.

Two With 100-Yard Games
    This season, senior WR Jelani Berassa and junior WR have each had back-to-back 100-yard receiving performances. Williams had 139 yards at South Dakota State and a career-high 140 yards last week vs. South Dakota. Berassa had a career-best 167 against Butler after a 114-yard performance against Duquesne. It is the first time in school history that two different receivers had two 100-yard plus games consecutively in the same season.

Williams Having Best Year
    Junior WR Andrew Williams eclipsed his career high for receiving yards by one in the win over South Dakota. Williams caught six passes for 140 yards against the Coyotes a game after a six-catch 139-yard performance against South Dakota State.
    This season he had a career-high eight-reception performance vs. Southern Illinois.
    Additionally, he has a career-best 34 catches this year. As a freshman he had 27, and as a sophomore he caught 26 passes.
    Williams had eight catches for 96 yards in the SIU victory. After catching seven passes in the non-conference portion of the season, he has had 27 grabs so far in five league games.
    He had a three-game scoring streak earlier this season and has had the knack for the long catch with six of longer than 44 yards.
    He has had 61 yards-or-more receiving in seven of his eight games played this season.         Williams has a career-best four touchdown catches, eclipsing his high of three set back in 2012.

Winning Seven Again
    The Penguins have won seven games for the third consecutive season. YSU sits at 7-2 on the season following an 8-4 performance last year and a 7-4 season in 2012.
    The last time YSU won seven-plus games in three consecutive years was a stretch from 2005 (8), 2006 (11) and 2007 (7). Overall YSU is 22-10 the since the start of 2012.

Webb Finding His Stride
    Sophomore TB Jody Webb has been a key contributor in the five MVFC games. Since league play started, Webb has scored in every game and has an overall streak of six games with a touchdown.
    Of YSU's 10 rushing scores in MVFC play, Webb has seven of them, with two of them coming last week against South Dakota. Webb scored on runs of 60 and 34 yards in the game.
    In league play he has rushing touchdowns against USD, Missouri State (81 yards), Western Illinois and Southern Illinois. At South Dakota State he had a touchdown reception.
    For the season, he has 581 yards on 75 rushes and is averaging 7.2 yards a carry.
    Last year in eight conference games, Webb had two rushing scores - one against Illinois State and one at South Dakota. In 12 games he rushed for 345 yards on 48 carries.

Sack Attack
    The Penguins have 10 sacks the past two games, including six at South Dakota State on Oct. 25. Led by Derek Rivers, the Guins registered four sacks against South Dakota.
    The six sacks at South Dakota State were the most in a game since recording seven against Western Illinois on Oct. 15, 2005. It was the most sacks YSU recorded on the road since an eight-sack effort at Florida Atlantic in 2002.
    Rivers contributed to half of the Guins' sacks at SDSU with three.

Wells-Berassa Connection
    Freshman QB Hunter Wells has thrown nine touchdown passes this season. Of those, six have gone to senior WR Jelani Berassa.
    Berassa and Wells hooked up for three touchdown passes in the Penguins' win over Butler on Sept. 13. Wells came on in the second quarter against Western Illinois and promptly hit Berassa for a score on Oct. 11.
    Early in the first quarter against Southern Illinois, Wells found Berassa for a nine-yard touchdown, and the Penguins never trailed in the game. At SDSU, the tandem found each other once again when Berassa caught a 20-yard TD pass in the fourth quarter.

Tough Rushing Defense
    YSU has allowed just five rushing scores in nine games. The rushing scores YSU has allowed were by Duquesne, South Dakota, Saint Francis and South Dakota State.
    Duquesne's Marcus Hughes scored on a 23-yard run while Saint Francis' Marcus Bagley scored on a 28-yard carry and Khairi Dickson had a 10-yard TD rush. SDSU's Zach Zenner scored on a three-yard run while USD QB Kevin Earl scored on a one-yard sneak.
    The Penguins have not allowed a rushing touchdown in the first quarter this year.
    YSU had its best performance against the rush regarding fewest yards allowed against Southern Illinois. The Penguins surrendered just 75 yards on 29 attempts.

Bam Has Been All Over
    Junior LB Dubem Nwadiogbu, aka "Bam", has been a key stalwart on defense. Nwadiogbu has 75 tackles, 15 more than any player on the roster. He also leads the team with 46 unassisted tackles and is second with 7.5 TFLs.
    On four occasions this year he has set a new career high in tackles.
    The most recent time was against Western Illinois. Nwadiogbu had 13 stops against the Leathernecks, including eight solo tackles.
    Against Butler, Nwadiogbu had the first double-digit performance of his career with 11 stops, including seven solos.
    At Missouri State and at South Dakota State, he had nine tackles.

Rivers Ranks Third In Sacks
    Sophomore DE Derek Rivers has 12 sacks this season and ranks third in school history for most sacks in a single season. He trails only Harry Deligianis (17 in 1997) and Jermaine Hopkins (15 in 1994) in school history. Of note, both players had postseason totals added into their totals. Rivers has his total in nine games.
    Last year, Rivers had just 10 total tackles, so his 12 sacks have already exceeded his tackle number from the year prior.
    This season he has a sack in six of nine games. He has 41 tackles, including 28 solo stops and 15 TFLs.

Ruiz Model of Consistency
    Sophomore TB Martin Ruiz has rushed for at least 79 yards in all nine games this year.
    Ruiz had a season-best and second most in his career 185 yards on 28 carries in the win over South Dakota. The week before against South Dakota State he ran for 132 yards on 28 carries and a six-yard score.
    Ruiz had a 109-yard effort on 29 carries in the win over Southern Illinois. Against a stout Butler rush defense, he had 108 yards on 21 attempts. In the win over Duquesne, he had 148 yards on 23 carries and scored a season-best two touchdowns. At Illinois, he had a career-high 32 carries for 116 yards and a touchdown.
    Ruiz has rushed for more than 100 yards 10 times in his 21-game YSU career. He has scored a touchdown in 15 games as well.

Moore To Offer
    Junior SS Tre' Moore has been a key addition to the Penguins' secondary the past six games.
    Moore has been part of the starting lineup since game three and has recorded 45 tackles in those contests. He also leads the team with three interceptions.
    In the two road games at MSU and SDSU he was credited with 11 tackles, both career highs. At SDSU he stopped Zach Zenner on a fourth-and-1 rush in the third quarter. At MSU he had two second-half picks, including one that helped seal the win at the YSU 32-yard line with 2:21 left.
    In the win over South Dakota he was credited with seven stops, including six solos.

Solid Year for Cejudo
    PK/P Joey Cejudo has done a good job managing all of the kicking roles for the Penguins this season.
    Cejudo has made 13-of-14 field-goal attempts and converted a career-long 42-yard kick against Southern Illinois. He started the year by making his first nine attempts of the season before a miss at Missouri State. He has rebounded by making his last four kicks. At Stambaugh Stadium he is 9-of-9 on the year.
    As a punter, he had his best game at South Dakota State. He averaged 49.4 yards per punt, including a clutch career-long 59-yard boot that put SDSU at its own two-yard line with two minutes left. He is averaging 40.7 yards a punt, has placed 12 inside the opponent's 20-yard line and has eight kicks of 50-plus yards.

Berassa Over 30 Again
    Senior WR Jelani Berassa has 30 receptions for the second time in his Penguins career. This year he has 31 catches for 554 yards and a team-leading six touchdowns.
    Berassa had a career-high 37 grabs for 552 yards and eight scores in 2011.
    Last year, Berassa caught just six passes for 74 yards and one score. He missed the 2012 season with a knee injury. In 2011, he had at least four catches in a game on five occasions, including a career-best seven in the season finale against Missouri State.

Adams Has Multi TDs Again
    Senior TE Nate Adams has caught two touchdown passes this season, marking the third straight year he has had at least a pair of scores. Adams had a career-high four-touchdown receptions last year.
    Against Butler he caught a two-yard pass for a score after hauling in a 31-yard touchdown catch against Duquesne. It's usually good news for the Guins when he scores. The Penguins are 7-1 in contests when he hauls in a TD pass.

Quick-Strike Offense
    YSU has had seven scoring drives of under 34 seconds this season.
    Three times this season, YSU has had a one-play scoring drive - Duquesne, Butler and Missouri State.
    Against the Bulldogs, QB Hunter Wells found WR Jelani Berassa on a quick one-play, 72-yard scoring strike in just 12 seconds. Against the Dukes, QB Dante Nania found Andrew Williams for a 54-yard score in a seven-second drive.Against the Bears, TB Jody Webb took an inside handoff and scooted 81 yards in 12 seconds for a one-play drive in the second quarter.

Big Plays In Pass Game
    The Penguins have made some big plays in the passing game this season.
    In just nine games, the Guins have eight pass plays of 54 yards or more. Last year, the Penguins had just four completions of longer than 50 yards in 12 games played. YSU did not complete a pass of over 50 yards in 2012.
    Hunter Wells completed a 72-yard touchdown pass to Jelani Berassa against Butler and found Andrew Williams for a 58-yard touchdown against South Dakota and a 54-yard pass at SDSU. Against Duquesne, QB Dante Nania completed a 66-yard toss to Berassa while Williams caught a 54-yard touchdown pass in the first quarter. At Illinois in the season opener, Nania found Williams for a 61-yard gain and connected with Jody Webb on a 54-yard toss.
    On the first snap of the game against Missouri State, Nania connected with Williams on a 56-yard pickup.

>400 Yards/27 Points
    The Penguins have had more than 400 yards of total offense in 29 games under Head Coach Eric Wolford.
    In his 54 contests, YSU has had more than 300 yards in 47 of them. Additionally, the Guins have scored 27-or-more points in 36 of Wolford's 54 games at the helm.

Numbers Under Wolf
    After 54 games, Head Coach Eric Wolford is now 31-23. YSU has won 26 of its last 38 games under Wolford since the mid-point of the 2011 season. A couple of good notes have come from his 54 games regarding wins and losses. Both losses when allowing 27 or fewer points have come at UNI (21-17 in 2011 and 22-20 in 2013).
• YSU is 16-0 when allowing 20 points or fewer
• YSU is 28-2 when allowing 27 points or fewer
• YSU is 29-5 when allowing 33 points or fewer

Red-Zone Success
    YSU has converted at a high success rate in the red zone under Head Coach Eric Wolford.
    The Guins are 31-of-38 so far this season  with 19 touchdowns (12 rushing and seven passing) and 12 field goals.
    Last year, YSU was 43-of-47 (91.5 percent) in its red-zone opportunities. It marked the second season in his four-year tenure that the Guins converted more than 90 percent of their red-zone opportunities. YSU scored touchdowns on 38 of those red-zone visits.
    In 54 games under Coach Wolford, the Penguins are 192-for-219 (88.0 percent) inside the red zone. YSU has scored 157 touchdowns (106 rushing and 51 passing) while making 35-of-36 field-goal attempts. Of the 12 turnovers committed, 10 have been interceptions.
    The Penguins were 35-of-43 inside the red-zone in 2012 (81.7 percent). YSU went 42-of-47 in 2011 (89.4 percent), and, in 2010, the Guins converted 41-of-45 chances (91.1 percent).
    Overall, the program has a red-zone score in 59 consecutive games.

Four Over 100 Tackles
    Senior FS Donald D'Alesio leads the program with 240 career tackles, including 131 solo stops. Senior CB Julius Childs has 181 tackles, 128 of which are solos. Senior LB Travis Williams has 176 career tackles, with 100 solos. Junior LB Dubem Nwadiogbu has 102 tackles, 59 of which are solos.

Offensive Line Gelling
    An offensive line that features just one senior - C Stephen Page - has played well throughout the season.
    This year, YSU has had four first-time starters on the unit. First-time starters have included Justin Spencer, Dylan Colucci, Cameron Fraser and Cole Newsome. Spencer has started every game this season after redshirting last year.
    So far this year, the Guins have produced a 100-yard rusher in seven games, rushed for at least 196 yards six times and had over 380 yards of total offense on seven occasions.
    The line does have some veterans in Trevor Strickland, Brock Eisenhuth and Page. Eisenhuth started nine times last season while Strickland started five. Prior to this year, Page's last start was in 2012 at South Dakota State.

Experienced Front D-Line
    The defensive line has drawn rave reviews for its performance this season.
    DT Emmanuel Kromah and DE Terrell Williams have started the last 21 games on the front line. NT Octavius Brown has started the first nine games this year and made an impact as a run stopper. DE Derek Rivers has started the past eight contests. He has 12 sacks so far this season. Last year, Rivers had three sacks in just 10 games played.

Receivers Grow Up
    The group of Jelani Berassa, Christian Bryan, Andrew Williams and Andre Stubbs have combined for 348 receptions for 5,169 yards and 41 touchdowns in their YSU careers. The only receiver under 1,000 career receiving yards is Stubbs, and he has 962.
    Berassa is in his sixth year with the program while Bryan, Williams and Stubbs all came in together as part of the 2011 recruiting class.
    Bryan never redshirted and has caught 107 passes in his career. He ranks 10th in school history in career receptions. Williams has caught 87 passes, Berassa has 78 catches  and Stubbs has 76. Berassa missed the 2010 and 2012 seasons with knee injuries. When healthy in 2011, he had 37 catches.
    Fifth-year senior TE Nate Adams has 29 catches, including eight touchdowns, as well.

Three is Still Important
    Under Coach Eric Wolford, YSU is a combined 41-of-48 on field-goal attempts (85.4 percent).
    PK Joey Cejudo has made 13 of his 14 attempts this year, including a career-long 42-yard kick against Southern Illinois. He made six-of-eight attempts last season, including a long of 40 against Duquesne.
    In his YSU career, Cejudo has made 19-of-22 attempts (86.4 percent).
    In 2012, PK David Brown converted six-of-seven attempts. In 2011, the Penguins did not make a field goal in the first eight games before converting three field goals.
    YSU was 12-of-14 in 2010, all of which came by the foot of Stephen Blose.
    The last time YSU made at least 14 field goals in a season was in 2007 (15 made).

Two Over 200 Yards
    So far the Penguins have had two quarterbacks throw for over 200 yards in a game.
    Dante Nania had 288 against Duquesne while Hunter Wells has gone over the mark in his three starts this year.
    The last time two different quarterbacks passed for more than 200 yards in a game in the same season was in 1985. Bob Courtney threw for more than 200 yards in three games. Trenton Lykes had a season-high 231 yards in the season finale against Morehead State.

Cejudo Pulls Double Duty
    Joey Cejudo is handling both the placekicking and punting duties for YSU this year. He is one of just three Penguins to handle both punting and kicking in the same year since 1970.
    The last Penguin to handle both roles as punter and placekicker was Jeff Wilkins in 1992-93. Wilkins was the placekicker in each season throughout his YSU career. Wilkins shared punting duties in 1992 before assuming both placekicker and punting roles in 1993. He turned out to be pretty good playing 14 years in the NFL and winning a Super Bowl title with the St. Louis Rams.
    The only other kicker since 1970 to handle both chores was Chuck Haynali, who did both in three straight seasons - 1976, 1977 and 1978.

Berassa Has Rare Game
    Senior WR Jelani Berassa had a rare game in a multitude of ways against Butler.
    First, Berassa became just  the fourth player in school history to catch three touchdown passes in the same game. It marked the first time since 1979 that a Penguin caught three touchdown passes in the same contest. Impressively, all three came in the second quarter.
    Only five times in school history has a receiver caught three touchdown passes and had more than 100 yards in the same game.
    He followed up a 114-yard performance against Duquesne with a career-high 167-yard game against Butler. It was the first time since Dominique Barnes had consecutive 100-yard receiving games to end the 2010 slate that a Guin recorded back-to-back 100-yard plus contests.

Wells Bells
    Freshman QB Hunter Wells had an impressive starting debut throwing four touchdown passes while completing 16-of-22 attempts for 297 yards against Butler on Sept. 13.
    His 297 yards passing were the most in a game by a YSU freshman since Denny Klembara had three 300-yard efforts in 1968.
    The last time a freshman quarterback had more than 200 yards in a first career start was Tom Zetts (207) against Slippery Rock in 2004.

Four-TD Passing Games
    Since Nov. 1, 2008, quarterbacks Kurt Hess (six), Brandon Summers (two) and Hunter Wells (one) have combined to throw at least four touchdowns in a game nine times in a span of 69 games.
    In school history before November 2008, a group of six quarterbacks combined for eight four-passing touchdown games. YSU had played 702 games up to that point in school history.
    Hess had a school-record five touchdown passes against Missouri State in 2011.

Six Captains in 2014
    The Penguins have six seniors serving as team captains. Sixth-year senior WR Jelani Berassa, fifth-year seniors FS Donald D'Alesio and TE Nate Adams, fourth-year senior WR Christian Bryan, third-year senior CB Julius Childs and second-year senior DT Octavius Brown were selected to assume that role this year.

Four-Takeaway Win Streak
    YSU has won 19 straight games when it forces at least four turnovers. The last time it occurred was in 2013 vs. Duquesne.
    Since 2006, the Guins are 21-1 when they have at least four takeaways in a game. The last loss was against UNI in 2006.

Three Graduates on Roster
    Three members of the program have already earned their bachelor's degrees from Youngstown State. YSU's trio of graduates are Jelani Berassa, Nate Adams and Donald D'Alesio.
    Berassa and Adams both graduated following the 2013 fall semester while D'Alesio earned his diploma following the spring semester.

Numbers of Note
• Turnover Margin: Since 1996, the Penguins are 118-28 when they win or tie in the turnover margin. When committing more turnovers, YSU is just 20-54.
Since 1990 YSU is:
• 145-19-2 when holding opponents to fewer than 21 points in a game.
• 119-13 when rushing for 200-plus yards.
• 142-22 when scoring 28-or-more points.
• 74-9-1 when holding opponents to fewer than 100 yards rushing in a game.
• 172-13 when leading entering the fourth.
• 75-3-2 when holding opponents to 10 points-or-less in a game.
More recently:
• YSU has scored points in 71 straight games.
• YSU has scored in double figures in 27 consecutive contests.
• The Guins last played an overtime game on Sept. 11, 2004 against Florida International. YSU has not played an OT contest in a span of 122 games dating back to that contest.

Up Next: Indiana State
    The Penguins play their home regular-season finale against Indiana State on Nov. 15. The contest is part of a women's basketball, football, men's basketball one-of-a-kind event next Saturday.

Penguins Open Tough Stretch With Contest at Illinois State
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