Key to Gateway is next 3 weeks

The Youngstown State football season suffered a severe jolt on Saturday when the Penguins were totally dominated by Northern Iowa 22-7 at Stambaugh Stadium.
The season suffered a jolt, but it didn't end for the Penguins, although that end is not far away unless they can start playing football a lot better than they did Saturday.
The Penguins are 4-3 on the season and 2-2 in the Gateway Football Conference. But they are only one game out of first place and they still have to play three of the four teams ahead of them.
The Gateway season has been an unusual one thus far, and it appears that any team in the conference is capable of beating anyone this year.
Upcoming slate
The Penguins will face Western Illinois, Southern Illinois and Illinois State in the next three weeks. Two of them -- Western Illinois and Illinois State -- are on the road.
With three losses already on its record, the Penguins again find themselves on the bubble for an at-large berth into the I-AA playoffs. Three straight wins and some help around the conference, and they could still find themselves in the conference title picture.
There is no doubt that the Penguins cannot afford another defeat, they may have too many already, although it you take a look at the Sports Network Top 25 poll you will see at least 10 teams that already have lost two games.
Ranked 22nd going into Saturday's game, the Penguins will probably find themselves out of the Top 25 this week for the first time in nearly two years, but then again they haven't played like a Top 25 team for much of this season.
The challenge
The Penguins have a lot of problems that need to be fixed very quickly.
The offense has been non-productive and most of the problems appear to be in the offensive line, which was beaten badly by Northern Iowa all day long.
The kicking game has been horrible all year. Not just the kicking itself, but the coverage teams in particular. Kickoffs and punts have been returned for far too much yardage, and the opposition always seems to have good field position after a kick.
Coach Jon Heacock can't find the answer.
"We have almost all of our best players on those units," he said. "But when you give a team like Northern Iowa a start at the 50-yard line after a kick, you are always going to be in big trouble."
Gave them advantage
Heacock said that the Penguins let the Panthers get into "their comfort zone" on Saturday. "They had the early lead and good field position and that's when they are at their best."
In Northern Iowa's last two games, they were behind early in both games and couldn't run their game plan.
"We didn't force them to do that," Heacock said.
The YSU defense, which has been so outstanding during the first six games this season, didn't play well Saturday. They gave up over 300 yards in total offense and over 200 on the ground.
"For us to be successful we have to be able to run the football and to stop the run on defense," Heacock said. "We didn't do either very well on Saturday."
Heacock told his players after Saturday's game that they had controlled their own destiny coming into that contest, but now they didn't.
Will need help
It is obvious that the Penguins are going to need some help along the way to get into the playoffs. But before that is going to make any difference, they have to take care of the business ahead of them and that means finishing the season with four straight wins.
An 8-3 season might or might not get them to the playoffs, but if they take care of their end, then anything is possible, especially the way this season has been going.
XPete Mollica covers YSU football for The Vindicator. Write to him at mollica@vindy.com.