Looking ahead to YSU football

As of right now, the Youngstown State University football team will not have a live local television game on its 12-game schedule this season.
The Penguins will have all of their home games tape-delayed over Fox 17/62 WYFX, with Robb Schmidt and Todd Kollar calling the action. That station also will delay its broadcast of the Kent State game on Sept. 13 from Kent. Those replays will be shown at 10:30 p.m. following the games.
Two local television stations, WFMJ and WKBN, both made inquiries about doing the Kent State game live, but the Golden Flashes turned down both requests, knowing the YSU game might just be its biggest crowd of the season.
The Penguins will be on television two other times this season, once live and once taped-delayed, but as of yet none of the local stations are picking up the game.
On Sept. 27, the Penguins will be televised on The Football Network in their matchup with Liberty at 7 p.m., while on Oct. 4 they will be part of the Gateway Television package in a home game against Southwest Missouri State, which will be tape-delayed at 2 a.m. the next morning of Fox Sports and Fox Sports Digital Net.
New college network
This season the College Sports Television network, a 24-hour network devoted to college athletics, will televise a Division I-AA game of the week. The Penguins didn't make that list either.
I-AA.org.com, a web site devoted to I-AA football, recently held a ballot for all fans to vote for their favorite game of the week for each of the 13 weeks during the regular season.
That vote, which was held in June, had 14,000 responses, and the schools that had the biggest fan vote got the games for the coming season.
The Penguins' Gateway Conference matchup with Northern Iowa on Nov. 1 did finish second in the balloting, but that was as close as the Penguins got. That game finished a distant second to the Montana-Northern Arizona game.
Montana voters must have been busy over that month's span since they will be involved in six of the network's 13 games. The Gateway has just one game, on week six of the season, between Western Kentucky and Western Illinois.
It is still not known whether any of the local cable stations will be offering the College Football Network this year.
Begin drills Aug. 4
The 2003 edition of the Penguins will report for summer camp on Aug. 3, with the first workout slated for Aug. 4. The annual media/photo day also will be Aug. 4 beginning at 4 p.m. at Stambaugh Stadium.
The Penguins will not hold their first two-a-day practice session until Aug. 9. The second session on two-a-days will be in the evening.
YSU coach Jon Heacock is expecting 30 lettermen returning from last season's 7-4 team that finished third in the Gateway. Six offensive and five defensive starters are back.
The Penguins open the season on Aug. 28 against Division II Edinboro at 7:30 p.m. at Stambaugh.
Penguin Power Half Hour
The Penguin Power Half Hour featuring Heacock and WYTV Channel 33 Sports Director Bob Hannon will begin on Aug. 31, and will air every Sunday at noon throughout the season.
The first Penguin Club Press Luncheon is scheduled for Aug. 26, prior to YSU's home opener against Edinboro.
The luncheons, which begin at noon, will be held for the remainder of the season on Tuesdays at the DeBartolo Stadium Club.
Tickets for the general public are $5 for Penguin Club members and $6 for non-members. Public reservations can be made by calling the Sports Information office at (330) 941-3192.
XPete Mollica covers Youngstown State for The Vindicator. Write to him at & lt;a href=mailto:mollica@vindy.com & gt;mollica@vindy.com & lt;/a & gt;.