Penguins must pass through Gateway

The YSU-Western Kentucky game is just one of four Gateway contests on tap today.
By PETE MOLLICA
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. -- If Youngstown State has any hope of getting to the I-AA playoffs this year the Penguins are going to have to do it through the Gateway Conference.
The Penguins (2-2) open their conference schedule tonight at Western Kentucky's L.T. Smith Stadium in a 7:30 kickoff.
YSU, since joining the Gateway in 1997, has been successful in conference openers, holding a 6-1 record.
However, that one loss came in 2002 against the Hilltoppers, 13-7, and that win helped Western Kentucky go on to capture the I-AA championship.
This season the Hilltoppers are 2-1 after last week's contest with Florida International was canceled by Hurricane Jeanne. They are ranked No. 6 in the I-AA polls.
YSU coach Jon Heacock knows what his Penguins must do to get back to the playoffs and it's simple -- win the conference championship and get the automatic bid to the playoffs.
"Everybody is still in contention," Heacock said. "But come Saturday night half the teams in the conference are going to have one loss. And if you were one of the teams that won, you had better get better before the next week."
"Right now Western Kentucky has the respect, we don't," said Heacock.
Western Kentucky is 0-3 in Gateway openers (The year they beat YSU, they had lost the previous week to Western Illinois, a team they would later defeat in the playoffs on the way to the national title.)
The YSU-Western Kentucky game is just one of four Gateway contests on tap today.
The other big matchup will be in Carbondale, Ill., where No. 1-ranked Southern Illinois plays host to No. 13 Northern Iowa at 2:30 p.m.
The Salukis (3-1) trail the overall series with the Panthers (1-2), 13-9. Southern Illinois defeated the Panthers 43-40 in a thriller a year ago at the UNI-Dome and has won three straight meetings in Carbondale.
Indiana State (3-1) has been one of the surprise teams during the non-league season. The Sycamores, one of the conference doormats in recent years, will play host to Illinois State (2-1) in Terre Haute, Ind., at 2 p.m.
Indiana State leads the series, 27-26-2, but Illinois State won last year's meeting 38-3 and has beaten the Sycamores six straight times.
Southwest Missouri State, another team that has been a surprise with a 3-1 record, will play host to the league's early disappointing team, Western Illinois (2-2).
The Leathernecks, ranked as high as 12th in the national preseason rankings, were soundly beaten by Hampton 40-20 two weeks ago and then struggled to beat Division II Quincy, 38-31, last week.
Western Illinois holds a 12-10-1 series lead, including a 63-42 win a year ago.
mollica@vindy.com