Penguins are better than that

Youngstown State's football team is much better than the one that played the first half last Thursday against Slippery Rock University.
The Penguins played much better in the second half and finished with a 35-13 victory to open the season, but that overall effort probably will not win another game this season.
The Penguins have to get better.
And they are better. I've watched this group almost every practice session through spring ball and fall camp and Thursday's first half might have been the worst I've seen them perform over that entire period.
I think and it's only my opinion, that some of the blame has to be put on the coaching staff.
YSU went into the game with a very inexperienced offensive line and a redshirt freshman making his first collegiate start at quarterback.
The play calling in that half looked just like the coaches didn't want to put too much too soon on the offense, a few dump off passes and too many runs into the middle of the line.
Zetts looks goodin starting debut
Tom Zetts is not your average freshman quarterback and he showed that in the second half when the offense opened up a little and began to move the football.
Zetts, the former Boardman High standout, missed only two passed the entire night, one of those he threw away and the other would have been another touchdown had he not overthrown a wide open Phil Larmon.
Of course Zetts' first eight passes were in the two-to-five yard range and several of those were turned into good gainers by the receivers, including junior Josh Cayson's 72-yard touchdown run.
Running back Caysonis underused
The use of Cayson is another thing that bothers me.
The Warren JFK standout is listed at 165 pounds and that's probably if you weigh him in full uniform, yet the coaches insist on running him straight into the middle of the line, yes that same inexperienced line.
Almost every time Cayson has made big yardage he's broken to the outside where he can use his speed and quickness.
The O-line is going to continue to get better as long as they stay healthy and so will Zetts, especially with the crop of receivers he has to work with.
Senior Matt Rycraft, junior Kyle Smith and Larmon are class receivers who will catch anything near them. So is tight end Mike Roberts and they all have very capable backups.
Cayson should have some help in the backfield with the return of sophomore transfer Monquantae Gibson, who has been hampered with a shoulder injury, while fullback Demetrius Ison also is another very able ball carrier.
Defense shakyagainst Div. II team
Defensively the Penguins need to make some big improvements.
They gave up over 300 yards to the Division II Slippery Rock. Granted they only allowed one touchdown, but now they are going to be going up against teams with even more potent offensive attacks.
This week's opponent Florida International is a team that has only been in existence for four years and already is moving up the Division I-A ranks.
You know with all those extra scholarships they are going to have a running back better than The Rock's Josh Kniess (134 yards on 26 carries) and they'll have at least one receiver as good if not better than Brandon Richardson (7 catches for 67 yards).
The Penguins will be better with the return of senior defensive tackle Nate Baston who missed Thursday's game for disciplinary reasons and junior cornerback Chris Goffer, who hopes to have his academics in order for Saturday's game.
At times the quickness of the YSU defense looked great and did the job, but other times it didn't. The secondary, although it never gave up the deep pass, still gave up too much, especially in clutch situations.
XPete Mollica covers YSU athletics for The Vindicator. Write to him at mollica@vindy.com.