Penguins face a tough road

Youngstown State is 1-1 and must go up against one of the better football teams in Division I-AA football.
Saturday's 22-16 overtime loss to Florida International was a disappointing one, because the Penguins held a 16-3 lead going into the final quarter and because the defense allowed over 400 yards.
This Saturday, the Penguins make their first road trip of the season and it won't be an easy one. YSU visits Lake Charles, La., to take on McNeese State, one of the country's top 10, according to last week's national poll.
Last trip wasn'ta pleasant one
The Penguins have only been to McNeese once and that wasn't an enjoyable trip, either, as they lost 31-3 in 1995. The last time the two teams met was in 1997 when the Penguins won 10-9 in the I-AA national championship game.
Florida International is a good team, it is also a team that is moving up to Division I-A in two years.
But, the Golden Panthers are not a great team and the Penguins have much tougher opponents ahead of them on the schedule, including McNeese.
The lack of a pass rush against Florida International was the deciding blow for the Penguins.
In the first half, FIU sophomore Josh Padrick overthrew almost every wide open receiver he had.
But in the final quarter, with junior David Tabor having all the time he needed to throw, he picked apart the Penguins.
No pass pressurea major problem
Coach Jon Heacock said when the Penguins tried to blitz there seemed to be a receiver left wide open and when they didn't blitz there was no pressure on the quarterback.
Offensively, freshman redshirt quarterback Tom Zetts needs to have a little more time when he throws the ball. Zetts, who completed only 17-of-33 passes for 168 yards and one touchdown, was sacked twice and was hurried many times.
The running game looked very good at times, and sophomore transfer Monquantae Gibson, who missed the opener with a shoulder injury, was impressive. He finished the game with 122 yards on 22 carries, but on YSU's final scoring drive he carried the ball nine straight times for 53 yards, setting up Nick Terracina's third field goal.
Terracina was perfect on all three of his field goal tries, including his first one from 47 yards.
Sophomore Joe Bishop averaged 43.6 yards on nine punts, including two that traveled 58 and 56 yards.
The Penguins are relatively healthy right now. Outside of Yancey Marcum, who's out for the year and redshirt freshman James Terry, who played sparingly Saturday, the team is healthy.
Who are these teamseverybody's playing?
I don't ever want to hear anybody complaining again about YSU playing a Division II school in its opener.
Did you look at the I-AA scoreboard from last Saturday's games?
Western Illinois took on PSAC doormat Cheyney and rolled 98-0.
Northern Iowa took on powerful Minnesota. Oh wait, that was Minnesota-Mankato, and the Panthers rolled 40-0.
Then there was Western Kentucky, taking on that "powerhouse" from Concord (W. Va.), and winning 58-0.
The best one was Georgia Southern, which took on that one-man team Johnson C. Smith and rolled up an 84-3 victory.
Slippery Rock, Clarion, Edinboro and the Div. II teams YSU has played in the past would have made mince-meat of those sub-Division I teams.
After losing to Florida Atlantic last year here and then Florida International this year, maybe athletic director Ron Strollo had better go back to scheduling a couple Div. II teams for the first two games. Just kidding.
XPete Mollica covers YSU athletics for The Vindicator. Write to him at mollica@vindy.com.