'Real' season begins

The exhibition season is over and now the Youngstown State football team begins the real season -- the Gateway Conference season.
The big question on everybody's mind is, are the Penguins, who have struggled through a 2-2 pre-league schedule, ready to take on the big boys in the Gateway?
And it's not going to take the Penguins long to find out as their first three conference games are against Western Kentucky, Southern Illinois and Northern Iowa.
YSU coach Jon Heacock was asked Saturday night after the Penguins struggled to a 27-17 victory over Liberty University if he thought his team was ready for the Gateway season.
"I guess we'll find out Saturday night," was Heacock's response.
Defense mustplay better
If Saturday's performance against the 1-3 Flames was any indication the Penguins could be in for a long, rough haul over the next three weeks.
Giving up more than 400 yards of offense against Liberty is bad enough, but the Flames aren't even in the same class with Western Kentucky, Southern Illinois or Northern Iowa.
I'm not sure Liberty could win a game in the Gateway. Florida International is the only team YSU has played that could hang with the Gateway elite. Not even McNeese is good enough to do that.
Granted the Penguins should have beaten both Florida International and McNeese. In fact, they were the better team. But the fact is that they didn't win.
In three previous seasons, the Penguins have never beaten Western Kentucky or Northern Iowa. They are 2-1 against Southern Illinois, but the Salukis only began rebuilding after the 2002 season and got better very quickly.
After beating up on Delaware State last Saturday, the Salukis will undoubtedly hold on to their No. 1 rankings in the I-AA polls.
Difficulty againstbetter opponents
In three seasons, Heacock has had trouble finding a way to beat the best teams in the conference. In fact, he's only beaten two teams in the conference that have had winning records in those three years.
Heacock said Saturday his team is still playing hard, but is that good enough to win the Gateway?
Granted the Penguins are young - very young. There are only seven senior starters in the first 22 players on offense and defense.
Many believe the Penguins are still a year away from putting things all together. Heacock and his staff think they can win now.
Inexperience is a big factor to overcome, as redshirt freshman quarterback Tom Zetts is finding out this year. Zetts has all the tools, but he's still learning the college game.
The offensive line is getting better, but then sophomore center Ryan Jewell, one player with experience, went down with an injury on Saturday. His status is still uncertain. The Penguins have talent on defense, but it just doesn't seem to get in the right place at the right time.
The defensive front has made big plays this season, just not enough of them. The Penguins are small at linebacker, but had hoped that their overall quickness would make up for the lack of size. It hasn't.
The secondary, outside of senior Mike Bracken and sophomore Jason Perry, is adequate, but gives up too much ground through the air.
Special teamsdoing well
Special teams appears to be the Penguins best hopes for big plays right now.
Senior kicker Nick Terracina is 7-of-9 on field goals this year, and both of his misses were nearly of the 50-yard range and he's booming his kickoffs out of sight. Sophomore punter Joe Bishop didn't have a great game against Liberty, but he is still among the best in the league.
So what does it look like from here on in?
I think the Penguins do have the talent, young as it may be, to contend in the Gateway this year, but it's going to take a much better effort over the next seven weeks than it's shown thus far.
XPete Mollica covers YSU athletics for The Vindicator. Write to him at mollica@vindy.com.