By PETE MOLLICA

By PETE MOLLICA
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
SALEM -- Ohio State head football coach Jim Tressel just about guaranteed that Youngstown State University will be on the Buckeyes' football schedule in the near future.
Tressel, one of Tuesday's featured speakers at a high school coaches clinic at the Salem Golf Club, said the Penguins would be at the top of the list to get a game in Columbus.
Recently the NCAA Division I board of directors approved a 12th game beginning with the 2006 season and also made the decision to allow Division I-A schools to count one victory over a Division I-AA team each season toward the wins needed for bowl eligibility.
Prior to that decision, a victory over a I-AA school counted only once every four years.
When asked just when he thought the Buckeyes might put the Penguins on their schedule, Tressel said that was still to be determined.
"I know that it won't happen before 2006 because that's the first year we are allowed to schedule 12 games," he said. "And as of right now we don't have anybody scheduled for that game."
Coached YSU for 15 seasons
The fact that Tressel spent 15 seasons as the head football coach of the Penguins and the fact that YSU is the only I-AA school in the state with a scholarship football team will be major factors in the Penguins getting a game.
Back in 1994 when Tressel was at YSU he tried to get the Buckeyes to give the Penguins a game, but OSU wasn't interested.
"I don't know if I would have scheduled them back then either," Tressel said. "That was during an 11-game season and the games wouldn't have counted toward bowl eligibility."
"Now that there is the 12-game schedule, Gene Smith and I have talked several times about getting a plan together and I know from talking with him that Youngstown State is going to be a part of that plan," Tressel said.
Coaching against Penguins
Tressel said that it would be different coaching against his former team.
"It would be different and it would be exciting," he said. "I know just this past season coaching against [former OSU assistant] Mark Dantonio and Cincinnati was an experience. But it was exciting just as it would be coaching against the Penguins."
Tressel also said the Penguins could get more than one game, but that's still a way off.
"We'll know a lot more after our league's athletic directors sit down with the Mid-American [Conference] directors and discuss the future of this plan," he said.
"There has been a lot of talk from both leagues about using this game to help each other out and after we talk with them and then find out just how many open dates we'll have on the schedule.
"I certainly hope that it would be more than a one-time deal," he added.
Advantages are many
Tressel also said that the advantages for Youngstown State to play a game of this magnitude would be many.
"First of all the players would get the opportunity to play in a great venue like Ohio Stadium and it would be a great recruiting tool," he said.
The other end would be the financial advantage for both teams.
"We've talked about how we can help some of our other in-state universities and how they would be given first consideration for these games," Tressel said.
Tressel also said there are fewer downsides to scheduling a I-AA team than there used to be.
"There is always the downside that the I-AA team is going to come in and beat you, but before even if you beat the I-AA team you didn't get anything for it," he said. "Now you do, so that is one less downside involved."
Big Ten meeting next week
Tressel said he should know more about the future scheduling after next week's Big Ten athletic directors meeting.
"I'm sure that future scheduling will be one of the main topics of discussion," he said. "I don't know if we'll have a definite answer after the meeting, but we will have a better handle on the situation."
Tressel was asked why the Buckeyes would consider Youngstown State or another I-AA team for that 12th game.
"When this all comes about in 2006 it is going to be a numbers game with all the teams who will be looking to fill out their schedules and those numbers indicate that they will have to go the I-AA route sometime or another to do that," he said.
Penguins are No. 1 on list
"Right now we have Youngstown State as the No. 1 I-AA school that we would want on our schedule," he said. "Why? Because it's good for football and it's good for our state."
Tressel was also asked about the BCS and what direction he felt it was going in.
"I'm really not sure at this point," he said. "The only think I know for sure is that if we want a shot at the national title we have to win every game on our schedule."
"When I first came to Ohio State I was a proponent of a playoff system, but now I'm not so sure, especially when we go to 12 games," he added. "With a 16-team playoff that would mean playing 16 games to the championship and that might be too many for our young athletes."