There's still hope for YSU

The Youngstown State football team just doesn't want to do anything the easy way.
All the Penguins needed to do was win each of their past two games and they would have been Gateway Conference champions and have a home seed in the NCAA I-AA playoffs.
Instead, the Penguins suffered a 31-17 loss to Southern Illinois Saturday and now must win their home finale for any chance at getting into the playoffs.
YSU hasn't been to the playoffs since 2000, when Jim Tressel was still the coach. Under current coach Jon Heacock, the Penguins went 8-3 in 2001 but were bypassed by the NCAA.
To make the playoffs the Penguins must beat Western Kentucky, a team in the same situation as YSU -- facing a must win. The Hilltoppers have not lost to the Penguins since joining the Gateway in 2001.
Penguins struggleagainst Gateway's best
This has been the problem for Heacock in his five seasons as coach of the Penguins.
He just hasn't been able to beat the league's premier teams: Western Kentucky, Southern Illinois and Northern Iowa. He is 0-5 against Northern Iowa, 2-3 against Southern Illinois and 0-4 against Western Kentucky. That's 2-12 against the league's best and the two wins came against the Salukis before they became one of the league's giants.
Southern Illinois still has to play Northern Iowa Saturday in the UNI-Dome. If the Salukis win they would eliminate the Panthers, but if Northern Iowa wins and YSU beats Western Kentucky it would leave the Penguins, Salukis and Panthers all with 5-2 league records.
YSU athletic director Ron Strollo believes that the Gateway would get three playoff teams if that happens.
Strollo, by the way, isn't taking any chances. He was on the phone Sunday submitting a bid for a home site in the playoffs. Only the top four seeds are guaranteed a home game; the other four come from bids by the schools involved.
In the 1990s, the Penguins never had a problem getting home games as they always outbid the other schools knowing they would put 15,000 to 18,000 fans in the seats.
Realistically, if the Penguins do get into the playoffs, especially as the third team from the Gateway, they will more than likely be on the road.
Saturday's scoreis misleading
Saturday's loss to Southern Illinois wasn't nearly as bad as the score. The Salukis scored two touchdowns in the final five minutes, one on an 85-yard punt return. With the score tied 17-17 the Penguins had a chance to take the lead, but redshirt freshman kicker Brian Palmer was inches away from connecting on a 49-yard field goal with the 20-mile-per-hour wind behind him.
"The wind actually hurt me on that kick," Palmer said. "It was blowing a little left to right and my kick started out dead center of the uprights. Then the wind just took it right and it missed by inches."
The Penguins also were pretty banged up as junior tackle Pat Walker and junior center Ryan Jewell both made the trip home on crutches.
Sophomore quarterback Tom Zetts, who was banged up before the game, suffered an ankle injury and had to leave the game late in the final period. But when backup Vince Gliatta also got banged up, Zetts had to return and played several downs on one leg before getting sacked on a fourth down play, allowing the Salukis to run out the clock.
"There [were] a lot of disappointed young men sitting over there in the locker room," Heacock said after the game. "They believed they had a great opportunity to win here and they did. Nothing was more depressing then watching that kid run back that punt right in front of us. We still felt we had a chance up to that point."
Regardless of what happened Saturday, the Penguins can still extend this season. A win Saturday more than likely will put them in the playoffs, a loss and they can start packing up the equipment. It's not the easy way, but it's YSU's way.
XPete Mollica covers YSU athletics for The Vindicator. Write to him at mollica@vindy.com.