Pressure is on the Penguins

Monday, August 28, 2006 YOUNGSTOWN — It's hard to believe that Youngstown State's season football opener is just three nights away. The Division I-AA Penguins kick off the 2006 campaign on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. when they play host to Division II Slippery Rock University at Stambaugh Stadium. There is a lot of pressure on the Penguins going into the season, especially after being picked to finish among the top 10 Division I-AA teams in the country in two preseason polls. YSU is coming off an 8-3 season, including 5-2 in the Gateway which gave the Penguins a share of the conference championship along with Northern Iowa and Southern Illinois. No playoff selection was big disappointment Both of those teams defeated the Penguins last season. As a result, YSU was not selected to participate in the I-AA postseason playoffs, a big disappointment to the Penguins. YSU has not been to the postseason since the 2000 campaign, Jim Tressel's final season as head coach. Heacock, although he has had three winning seasons in his first five years, has not taken the Penguins to the playoffs. With 27 seniors and 16 starters returning, the Penguins already have been picked to finish second this season in the Gateway, behind Northern Iowa. The interesting thing about this season is that the Penguins are good enough to handle the pressure and have the talent to make a run at Chattanooga for the I-AA title game. There are some question marks, but name me one team in the country that doesn't have question marks going into the opening game of the season. The Penguins don't have many on offense, where they appear as sound as they have ever been. Possibly the lone exception is at wide receiver where there is talent but not a lot of experience. Defensive line talented, but not experienced Defensively, there are more question marks, mainly on the defensive line, which again has talent but not a lot of experience. Also, the Penguins are pretty banged up on the line coming out of camp. That group also got a little stronger and deeper last week with the addition of sophomore transfer Nhemie Theodore, a 6-foot-3, 290-pound tackle from the University of Minnesota. Thompson, a Irvington, N.J., native, practiced with the team for the first time Saturday. There is a lot of experience and talent at linebacker and in the secondary. Special teams might have some questions, especially with a new long snapper and a new holder for field goals and extra points, but the Penguins have appeared to fill those needs during fall camp. The kicking game is solid and the Penguins appear mentally ready to take on all the challenges that face them. And there are plenty. The Penguins' schedule is the toughest pre-league schedule in a long time, maybe ever. "You look at those teams and who they played and who they beat and who they played close, and you know that you've got your hands full," Heacock said. "We open with Slippery Rock and they've got everybody back and are looking for a big year," he said. "Then we go against Maine and we are their opening game so you know that they've been thinking about nobody but us all fall camp. The big one looms, followed by U.C. Davis "Then there's [I-A] Penn State, a whole different level and over 100,000 fans and finally we come back to play U.C. Davis, a team that defeated Stanford last year," Heacock said. "But I think this is what this team needs. We need to get as tough as we can be for this season," he said. "We've got to get it done because our schedule won't allow us to be any less than perfect." There will be a few rule changes this year in college football. A couple of them were put in to try and shorten the length of the games, which has gotten out of hand. This year when the ball is free-kicked, the game clock will be started when the kicker's foot touches the ball. And when a team is awarded a first down, the clock will start on the ready for play signal. The committee estimates the game will be shortened by five minutes on just those two changes. The kicking tee used on kickoffs has been limited to one-inch in height, while the Penguins also will get a taste of instant replay when they take on the Nittany Lions on Sept. 16. Pete Mollica covers YSU athletics for The Vindicator. Write him at mollica@vindy.com.