Playoff game is such a relief

Saturday's game against James Madison represents the first postseason appearance in six years.
By PETE MOLLICA
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
YOUNGSTOWN -- Youngstown State football officially returned to the postseason Sunday when the Penguins were selected as the No. 4 seed in the newly named NCAA Division I Football Championship Series.
YSU will meet James Madison (9-2) in the opener on Saturday and will be the featured televised game of the opening round over ESPN2 at 7:30 p.m. at Stambaugh Stadium.
This will mark the first postseason playoff appearance by the Penguins in six years. Their last playoff appearance was in 2000, when Jim Tressel was still the coach.
Jon Heacock, who took over for Tressel in 2001, has had two close calls into the playoffs (formerly the NCAA Division I-AA), in 2001 and last year when the team posted 8-3 records, but were left out of the playoffs.
Took care of business
"Last year we sat here not knowing what was going to happen," said Heacock. "But this year these guys took care of business out on the field."
"It's exciting, but it will be a tremendous challenge for this football team," he added. "James Madison is an outstanding football team."
"When you get to this point in the season it really doesn't matter who you play, because they are all good or they wouldn't be here," Heacock continued.
The Penguins are in the top bracket of the playoffs, and if they win Saturday they would go up against the winner of the Eastern Illinois (8-4) vs. Illinois State (8-3) Dec. 2 in Youngstown.
Top-seeded Appalachian State (10-1), the defending national champion, will play host to Coastal Carolina (9-2) and Montana State (7-4) will play host to Furman (8-3) in the other half of the bracket.
In the lower bracket Montana (10-1) was seeded No. 2 and will play host to McNeese State (7-4), while Southern Illinois (8-3) will entertain Tennessee-Martin (9-2).
Massachusetts (10-1), the No. 3 seed, will play host to Lafayette (6-5) and Hampton (10-1) will play host to New Hampshire (8-3) to round out the first round pairings.
Television is bonus
Heacock was excited, first about getting a seed, second about playing at home and third about playing on national television in the opener.
"Being seeded and playing at home is such a tremendous advantage," he said. "You don't have to travel for the first two rounds if you win and it is such a great advantage for our players and fans to be at home.
"Playing on national television is a tremendous tribute to our seniors, who have done so much to get us to where we are today," he added.
The Appalachian State-Coastal Carolina game will be televised at 3:30 p.m. on ESPNU.
The Gateway Conference and the Atlantic 10 Conference were the only two leagues to get three representatives into the playoffs.
The eight automatic bids went to YSU (Gateway), Appalachian State (Southern), UMass (Atlantic 10), Hampton (MEAC), Lafayette (Patriot), Tennessee-Martin (Ohio Valley), McNeese State (Southland) and Montana (Big Sky).
The at-large field included Illinois State and Southern Illinois (Gateway), James Madison, New Hampshire (Atlantic 10), Montana State (Big Sky), Eastern Illinois (Ohio Valley), Furman (Southern) and Coastal Carolina (Big South).
The series
YSU and James Madison have met three times previously with the Penguins holding a 2-1 advantage.
The three meetings took place in the early 1990s with the Penguins winning 31-15 in 1990 in Youngstown, and 28-21 in 1991 in Harrisonburg, Va. In 1992 James Madison won a shoot-out, 52-49, at Stambaugh Stadium.
All of the meetings were during regular-season play.
Tickets for the playoff contest are on sale this week at the YSU athletic ticket office in Stambaugh Stadium.
The office will be open from 9 a.m. until 7 p.m. on Monday, Wednesday and Friday and from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. on Tuesday. The office will be closed Thanksgiving day.
mollica@vindy.com