YSU ready to meet SDSU

The Penguins came out of their game at Ohio State without an injury.

By PETE MOLLICA

VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF

YOUNGSTOWN — A lot of good things for Youngstown State’s football team came out of last Saturday’s 38-6 season opening loss against Ohio State.

Many of them took a lot of the sting off the final score.

“We had no offensive penalties and we won the turnover margin,” YSU coach Jon Heacock said. “I thought we handled ourselves very well against a nationally ranked opponent.”

Possibly the biggest positive thing that came out of the game was that the Penguins came through without any injuries.

Heacock praised the defense which held the Buckeyes to 147 rushing yards.

“When breaking down the film, they had 37 carries that netted 67 yards and four carries that netted 80 yards,” Heacock said.

This week, the No. 6-ranked Penguins (Football Championship Subdivision) are getting ready for another rugged opponent, South Dakota State.

The Jackrabbits, who dropped out of the FCS national top 25 this week, suffered a 29-26 loss to Western Illinois in four overtimes.

New Gateway members

South Dakota State, along with North Dakota State, will become members of the Gateway Conference next season.

“This is a good football team and their strength lies in their offensive and defensive lines,” Heacock said.

“Their quarterback is a first-year starter and their offense is very similar to ours and they like to mix it up with pass and run,” he said.

“They have an outstanding kicker and if not for a couple of turnovers would have beaten Western,” Heacock said.

Heacock said the Penguins have to get better on offense than they showed against Ohio State. The Penguins could muster just 176 yards, including only 85 yards rushing on 34 attempts.

Tailback has been a question mark for the Penguins since Marcus Mason and Monquantae Gibson played their final game a year ago.

Tailback is still a question

Heacock is bouncing between three prospects. Sophomore Jabari Scott is the current starter while junior Brandon Nicholson and redshirt freshman Jordan Edwards are close behind.

“The running backs did OK,” Heacock said, ”but we certainly need improvement there.”

Senior quarterback Tom Zetts completed 10-of-18 passes for 86 yards in three quarters. He missed a few receivers and had a couple dropped, but the Penguins need much more production from him if they intend to return to the playoffs this year.

The offensive line performed well and will only get better when senior Tyler Booth returns to 100 percent. Booth played quite a bit against the Buckeyes.

The Penguins also need to get senior wide receiver Rory Berry back in the lineup.

The team’s second leading receiver last year, Berry has returned to practice this week and is expected to play.

Solid defensive front

While the YSU defensive front, led by junior All-American tackle Mychal Savage, redshirt freshman tackle Torrance Nicholson, senior nose tackle Greg Jacobs, ends senior Maurice Smith, Luke Matelan and Blake Halverson, was outstanding Saturday, the secondary allowed 270 passing yards and three touchdowns.

“We had some concern about our technique in the secondary that we’ll be working on this week,” Heacock said.

One of the big problems was that the Penguins were so concerned with stopping the run that they put seven players into the defensive front box leaving the secondary in a man-for-man coverage.

“When you are left by yourself at the corners sometime goods things happen and also bad things happen,” Heacock said. “When the bad things happen, you have to get over it quickly because they’ll be coming right back at you.”

mollica@vindy.com