Penguins ready for Gateway
Youngstown State senior quarterback Tom Zetts can’t wait to start play in the Gateway Football Conference.
Zetts, the fifth-year senior from Boardman, hasn’t been impressed with the Penguins’ intensity he expected from his teammates this season.
“I’m looking for more passion and more fire from my guys,” Zetts said, “and I know that it will be coming next week when we begin Gateway play.”
The Penguins (3-1) have won three straight since losing their season opener at Ohio State, but Zetts and coach Jon Heacock know South Dakota State, Stony Brook and Lock Haven are nothing like what the Penguins will face in the Gateway.
“We haven’t seen that Gateway passion yet,” said Heacock. “But then we haven’t played a Gateway game yet.”
That will all come Saturday when the Penguins play host to Missouri State at 6 p.m. at Stambaugh Stadium.
The Penguins know that, as two-time defending champions of the conference, they will be right on top of every Gateway team’s to-beat list.
Surprised teams
in 2005 season
In 2005 the Penguins surprised a lot of people by winning five of seven conference games and finishing in a three-way tie for the conference championship with Northern Iowa and Southern Illinois.
That season the Penguins lost to both Northern Iowa and Southern Illinois and as a result were left out of the playoff field.
Last year the Penguins didn’t take any chances as they won the Gateway outright with a 6-1 record, losing only to Northern Iowa, and returned to the playoffs for the first time since 2000.
The Penguins know what it is going to take if they want to get back to the playoffs and with road games at both Southern Illinois and Northern Iowa it is not going to be an easy task.
If the Penguins don’t win the Gateway outright, and that’s not going to be an easy feat, then they know it will probably take at least nine victories to assure them of a postseason spot.
Nine wins would definitely mean that the Penguins would need to win one of their two road games with the two top teams, Northern Iowa and Southern Illinois, who are both undefeated going into this weekend.
Struggled against
Northern Iowa
Heacock and the Penguins have not fared well against Northern Iowa anywhere they’ve played. They have dropped six straight to the Panthers and haven’t beaten them since the 2000 season, the final one under Jim Tressel.
They’ve done better against the Salukis, going 3-3, including one win in Carbondale, Ill.
But those games are still a few weeks away and the Penguins have more pressing problems in getting ready for the Bears this weekend.
YSU has had success in Gateway openers, going 8-2, and even more success against the Bears as they hold a 10-1 advantage, the only defeat coming at Springfield, Mo., in 2004.
The Penguins will go into the contest with three offensive line starters out of the lineup.
Heacock and his staff got to look at a lot of players in Saturday’s 35-3 win over Lock Haven and the patched-up line did a pretty good job against a Division II opponent that had not won a game.
Missouri State isn’t the strongest team in the Gateway, but the Bears are definitely better than Stony Brook or Lock Haven and possibly even better than South Dakota State.
The Penguins running game has looked impressive the past two weeks, but it will face a better defense in Missouri State.
Sophomore Jabari Scott appears to have the No. 1 tailback spot locked up, but the Penguins have help in junior Kevin Smith, junior Brandon Nicholson and redshirt freshman Jordan Edwards.
Zetts need to be on top of his game, something he hasn’t been the last two weeks, but you know that he’ll be back once the Gateway season begins.
The defense has been solid against the run, although the pass coverage has been shaky at times.
Everything needs to come together this week because as Heacock said, “It all starts for real on Saturday.”
XPete Mollica covers YSU athletics for The Vindicator. Write to him at mollica@vindy.com.