Wednesday, August 27, 2008
By Pete Mollica
Some prior opponents are back, such as Austin Peay and Northeastern, while Pittsburgh is the 2009 opener at Heinz Field.
YOUNGSTOWN — A lot of people think Youngstown State’s 2008 football schedule is one of the toughest the Penguins have played in a long time. Well, just wait until next year.
While the Penguins have the likes of Ohio State, Liberty and Southern Utah on this year’s non-conference schedule, they also will play Central State, a NCAA Division II program, at home.
Next season the Penguins will open the campaign against the University of Pittsburgh at Heinz Field on Sept. 5.
The next year the non-conference schedule will also include a home contest against Austin Peay and a road game at Northeastern University, which will be a pay back game for several years ago when the Penguins opted out of a contract to play at Penn State in 2006.
Next year’s slate will include just five home games and six away games and eight games against Missouri Valley Football Conference opponents.
It will also include the Penguins’ first trip to North Dakota State, which won’t come until Nov. 21 in the final regular season game. Weather shouldn’t be a factor in Fargo, N.D. since the Bison play their home games in the 18,000 seat Fargodome.
The Penguins haven’t played Austin Peay since 1987, their final season in the Ohio Valley Conference. They were 6-2 against Austin Peay in their eight previous meetings, the last six while members of the OVC.
The last time the Penguins and Northeastern met was in 2005 at YSU with the Penguins taking a 35-16 victory. The two teams have met nine times with YSU holding a 6-3 advantage, but all three losses have come at Northeastern, including the last time the two teams played in Brookline, Mass., 28-23.
The Penguins have only played Pitt one other time and that came in 2005 at Heinz Field when the Panthers coasted to a 41-0 victory.
Since the Penguins have started playing money games in 2005, they have yet to score a touchdown in any of the three matchups. They also lost 37-3 at Penn State in 2006 and 38-6 last year at Ohio State.
Next season the Penguins will play home conference games against Missouri State, Western Illinois, South Dakota State and Illinois State, while the road league games include Indiana State, Southern Illinois, Northern Iowa and North Dakota State.
The big money games will continue as the Penguins already have a contract for 2010 against Penn State and have just about rounded up negotiations with Michigan State for 2011.
mollica@vindy.com