YSU NOTEBOOK \ From South Dakota

Loyal fans: Jerry and Billie Lyda of Poland love to follow the Penguins home or away. This weekend the Lyda’s made the trip to Brookings, S.D., a distance of 849 miles and they did it by motorcycle. Lyda, owner of Lyda Electric in Poland and his wife are members of the Penguin Club. They said the entire trip across Michigan was made in a steady rain.

Newest member: The Jackrabbits along with North Dakoa State are the two most recent additions to the Missouri Valley Football Conference, formerly the Gateway Conference. Both schools were officially admitted to the league in July 2007. Saturday’s game was the Jackrabbits first official Valley game. YSU, which joined the conference in 1997, played its first conference game on Oct. 4, 1997 at Indiana State and posted a 31-0 victory.

Real grass: South Dakota State’s Coughlin-Alumni Stadium has a natural grass playing surface. Saturday’s game marked the first time the Penguins had played on natural grass since Oct. 14, 2006 when the Penguins played at Western Illinois, a game they also won 35-28.

Cereal Bowl: Saturday’s contest was the 13th annual Cereal Bowl hosted by South Dakota State. The annual event is presented to showcase the university’s ties to agriculture. The annual event has raised more than $2 million, while the Jackrabbits have been very successful in the game. In the 12 previous contests, they have posted a 9-3 record, but had lost the last two including a 31-17 defeat to Missouri Valley-member Northern Iowa.

Substitute: Rob Schmidt, former sports director and news anchor at WKBN Channel 27 and presently director of athletic marketing at YSU, handled the play-by-play radio coverage for Saturday’s game. Schmidt was filling in for long-time voice of the Penguins, Bob Hannon, who missed his first game in more than 17 years. Hannon, who recently left his job as sports director at WYTV Channel 33 to take over as director for the United Fund Campaign, had a scheduling conflict this weekend, but will broadcast the rest of the games. The rest of the radio crew has color commentator Dick Hartzell and sideline reporter Dave Sess.

Up next: After two straight weeks on the road, the Penguins will get to play their home opener Saturday when they entertain the

Central State Mauraders in a 4 p.m. kickoff at Stambaugh Stadium. In eight previous meetings, the Mauraders never have defeated the Penguins.

Pete Mollica