YSU seeks scoring solution

The Penguins will close their home schedule on Saturday against Illinois State.

By PETE MOLLICA

VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF

YOUNGSTOWN — It hasn’t been a very good season offensively for the Youngstown State football team.

Saturday, the Penguins will play their final home game of the season when they play host to Illinois State in a 1 p.m. kickoff at Stambaugh Stadium. It will be Senior Day for the Penguins with 12 seniors playing their final home contest.

Last Saturday’s 28-7 loss at Northern Iowa marked the fifth time in nine games the Penguins have been held to single digits in scoring. Not surprisingly, they have lost all five of those contests.

YSU (4-5, 2-4 Missouri Valley Football Conference) has not scored in double digits the last three weeks and the school’s longest streak is four straight back in 1980.

On the other hand, the Penguins and Lafayette University are the only two teams in the Football Championship Subdivision who have lost just two fumbles this season.

The Penguins did not lose a fumble for the first 18 quarters of the season before senior tailback Kevin Smith lost one to start the third quarter against Missouri State.

Senior quarterback Brandon Summers lost a fumble against Western Illinois.

While the offense has struggled, the defense has been pretty solid. YSU’s defense has not allowed a play of 20-yards or more since the second quarter of the Southern Illinois game.

The Penguins, who lead the MVFC in pass defense, allowed Northern Iowa just 104 yards passing. The Penguins are giving up just 161.3 yards through the air.

Saturday’s contest with Illinois State (5-4, 4-2) will be the 19th meeting in the series that is deadlocked at nine wins each. Each team has posted a 5-4 record at home in the series. The Redbirds have won the last two meetings including a 27-22 win in Youngstown in 2007. Last season, the Redbirds won a shootout in Normal, Ill., 54-44.

The Penguins and Redbirds have played every year since 1995. They met twice in 2006 with the Penguins taking both games, 27-13 in the regular season at Normal and then 28-21 in the FCS playoffs in Youngstown.

The Missouri Valley Football Conference has the No. 1-ranked team in the latest SportsNetwork FCS poll.

After a convincing win at South Dakota State last week, Southern Illinois jumped two spots from No. 3 to No. 1 in the polls. In league history, six different Valley Football teams have been No. 1, and the league has had a No. 1-ranked team in seven of the past eight years.

Saturday, the Salukis (8-1, 7-0), who have already clinched a tie for the conference championship and earned the league’s automatic bid into the playoffs, will finish conference play when it hosts Missouri State (6-4, 4-3) in a 3 p.m. kickoff in Carbondale, Ill.

The Salukis will be playing their final game at McAndrew Stadium which will be replaced by a new facility next season. Southern Illinois has won the last six meetings in this series including a 23-17 win last year.

Northern Iowa (6-3, 4-2) and still clinging to hopes of making the postseason, will host Western Illinois (1-8, 0-6) in a 7:35 p.m. kickoff at Cedar Falls, Iowa.

The Panthers have won six of the last eight meetings in the series, but the Leathernecks have won three of its last four games at the UNI-Dome.

Indiana State (1-9, 1-6) and North Dakota State (2-7, 1-5) will play a meaningless game in Terre Haute, Ind., at 1;05 p.m. Saturday.

This is only the second meeting between the teams with the Bison winning last season 34-7. The game will be the Sycamore’s final game of the year.

South Dakota State (7-2, 6-1) will step outside the conference to take on Minnesota of the Big Ten in a 12:05 p.m. kickoff at Minneapolis. The teams haven’t met since the 1933 season and the Gophers have won all six previous meetings.

mollica@vindy.com