YSU faces SDSU today

By Pete Mollica

YOUNGSTOWN — Youngstown State and South Dakota State will meet today for the 11th time in a series that dates back to the 1965 season.

The Penguins (4-3, 2-2 Missouri Valley Football Conference) and Jackrabbits (6-1, 5-0) will square off at 4 p.m. in the homecoming contest at Stambaugh Stadium.

The game will also be televised live as the Missouri Valley Football Conference Game of the Week. Area fans can watch the game over MyYTV.

The series is deadlocked at five wins apiece and since the series was renewed in 2007 each team has won once and each on their home turf. The series is tied 3-3 in Youngstown and 2-2 in Brookings, S.D.

The Penguins won the last meeting at Stambaugh in 2007, 23-17, while last season the Jackrabbits routed the Penguins 40-7 in Brookings.

Today will also mark the first time the Penguins have played a game on Halloween since the 1992 campaign. That season, which was also a homecoming game, the Penguins posted a 28-19 win over Eastern Illinois.

Last week the Jackrabbits posted an impressive 24-14 victory over then No. 3 Northern Iowa, which this week moved South Dakota State into the No. 9 spot in the rankings, the first time they’ve been in the top 10.

YSU is coming off a 27-8 loss to Southern Illinois, which has put the Penguins into a must-win situation for the remainder of the season if they have any hope of reaching the postseason.

The Penguins are 2-1 at home this season, while the Jackrabbits are 2-1 in road games.

Last week the Penguins passed for 296 yards and rushed for just 50. The last time they passed for 246 more yards than they rushed for in a game was back in 1995 at McNeese State when they passed for 281 yards and rushed for just 12. The Penguins also lost that game 31-3.

The three other matchups in the conference today are all deadlocked in their overall series.

No. 3 ranked Southern Illinois (6-1, 5-0), tied with South Dakota State for the conference top spot, travels to meet Indiana State in a 12:05 kickoff in Terre Haute, Ind.

The Sycamores (1-7, 1-4) are coming off their first victory of the season, 17-14 over Western Illinois, which ended the nation’s longest losing streak of 33 games. Southern Illinois has won six straight in the series, including a 60-7 win last year which deadlocked the series at 23-23.

North Dakota State (1-7, 0-5) and Western Illinois (1-6, 0-4) will battle to see who gets out of the conference cellar in a 2:05 p.m. kickoff in Macomb, Ill. The series is tied 1-1 with the Leathernecks winning 27-22 last year in Fargo, N.D.

Missouri State (5-3, 3-2) will play host to Illinois State (3-4, 2-2) in a 2 p.m. kickoff in Springfield, Mo. The Bears won a year ago 34-28 to deadlock the series 14-14-1.

Northern Iowa (5-3, 3-2) is idle this week.

mollica@vindy.com