Victory wasn’t expected

For the fifth straight season, I’ll say it: “Nobody really expected them to win.”

And for the fifth straight season, the Youngstown State football team suffered a one-sided defeat, this time to the University of Pittsburgh on Saturday (38-3).

Maybe this season it was thought that the Penguins just might give the Panthers a little resistance, and at least score a touchdown.

But once again, for the fifth straight year, the Penguins were unable to cross the goal line of a Football Bowl Subdivision opponent.

Saturday’s effort was probably the best overall performance that the Penguins have put forth against the FBS teams, but it still left something to be desired.

YSU moved the football against the Panthers and once drove to the Pitt 15 yard line before an interception snuffed out the drive in the end zone.

Defensively, the Penguins were tough up the middle, but the Panthers made them pay on the outside and through the air. YSU did come up with one interception.

YSU head coach Jon Heacock, who has taken over the reigns as defensive coordinator this season, said that the team made some adjustments at halftime. They came out for the third quarter and it showed as the Penguins picked off the Panthers on their first drive and stopped them cold on their second.

But the Panthers overall strength and speed and especially their numbers were just too much for the Penguins to overcome. After allowing a third quarter field goal to the Panthers, two more quick scores at the end of the third quarter and another at the start of the final quarter completed the rout.

Heacock came away from the contest with a good feeling.

“We competed today and times we competed very well with them, but there were just too many mistakes and too many penalties,” he said. “Those things were disappointing to me.”

YSU’s standout senior defensive tackle Mychal Savage said the big problem in the first half was alignment.

“At halftime, we made some alignment adjustments,” Savage said. “In the first half, we just didn’t get lined up right. We have to be in the right position if we want to be successful.”

“It think that the biggest thing that came out of this game is that we know if we all line up and get into position, we’re capable of stopping anybody,” Savage said.

Senior tailback Kevin Smith, who led the Penguins with 47 yards on 17 carries in the game, said some things need to be corrected.

“The mistakes we made, they’re correctable,” he said. “This team wants to win. We came out today and just didn’t play as well as we could or should have. We’ll just get back to practice and get ready for the next game.”

YSU senior quarterback Brandon Summers had a respectable performance hitting on 11 of 22 passes for 113 yards, but was intercepted twice.

The standout overthrew a wide open Dominique Barnes in the first quarter, which would have been a touchdown and then did the same thing to senior Aaron Pitts at the Pitt 5 yard line just before junior Stephen Blose kicked a 48-yard field goal for the Penguins’ only points.

Heacock was pleased with Blose’s effort.

“We intended to give him a shot at one and we figured that this was right within his range and he went out there and drilled it through,” said Heacock. “It was a big kick for us because we’ve had some questions about our kicking game going into this season.”

Now the Penguins will get set for their home opener on Saturday when they’ll play host to Austin Peay in a 4 p.m. contest at Stambaugh Stadium.

The Governors defeated Newberry in their season opener Saturday, 34-23. The two teams haven’t met since the 1987 season when the Penguins posted a 20-18 win at Stambaugh Stadium.

XPete Mollica coves YSU athletics for The Vindicator. Write him at mollica@vindy.com.