Pens to face old OVC rival

By Pete Mollica

YOUNGSTOWN — It’s been 22 years since Austin Peay has made an appearance at Youngstown State’s Stambaugh Stadium. The Governors’ third-year coach, Rick Christophel, is hoping for better results from his team than in that last meeting.

The Governors (1-0) and Penguins (0-1) will clash Saturday in a 4 p.m. contest at Stambaugh in the home opener for YSU.

Last Saturday, Austin Peay defeated Division II Newberry 34-23 in its opener at home, while the Penguins lost at Pittsburgh, 38-3.

YSU and the Governors spent several seasons as members of the Ohio Valley Conference before the Penguins dropped out after the 1987 campaign.

That final meeting at Stambaugh in 1987 ended with a 20-18 victory for the Penguins and made their all-time record over the Governors 6-2, including a perfect 4-0 mark at home. Austin Peay’s last win in the series came in 1986 in Clarksville, Tenn., 13-10.

Christophel knows his Governors are in for a tough game this week, although he felt Newberry was a very good opening opponent.

“They weren’t Division I, but they had several Division I transfers and were a very good test for us,” he said.

“It was our first game and we did make a lot of mistakes, but I was pleased with the team’s overall effort which you have to have to win games,” he added.

“Youngstown lost at Pittsburgh and I know it was a money game and they weren’t expected to win, but looking at them on film you could see their ability and how they moved the ball on Pitt,” Christophel continued. “There is such a big jump in that level of competition.”

Last week the Governors rushed for nearly 400 yards against Newberry and had two tailbacks rush for over 100 yards, including a 210-yard performance by sophomore Ryan White, while junior Terrence Holt added 152 yards and scored two touchdowns.

“Newberry really loaded up the line of scrimmage and once we broke through there was really nobody there,” Christophel said. “Still we had two or three turnovers and that’s not good and something we can’t afford to do against Youngstown.

“Youngstown State is a well-coached football team and they are not going to make mistakes to allow you to win,” he said. “They don’t give up the big play and they have a quarterback who is a heck of an athlete and he has three very dangerous receivers and some veteran running backs.

“We’re going to have to play very well if we want to have a chance against them on Saturday,” he said.

The Governors’ junior quarterback, Trent Caffee, didn’t throw that much in the opener, hitting on 6 of 12 passes for 84 yards and a touchdown.

“Every coach wants to go into a game and run an offense that is 50 percent running and 50 percent passing, but the game really dictates what you do and last week we didn’t need to throw the football any more than we did,” said Christophel.

Christophel is a little concerned with his defense, which allowed 449 total yards to Newberry, including 335 yards passing.

“We’ve got some things to work on this week to get ready for Youngstown State and hopefully we’ll be ready to go up there and compete against them,” he said.

The Governors were 2-9 a year ago under Christophel, but had a very young team which is obvious in the fact that they return 18 starters and 54 lettermen from that team.

“Last week’s opening win was a big help because whenever you can start out with a win it makes correcting your mistakes that much easier the next week and everybody knows that between weeks one and two is supposed to be when you make your biggest improvements,” he said.

mollica@vindy.com