YSU LIVE | Pregame

We're about 30 minutes away from today's game between North Dakota State and Youngstown State.

YSU leads the series 3-1, winning the last three. The Penguins rallied to beat the Bison 39-35 last year in Jon Heacock's final game. All four games in the series have been decided by eight points or fewer.

Safety Andre Elliott will miss his second straight game for YSU. Elliott is still recovering from a shoulder stinger he suffered two weeks ago against Southern Illinois and is expected to miss a month. Freshman RB Jordan Thompson is out with a shoulder injury (not expected to be serious) and freshman LB Thomas Sprague is out with a knee injury. Sprague could miss a few weeks.

Sophomore Obinna Ekweremuba might get his first start at defensive end in place of Stephen Meadows, who irritated the coaching staff last week by picking two personal foul penalties against Missouri State.

North Dakota State has had an up and down year, beating Big 12 member Kansas 6-3 in the opener and getting wins over Morgan State and South Dakota. But the Bison are 0-2 in the Missouri Valley Football Conference, losing to the league's two undefeated teams: Western Illinois and Northern Iowa.

YSU is hoping for a crowd of around 16,000 today, considering Ohio State played at noon and the weather is beautiful.

-- Joe Scalzo