Penguins start prepping for must-win game

By Joe Scalzo | October 13, 2010 at 12:10a.m.

North Dakota State 34 - YSU 29

YOUNGSTOWN

In Saturday’s postgame press conference, YSU coach Eric Wolford ranted about his kickoff specialist not doing his job, criticized two freshmen for fumbling and questioned why two of his players weren’t able to make a tackle on North Dakota State’s game-winning touchdown pass.

It was a very different approach than the one taken by, say, Jim Tressel or Jon Heacock. But if you ask Wolford’s players, it’s nothing they haven’t heard from him first.

“He’s straight, if not more straight, with us,” said quarterback Kurt Hess. “He gives it to us like it is. He’s not afraid to call us out and he knows we’re not going to take things personally.

“He told us yesterday he loves us and we love him. Win or lose, we’re in it together. When we have success, we do it as one and when we lose we’re going to do it as one.”

Wolford hasn’t tried to hide his straight-shooting personality. He’ll scream at a player on the practice field one minute and hug him in the locker room the next. He knows outsiders might not understand his style but he said there’s a good reason for it.

“I think there’s an accountability factor that’s taken place here,” Wolford said. “Coaches, players, staff, we’re all accountable to each other. We openly talk about that all the time. It doesn’t matter the way people perceive it.”

Wolford compared it to being part of a family.

“Mom and Dad may say something to you and you might take personal it for five minutes, but at the end of the day, you know they love them,” he said. “The kids know we love them.

“We’ve got a tight group. A couple losses is not going to splinter us.”

Wolford believes there are two ways to look at YSU’s recent losses to Missouri State and North Dakota State. On the one hand, the Penguins could get down about losing 17- and 10-point leads to teams they (arguably) should have beaten. On the other hand, they could focus on being so close to victory despite committing a host of penalties, mental mistakes and turnovers.

Guess which one Wolford is emphasizing?

“These guys know they’re really close,” Wolford said. “They know very well in the back of their minds, we could very easily be 5-1 if we would have probably done a couple things a little better.

“I think there’s still a confidence we have. We’re still a confident football team. We have a confidence we can play with anyone and I think that shows on game day. We’ve just got to finish all four quarters.”

The Penguins (3-3, 1-2 Missouri Valley) will play their next two games on the road, where they are winless this season in two games.

First up is Western Illinois, a team that lost its last 10 games last season but won its first two league games this fall before losing to South Dakota State last weekend.

The Leathernecks lead the conference in scoring defense (18.7 per game), total offense (447.7 yards per game) and total defense (318 per game).

A loss on Saturday ends YSU’s hopes at a conference title and a playoff berth. But in a wide-open MVFC that features five one-loss teams and four two-loss teams, the Penguins still have hope.

“This thing is still wide open, but we’re in a situation a little like North Dakota State was coming in last week and Missouri State the week before [where we need a win],” said Wolford. “We’ve got two losses in our conference and we better not lose any more.

“It [the two losses] doesn’t mean it’s the end but you’re flirting with danger.”