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‘We can play with anybody’
YSU vs Penn St.
Gallery
By JOE SCALZO
YOUNGSTOWN
YSU football coach Eric Wolford considers Sunday a family day, which is why he gives his players a day off.
Or, at least, the option of a day off.
“On Sunday, the amount of players I saw in there watching film, critiquing themselves, I think they really realize we have the potential to do something if we play like we’re capable of, stay healthy and prepare,” he said.
Wolford didn’t say what that “something” was, but he’s made it clear he doesn’t want to wait until his third year to win. The Penguins’ performance on Saturday against Penn State made that clear, too.
YSU led the 18th-ranked Nittany Lions with 90 seconds left in the first half and scored its first two touchdowns against BCS teams since it began playing “money games” in 2005.
The Penguins didn’t win — a two-minute stretch over the end of the second quarter and beginning of the third doomed them to a 44-14 defeat — but they believe they earned respect.
“We learned that we can play with anyone in the country, if we play hard and focus,” said redshirt freshman quarterback Kurt Hess, who was 21 of 25 for 189 yards and two touchdowns in his collegiate debut. “It doesn’t matter if it’s the Big Ten, SEC or even the Pioneer [Football League] or the Missouri Valley.”
The opposite is also true. Although this week’s opponent, Butler, went 11-1 last season and won the Pioneer Football League, the Bulldogs will be big underdogs against YSU. As a non-scholarship FCS team, Butler will enter the game with the same chip on its shoulder YSU carried into Happy Valley.
“As great a shot as we gave Penn State, it’s the same with Butler,” said Hess, who was named the offensive player of the week by YSU’s coaches. “They’re going to want to come in here and give us their best shot.”
Junior defensive end Andrew Johnson, the defensive player of the week, had five tackles in his Penguin debut. Johnson, who played in 12 games with Bowling Green over the previous two years before transferring this summer, said football players can’t just be measured by their divisions or conferences.
“My experience playing prior to being here is that you can play with anybody if you play with good technique and you play disciplined football,” he said. “This team has the heart and the passion to go against anybody.
“You got to keep the mentality, the same amount of fight that we had against Penn State. I wouldn’t doubt that Butler wouldn’t roll over against Penn State either, so we have to come out harder because we have to keep getting better.”
Hess said he got a lot of text messages and posts on his Facebook profile from friends and family and watched SportsCenter to catch the highlights.
But he quickly moved on.
“It’s Butler week,” he said.
Wolford follows the 24-hour rule, giving players a day to either mourn a loss or celebrate a victory.
“Once 24 hours is over, we’re done,” he said. “It does you no good on Monday and Tuesday to relive a bad or good situation.
“You can look at this two ways: either on Tuesday you can feel good about how you played at Penn State or you can feel bad about how you played against Penn State. But it absolutely has no bearing on the way we should be preparing for Butler.”