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UNI is great test for young YSU
By Joe Scalzo
YOUNGSTOWN
The last time Youngstown State beat Northern Iowa in football, Jim Tressel was coach, Bill Clinton was president and Budweiser was still airing “Whassup!” commercials.
Since then, the Penguins have lost 10 straight to the Panthers, a streak that has gotten to be as annoying as, well, “Whassup!” commercials.
“They’ve had a lot of success against us,” said Penguins coach Eric Wolford, which is a little like saying the roadrunner had a lot of success against the coyote.
But, there is hope.
For one thing, UNI’s best offensive player, QB Tirrell Rennie, is questionable with an ankle injury and figures to be less than 100 percent even if he plays.
For another, the Penguins (5-3, 3-2 Missouri Valley Football Conference) have won three straight since a disastrous home loss against South Dakota State on Oct. 8 and boast the nation’s second-highest scoring offense at 40 points per game.
True, YSU has yet to face the conference’s two top defenses (UNI and North Dakota State) but, still, it’s not like the season is two weeks old.
“I’ve heard all kinds of stories and spins to this and the only story I see they have a great offense,” said UNI coach Mark Farley. “The coach [Wolford] has done an awesome job there in a short amount of time.
“They’ve always been one of those teams that I thought could become a great team in a short amount of time.”
How short? Well, on Oct. 8, YSU’s chances of making the playoffs seemed about as good as Kris Humphries growing old with Kim Kardashian. (Or, for those of you who didn’t get that reference, of Joe DiMaggio growing old with Marilyn Monroe.)
“We knew [after the SDSU loss] in order to make a run, we had to win six,” said sophomore quarterback Kurt Hess. “So far, we’ve got three.”
But the Penguins’ magic number isn’t three — it’s 30. Wolford’s team is 4-0 in conference games when YSU holds its opponent under 30 points and 0-9 when it doesn’t.
YSU’s defense played poorly at the beginning of the year but has come on lately, due to a combination of the young players growing up and the playbook opening up. The Penguins don’t need to pitch a shutout to win, but they do need to play their best conference game of the season.
“We have a young football team,” said Wolford, who has played 21 freshmen so far this year. “We’re starting to mature a little bit and get a better understanding of the things we need to do.”
Have they matured enough? No one knows yet.
But it should be fun to find out.
“It’s a meaningful game,” said Hess. “It’s one of those games I came here for.”