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READY & WILLING
Youngstown State’s football squad is anxious to begin the season against Big Ten’s Michigan State
By Joe Scalzo
YOUNGSTOWN
The last time Youngstown State played on a Friday, they put up 63 points in a home playoff game against an Alcorn State team that featured a quarterback named Steve McNair.
Seventeen years later, the Penguins will make their Friday return under very different circumstances.
That 1994 team went on to win its second straight national title. This year’s team is just trying to return to respectability after a disappointing 3-8 campaign in 2010.
“We’re ready,” said sophomore quarterback Kurt Hess, the Missouri Valley Freshman of the Year last year. “I told somebody I was ready two weeks ago.
“We’ve got a bad taste in our mouth from last year.”
Youngstown State enters Friday’s game as 34-point underdogs against Michigan State. The Penguins have lost eight straight against FBS teams (the last win came against Kent State in 2000).
Overall, the Penguins are 19-24-1 against FBS teams, including 11-19-1 on the road. No. 17 Michigan State is 2-0 against FCS teams and enters Friday’s game with 15 returning starters from last year’s 11-win team.
“It’s a great challenge,” said YSU coach Eric Wolford. “You know, most of us love a challenge. We love to compete and we get a chance to compete against some of the best.
“There’s four or five guys on this [Michigan State] football team that are all-conference players and they’re gonna have the opportunity to play on Sunday. They’re good football players and they’re well-coached and we get a chance to see how we stack up.”
Last year, much of the talk centered around whether YSU could simply score a touchdown against a BCS team after getting outscored 197-12 in the previous five matchups.
After scoring two against Penn State last year, that’s no longer good enough.
When asked how he would measure success against Michigan State, Wolford said, “Success, to me, is winning. At the end of the day, you’re either 1-0 or 0-1.
“One of our fundamentals of success is we expect to win. Are we making guarantees? No. But that’s got to be your mentality. We’re not here to worry about whether we score a touchdown or not. We’re here to come out and play Youngstown style of football.”
Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio is familiar with that style, having served as defensive coordinator at YSU under Jim Tressel from 1986-90.
“They’re a football team that’s got a lot of tradition, so I’m sure they’ll be very excited to come up here and play on Friday night,” he said of YSU. “I think it’s very unique that they’re a football team that was ahead in every single game they played last year, so they’ve just got to be able to hold onto that a little bit.
“I think great things are ahead for Coach Wolford and his staff there.”