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Pelini favors practices against other schools
Coach: ‘You get sick of seeing each other’
By Joe Scalzo
YOUNGSTOWN
By the time Youngstown State plays Pitt on Saturday, it will have been 287 days since the Penguins hit someone in a different jersey — a 38-14 loss to North Dakota State on Nov. 22.
By comparison, over the last month every area high school football team scrimmaged at least twice. Every NFL team has played at least three exhibition games so far, with several also practicing against other NFL teams.
But in college football, the only time you see a different jersey is on game days.
“I think it would be good to at least practice against somebody else,” said Pelini, who was hired by YSU in December. “I don’t think that will ever happen in college football because of the price that goes along with that, but I think that would be very beneficial. Even if it isn’t a full-fledged game, just to have the opportunity to play against some different people and different schemes can be very beneficial.”
The NFL’s policy has come under scrutiny over the last few weeks because of several high-profile injuries during preseason games. The Packers lost wide receiver Jordy Nelson for the season to an ACL tear. The same thing happened with Panthers WR Kelvin Benjamin. Steelers center Maurkice Pouncey broke his ankle and Pittsburgh kicker Shaun Suisham tore his ACL.
“It’s probably not real popular these days [to consider changing college football’s policy] with all the injuries happening in the NFL during the preseason, but that’s just part of the deal,” Pelini said. “I think, personally, what happened in the NFL is the lack of time guys have in structured workouts during the offseason lends itself to injuries. I know that’s part of the collective bargaining agreement, but I don’t know if it’s ultimately the best thing for these players.”
NFL teams haven’t had much luck at joint practices, either. So far this month, practice fights broke out between the Cowboys and Rams, Texans and Redskins and Dolphins and Panthers.
“I don’t think we need to make it like the NFL,” said YSU running backs coach Pepe Pearson, who played at Ohio State in the late 1990s and played for six NFL teams from 1998-2001. “You see what’s going on in the NFL with the fights and stuff like that, I think it’s done the right way at the college level.
“I guess it could be kind of fun [to practice or scrimmage] if it was a lower-level team or whatnot, but I really like this dynamic. We’ll be champing at the bit for Pitt and I think it’s set up that way. Everyone is excited to hit someone else.”
YSU was allowed 29 training camp practices before the Pitt game, as well as 15 spring practices (including a spring game). Last Saturday, during YSU’s second intrasquad scrimmage, quarterback Hunter Wells got intercepted twice by inside linebacker Jaylin Kelly. While Wells took responsibility for the interceptions, he said part of the problem was the first-team offense had been playing the first-team defense for three weeks straight.
“I’m not making excuses, but they see us a lot,” he said. “They’re really familiar with what we do.”
“To some extent, you do get sick of seeing each other,” Pelini said. “You want to see a different style of offense, a different style of defense. Something to break up the monotony of camp.
“We do a good job of servicing each other [with different looks], but it would be refreshing to have some different competition during camp.”