43
DakotaDome’s noise, location will test YSU football
By Joe Scalzo
YOUNGSTOWN
The University of South Dakota is 950 miles away from Youngstown, making it the Penguins’ longest football road trip this season.
In at least one way, this is a good thing.
“There’s no chance of taking a bus,” YSU sophomore quarterback Hunter Wells said.
In at least one way, this could be a bad thing.
Last year, Wells was forced to tuck his 6-foot-5 frame into a middle seat on the plane between his offensive coordinator, Shane Montgomery, and (arguably) the team’s biggest clown, third-string quarterback Tanner Garry.
“You can imagine how that goes,” Wells said. “Coach Monty sleeps the whole time. Snores. His head might roll on my shoulder here and there. Then, you know how Tanner is. It’s self-explanatory.
“I think [his middle seat assignment] was because I was a freshman last year. Hopefully this year will be a little different.”
While the South Dakota trip can’t compare to, say, the Western Illinois trip — if you try to get directions to Macomb, Ill., Mapquest just says “You can’t get there from here” — it still involves a costly three-hour flight to Sioux Falls, followed by a one-hour bus ride south to the DakotaDome.
It’s part of the fun of being more than 400 miles east of the next-closest MVFC team, Indiana State. USD, by contrast, is only two hours from South Dakota State and is less than 41/2 hours from both North Dakota State and Northern Iowa.
“It is a tough travel for them,” South Dakota coach Joe Glenn said. “Hopefully that works to our advantage.”
Another thing that could work to his advantage is USD’s stadium, one of three domes in the MVFC. The DakotaDome is a quirky place, with strange turf (it uses scratchy, spongy AstroTurf PureGrass, instead of the rubber pellet-based turf used at most stadiums, including Stambaugh Stadium), strange seating (nearly all the seats are on one side, save for bleachers that house the student section on the visitor side) and a tiny locker room.
It feels more like a big basketball arena, which makes sense since the Coyotes also play basketball games there.
“You’re kind of down in a bowl and they’re [the fans] looking right at you and it feels like they’re right on top of you,” YSU senior DT Steve Zaborsky said. “You got the student section right there when you’re trying to go in at the one end zone.
“We like playing out there. I remember last we played out there, it was a great environment playing in the dome.”
The 10,000-seat DakotaDome isn’t as big as the FargoDome (19,500) or the UNI-Dome (17,000) but it can still get pretty loud, something the Penguins learned two years ago when they made their first (and only) trip to Vermillion. YSU running back Martin Ruiz ran for a 3-yard touchdown with 14 seconds left to give YSU a 38-34 victory.
Wells was a senior at Fairless High in 2013, but he did play in YSU’s 38-14 loss at NDSU last season, so he knows how loud it can get inside a dome. He said the Penguins will use a silent count if it gets too noisy, but won’t change much else.
“I think we should be all right this week,” he said. “It does [affect things] to an extent with your receivers when you’re talking, but mainly it’s still the same communication.”
Penguins coach Bo Pelini knows the noise and the lighting might be different, but said he doesn’t get caught up in venues or locations.
“That’s the furthest thing from my mind,” he said. “I don’t care if we play in the backyard. As long as they don’t change the size of the field, we should be fine.”