Ed Puskas: It’s a Christmas bonus at the Ice Castle

It’s beginning to look a lot like ... 2006.

That’s not a bad thing for the Youngstown State football team, which last made the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs a decade ago.

That Penguins team, coached by Jon Heacock, advanced all the way to the national semifinals before running into Appalachian State and quarterback Armanti Edwards.

Appalachian State was a big thing in FCS then, and a year later became an even bigger thing nationwide with a season-opening upset of Michigan that helped usher in the end of Lloyd Carr’s coaching career.

Dec. 9, 2006 was a long day for YSU in Boone, N.C. Edwards and the Mountaineers never let the Penguins get a lead in the game. YSU running back Marcus Mason ram for 121 yards and a touchdown and quarterback Tom Zetts passed for a TD, but Appalachian State won, 49-24.

Mason and Zetts? Didn’t they just graduate? I must be getting old.

It has taken a decade for the Penguins to return to the playoff format they owned throughout the 1990s under Jim Tressel. But now that they’re back, it’s starting to look like old times.

The Penguins are making big plays on offense, creating opportunities on defemse and playing well on special teams. They’re limiting mistakes in most phases of the game — a hallmark of the Tressel title teams — and as a result they’re about to play a December football game at Stambaugh Stadium for first time since beating Illinois State at the Ice Castle on Dec. 2, 2006.

YSU (10-3) will host Wofford (10-3) in an FCS quarterfinal at 2 p.m. Saturday.

Most people didn’t know what to expect of the first playoff team of the Bo Pelini era, because his Penguins had been uneven this season, especially on offense. But they got well in a hurry in a dominating regular-season finale at Missouri State. That performance came against the dregs of the Missouri Valley Football Conference, but it seemed to have done wonders for YSU’s confidence.

Next was a 38-24 playoff-opening win at home over Samford and then a 40-24 romp over third-seeded Jacksonville State on the road.

With the Penguins’ confidence soaring, we can only wonder these two FCS playoff victories have increased fans’ confidence in the team. Will people actually show up at the Ice Castle for a game in December?

With any luck, the weather will be good enough to lure the locals, but bad enough to provide just the right “December in Youngstown” feeling for the Terriers.

The crowd has to be better than it was for Samford, right? The announced attendance was 5,322, but if you were part of that “crowd,” you know that was a optimistic estimate.

YSU fans have another chance to see the best Penguins team in a decade up close and personal. It’s a bonus, because this wasn’t supposed to happen. Wofford beating sixth-seeded The Citadel was an upset.

Unlike the Bulldogs, the Penguins did take of business and if they do it again, it might just start looking a lot like 1991.

Write Vindicator Sports Editor Ed Puskas at epuskas@vindy.com and follow him on Twitter, @EdPuskas_Vindy.