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Wofford’s option offense presents new challenge
Pelini previews matchup vs Wofford
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YSU head coach Bo Pelini met with the media to discuss Saturday's matchup and filling the Ice Castle.
YOUNGSTOWN
There’s a new challenge every week with each new team the Youngstown State football team faces, but this week will prove to be a challenge different to anything this team has seen this year.
The Wofford Terriers (10-3) bring with them a complicated, option-type offense the Penguins (10-3) haven’t seen this year. So this week more than ever, preparation is key.
“They know their offense and they run it well,” YSU head coach Bo Pelini said Tuesday. “I don’t know if you can simulate it in practice.
“You do the best you can in a short amount of time but you’re not going to run it with the precision they do but you can simulate some aspects of it and make sure your guys understand the discipline, technique and roles you have to play with an offense like that.”
With that being the case, the scout team will play a larger role this week.
“There will be some walkthroughs for [the scout team] and different things to help get them up to speed,” Pelini said.
Memories players have of going up against other option-type teams probably won’t help much against Wofford either since it’s not quite a typical triple-option attack.
“It’s not Navy,” Pelini said. “There’s some two-back styles to it and some option styles to it. It’s a bit like the old Fitch offense for local people.”
The Penguins are coming off a win against the Ohio Valley Conference champion and now face a team who just beat the Southern Conference Champion.
But with three teams from the Missouri Valley Football Conference remaining (North Dakota State, South Dakota State and YSU), it seems apparent the MVFC has prepared the Penguins for tough playoff match-ups.
“There’s no doubt in my mind we’ve got the toughest conference in the country,” YSU quarterback Hunter Wells said. “Stats and national championships speak for themselves.”
Pelini echoed that sentiment.
“You get challenged week to week in our conference and it makes you battle tested and then you look at the non-conference we played where you go to West Virginia,” Pelini said. “It’s a good conference.
“It’s physical and you see a variety of different offenses and defenses. It prepares you well.”
While no team is as fresh for their 14th game as they were for their first, players like Wells and running back Jody Webb, who haven’t had as many games under their belt as others, seem to be helping YSU as other teams may be getting a bit worn down. Pelini attributes their practice style for the continued performance this late in the season.
“You pull them back when you need to pull them back but you get your work done,” Pelini said. “There’s a balancing act there you have to do. You can’t pound them every day all day but you still get your work done.”
ticket sales
A steady steam of ticket sales this week should have Stambaugh Stadium much more crowded than the 5,322 fans who saw YSU play Samford in the first round of the FCS playoffs on Nov. 26.
Eric McLellan, YSU Manager of ticket operations, is having a busy week and said he believes Saturday’s game will be very well attended.
“It’s 7:36 in the evening and I’m still in the office which is a good sign,” McLellan said. “I don’t have any official figures but I would think Monday was pretty close to a record on the first full day of sales. I think we’ll have a pretty darn good crowd on Saturday.”
The Samford crowd didn’t exactly jump off the page in terms of sky-high attendance numbers, but it was still the largest among all FCS first-round games, according to McLellan.
“I feel pretty good that we’ll drastically surpass the Samford numbers.”