Brian Dzenis: YSU’s football, cross country teams on move

A big November is in store at Youngstown State, but there’s still business to take care of this weekend.

Three of the football team’s remaining four opponents are Top 25 teams in the Football Championship Subdivision, No. 1 North Dakota State, No. 17 Northern Iowa and No. 11 Illinois State. Before all that fun, there’s today’s game with Indiana State (3-4, 1-3).

The usual Missouri Valley Football Conference bottom feeder is smarting from losing conference-leading rusher Ja’Quan Keys to a career-ending hip injury, but the Sycamores haven’t been a pushover. On the flip side, is it safe to trust YSU (3-4, 1-3) as a favorite?

From the Penguins’ play in last week’s 29-17 win against South Dakota, the answer looks like a yes. With the YSU’s playoff hopes on life support, the Penguins showed some fight and improvement in all three areas of the game. If they win, it will be the first time they’ve won back-to-back games all year. Vegas seems a little bearish on the Penguins, pegging them as an 8.5-point favorite.

Indiana State’s last three games have all been decided by three points. The two contests that stick out are a 54-51 overtime loss to South Dakota State on Oct. 6 and a 24-21 win against Southern Illinois last week, which was the Sycamores’ first MVFC win since 2016. They’ve had a competitive October and should be taken as seriously as the Penguins’ last three games.

RUNNING STRONG

Another YSU team that has a big weekend in store is the men’s cross country team. Like clockwork, coach Brian Gorby has another championship-contending side with a pair of locals leading the charge into today’s Horizon League Championships.

Howland’s Ryan Sullivan and Boardman’s Alan Burns headline a team that started the year unranked in the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association [USTFCCCA just rolls off the tongue] regional rankings and have now climbed as high as No. 10. The team currently sits at No. 11, ahead of every Ohio Division I school save No. 7 Miami and No. 9 Dayton in the Great Lakes Region.

Sullivan currently holds the League’s third-best time in the 8K and YSU’s second best time in the event in school history at 24 minutes, 34.4 seconds.

So there’s that and a host of postseason play at the high school level in store. There’s also those two teams that bounce the orange ball at Beeghly Center to look forward to as well.

Brian Dzenis covers YSU sports for The Vindicator. Write him at bdzenis@vindy.com and follow him on Twitter, @Brian_Dzenis.