In honor of Youngstown State's first conference game, I figured QB Kurt Hess might need to learn what intensity look like, which is why I brought this photo from his senior year at Ursuline to the weekly press conference:

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"That's a great photo," Hess said, smiling.

When Wolford saw it, he started smiling and said, "That's a good-looking guy right there. No. 65, but No. 1 in your heart.

"I can even laugh at myself. That's a good-looking young lad right there."

In case you're wondering why he's showing off his bare midriff, keep in mind that this was 1988 and Brian Bosworth was in his second year with the Seattle Seahawks.

The Vindicator photo archive isn't as well-stocked as you'd think but we do find a few gems from time to time.

Like this one:

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Wolford appears to have lost his stoicism over the years. Here's one from this month's opener at Michigan State, courtesy of the Associated Press:

http://media.vindy.com/content/image/scalzo/Wolford Eric .jpg" alt="" />

Not to be outdone, here's a photo of Illinois State coach Brock Spack, whose game face appears to include a caterpillar across his lip (courtesy of Illinois State Athletics):

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That's a perfect example of someone who looks like he should be able to pull off a mustache. And yet ...

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

Actually, this is the quote of last week but I didn't get it into the paper in time:

From Wolford. "We need to do the things we need to do to take care of what we need to do to do what we want to do in the big picture."

Got that?

WANTED: HOME FIELD ADVANTAGE

After a disappointing home-opening crowd of 14,000 last week (which included a lot of no-shows), YSU has been pushing for a big crowd at Saturday's game and it looks like the Penguins will get it.

I'm told more than 17,000 tickets have been sold for Saturday's game -- and that number was just through Thursday night -- and the school is hoping its $5 general admission ticket offer will push that number at least above 18,000.

As for last week's crowd? They're hoping it was due to the poor opponent (Valparaiso had lost to a Division III team the week before) and a weather forecast that included rain.