YSU Student Paper's Take on Game

[Sly Fox]

Here's a story from today's edition of The Jambar, the student newspaper at Youngstown State:

First road game will test football team

By justin smolkovich
Published: Thursday, September 15, 2005

Only minutes after the Penguin victory over the Northeastern University Huskies, coach Jon Heacock told his players that despite the convincing 35-16 victory, the Penguins have more work to do.

"I told our kids the minute after the game that this game will be the biggest challenge we have had yet," Heacock said in the Tuesday press conference.

The Penguins, who put up 468 yards of total offense, still have room for improvement.

"There are things on film that we need to get better on," Heacock said.

The Penguins will be traveling for the first time this season, to Lynchburg, Va., where they will be tested early and often against Liberty University, who fell last week in a one-sided game to UCONN by a score of 59-0. Next week's game will be the first of two consecutive road games. The Penguins travel to Pittsburgh to play in the first ever meeting between the Penguins and the Pitt Panthers.

Despite Liberty's 59-0 loss, Heacock believes that a different team will show up to play on Saturday, a team looking to revenge last season's 27-17 loss at Stambaugh stadium.

"I don't think we have seen any form of the team we are going to play on Saturday," Heacock said about scouting the Liberty Flame (1-1).

The Penguins will look to carry momentum from last week's game that was largely won on the shoulders of running back Monquantae Gibson. Gibson ran for a career high 198 yards and one touchdown, including a 72 yards scamper early in the first half. Gibson was awarded for his effort by being named Gateway Football Conference Offensive Player of the Week. However, Heacock was worried about the amount of carries Gibson tallied during the game. Gibson toted the ball 32 times.

"I don't think it' healthy for our team and Monquantae to carry the ball as many times as he did the other night," Heacock said.

Kick off for the game is set for 7pm.

Keys to the game

Kicking game: The Penguins only attempted one field goal last Saturday, but it was a missed 42-yarder. Coach Heacock believes his kickers have the leg to make the kick, but need to settle down before conference play heats up.

"I don't question the ability of either of our young kickers. The consistency is the thing we need to work on," Heacock said.

Keep getting Smith touches: Senior wide receiver Kyle Smith continued his race for a YSU record as he snagged five passes for 56 yards, bringing his consecutive games with a catch total to 24.

Control the running game: The Penguins only allowed 70 yards last week on 26 attempts. The Penguins will look to lower that number against an offense that only accumulated 161 yards on 44 plays. The leading rusher for the Flame, Rajive Otah, only mustered a measly 24 yards rushing.

Continue dominating defensive lines: Last week the Penguins amassed nearly 500 yards of offense for an average of 5.3 yards a play. The Penguin's offensive line created holes for Gibson to rush for a career high and helped quarterback Tom Zetts throw for 201 yards. The offensive line allowed only one sack on the game on 32 pass attempts.

Control a hostile environment: This Saturday will be the road opener for the Penguins, who went 1-4 on the road last season. The Penguins must set an early tone to the game and eliminate the crowd noise at Liberty.

www.thejambar.com/media/paper324/news/2005/09/15/SportsAndRecreation/First.Road.Game.Will.Test.Football.Team-985962.shtml

[HarrisburgFlame]

Good read. I can see the crowd noise and hostile environment being a huge factor :>).

If only that were true.

[LUconn]

That whole article reaks of modesty. Unless a whole lot of people step up, I don't think this is as difficult a game as they're telling their players it is.

[Chris Lang]

As fans, you all should really act like the UConn game never happened. Seriously. What happened up there has very little bearing on what may transpire Saturday.

And with Concord, LU was breaking in 35 new players.

The team is as much a mystery now as it was before the Concord game. Nothing would surprise me Saturday, but I really have very little idea what to expect.

[LUconn]

I haven't even looked at the Uconn game. I thought of it as more of a scrimmage. In the fact that we got some guys broken in with competition that we'll never see again. But our running game just seemed less than what I was looking for against Concord. Sure it was the first game but they're D2. You're right though, it is still a mystery and I could be completely wrong.

[HarrisburgFlame]

I'm very interested to see what happens this week. The OL was banged up vs. Concord (and is still paper thin) and Concord brought the house nearly every down. But it's still Concord - you think you could have popped one or two of those. That said, before the season I was worried about losing Sam, Gene, and Dre. Tough to replace. I was worried about Brock Farrel and his ability to threathen a D. I'm still very concerned about all of the above and the DL and banged up LB's.

Another scary preseason sign was not having enough guys to hold a spring scrimmage. Scary! So many negative signs that I have dismissed because in my heart I want 8 wins but in my head I'm readjusting expectations. We may be lucky to get 4.

This Saturday will tell a lot in my book.

[Sly Fox]

I agree with Chris that we remain an unknown in many respects. YSU will be a terrific litmus test to see where truly stand. They have shown tremendous improvement in their first two games ... albeit against less than stellar competition. But if we can hang with the Penguins my expectations for the season will grow exponentially.

I was thrilled to hear Manny is back this week. That could've been a fatl loss considering their running game.

Actually, I thought that was a very well written piece for a college kid. Most students get caught up in the hype and this one hasn't. Plus he is very concise in making his points. Are you getting all these pearls of wisdom, A-Train?

[HarrisburgFlame]

One other point on YSU. They dusted Northeastern and Northeastern played Georgia Southern very well in week one. I saw that game on replay and that was a great game with lots of offense.

One other note: Is there any way we can get a two-deep depth chart for this game? Is the Sene guy seeing any time? Who is starting upfront this week? With the injuries it's been hard to keep up with.

[Chris Lang]

Sene has started at left tackle in both games and looked shaky. Couple of holding calls in the first game. He was overmatched against UConn. Luck is still playing some TE and some LG. Inge is back up to full speed. Godsil, the freshman, starting at center with Britt Stone backing him up and playing some guard. LU really only has about seven decent linemen, so the rotation is pretty short.

[HarrisburgFlame]

How has Ferguson played so far?

[Chris Lang]

He's been fine. LU ran the ball well enough against Concord, but having Luck at LG between two newcomers at center and left tackle was a mess. Not to mention then LU is without its top pass catching TE.

[ATrain]

Well from a personal trainer I hear the team is fired up about this game...if we can score first, I think the crowd will get behind them and help carry them to victory...if YSU scores first and stays ahead, then that advantage evaporates.

[PAmedic]

I have to agree w/ LUConn on this one. Call me a pessamist (until proven otherwise) but I think the kid from Y'town was being very gracious considering what we've shown to date.

But, all in all- a WELL written article. Excellent considering it's a student paper (?)

[Bald Spot]

If we get a win or look respectful its a whole new season. I remember Sam never wanted to play a big time program because he was afraid it would take several weeks after the game to get his players healthy again. We'll see.

[PAmedic]

Yo BALDY did I forget to mention that if and when you register- you get the complimentary PM from the one and only PAmedic detailing just how crazy a certain Texan on this board really is, including the details of his nefarious plan to rule the world?

if THAT doesn't persuade you, nothing will.

oh, and the free pony.

[Chris Lang]

Bad stat of the night from my research: LU's last "quality" I-AA win was in 1997 against Appy State. Wow, eight years ago.

[longtimeago]

LU had a good team in 1997...a tough loss to Hofstra and a overtime loss to Hampton because we couldn't make an extra point...otherwise that would've been a playoff team. The Anderson to Freeman post pass was one of the most exciting things to watch.

[jimflamesfan]

We did beat Hofstra two years ago, I think. Hofstra's a quality program, but I believe it was a down year for them, they were something like 2-10, but they played good teams close. I belive that was Karcher's biggest win.

I was thinking, have we ever beaten a 1-AA opponent that finished the season with a winning record since Karcher has been here? The only one I could think of as a possibility was our win over Gardner-Webb last year. I think that's the only winning 1-aa program that we have beaten in recent history.

In '97 we beat Cal-Poly when they had like a 10-2 record or something, that was another big win from 8 years ago.

[Chris Lang]

Jim,
Gardner-Webb was 5-6 last year.

The win over Coastal Carolina in 2003 was the only one, and Coastal was 6-5.

[Wossamotta_U]

C'mon now Flames! Y'all got a big game today. Your Big South brothers are behind you! The Eyes of Big South are Upon You!

<--- CCU alumnus

[Sly Fox]

Actually, I think there are a few more eyes on your game at Appy St. If we were to both win today it would be a banner day for the league.