Liberty Scouting Report
    Liberty earned its first victory of the season on Saturday beating Kentucky Wesleyan 47-7 in its home opener.
    The Flames scored 40 first-half points, including 24 in the second quarter to break the game open. LU’s defense stepped up allowing a minus-20 yards rushing in the contest.
    On offense, the Flames offer a balanced attack averaging 168.5 yards passing and 153.5 yards rushing a game.
    LU has used two quarterbacks with Gus Condon and J.R. Barley splitting time. Together they have combined to complete 60-of-111 passes for 674 yards and three touchdowns. Dre Barnes, the Big South’s Preseason Offensive Player of the Year, has 284 yards rushing on 56 carries.
    The defense put the clamps on Kentucky Wesleyan after allowing 48, 49 and 62 points in each of the first three games. Through four games, the Flames are allowing 41.5 points and 449.0 yards per contest.

YSU Has Won Three of Five Meetings
    Youngstown State has won three of the five all-time meetings against Liberty. The most recent contest was played in 1993, which was a 42-0 victory for the Penguins.
    In the three YSU wins, it has outscored the Flames 90-20. In Liberty’s two victories, it outscored the Penguins 39-8. This will be the third meeting between the two teams in Lynchburg.

Last Meeting: YSU 42, Liberty 0
    Youngstown State built a 21-0 first-quarter lead and never looked back beating Liberty 42-0 on Oct. 16, 1993, at Stambaugh Stadium.
    The Penguins finished the game with 388 yards rushing as both Tamron Smith (150) and Darnell Clark (114) went over the 100-yard mark. Clark scored two touchdowns in the game, including a 56-yarder.
    YSU’s first score came on a 16-yard blocked punt return for a touchdown by Corey Scarlato. Smith and Clark added touchdowns in the 21-point first stanza.

Last Time Out: FAU 13, YSU 6
    Florida Atlantic built a 13-3 lead and held off a late YSU rally attempt in the fourth quarter to beat the Penguins 13-6 at Stambaugh Stadium on Saturday night.
    YSU tied the game in the second quarter at 3-3 on a Nick Terracina field goal. But FAU kicked a field goal just before the half to lead 6-3 at halftime.
    The Owls scored on their opening drive of the second half to go in front 13-3 when Jared Allen threw a seven-yard pass to Roosevelt Bynes.
    Terracina had a 37-yard field goal in the fourth and YSU had a first down at the FAU 42 with just under three minutes remaining, but penalties and two sacks ended any hopes of a Penguin comeback. FAU finished the game with 293 yards of total offense while YSU had 277.

Doby Returns to Action
    Senior tailback Josiah Doby saw his first action of the season against Florida Atlantic. Doby had 59 yards on eight rushes to lead the YSU offense. He missed the first three games because of turf toe.

Kickers Have Solid Performances
    Junior placekicker Nick Terracina and redshirt freshman punter Joe Bishop had solid outings against FAU. Terracina kicked field goals of 41 and 37 yards for all six Penguin points. Bishop averaged 42.1 yards on seven kicks (the best by a YSU punter since Kosta Karapetsas’ 46.3 against Marshall in 2001) and placed three inside the 20. He also had a long kick of 51 yards.

Marcum Double-Digit Tackles Again
    Junior linebacker Yancey Marcum finished the FAU contest with 10 tackles, marking the fourth time in four games he has had double figures in tackles. Through four games, Marcum has 45 tackles, an average of 11.25 per game.

Bracken Plays Key Role
    Junior strong safety Mike Bracken had his best game of the young season recording a team-high and personal season-high 11 tackles against the Owls. Bracken recorded four solo stops and seven assisted tackles. He also had two tackles for losses. His 11 tackles were the second most in his career behind 15 against UNI last year.

Other Florida Atlantic Tidbits
    • The last time YSU did not score a touchdown in a home game was on Oct. 28, 1995, in a loss to Indiana State. That is a span of 52 games at Stambaugh Stadium.
    • Entering the game against YSU, FAU had not scored a point in the first or third quarters, but on Saturday 10 of the Owls’ 13 points came in those periods.
    • The six points scored by the Penguins were the fewest in a home game since Nov. 11, 1995, when YSU suffered a 9-6 loss to Buffalo.
    • YSU allowed just 48 yards rushing to the Owls, the fewest since Illinois State had minus-six yards on Oct. 20, 2001.

One Touchdown Pass Allowed
    Through four games, the Youngstown State defense has allowed just one passing touchdown -- a seven-yard toss from Jared Allen to Roosevelt Bynes in the third quarter against FAU. YSU went the first 18 quarters of the season by not allowing a passing touchdown.
    The last time YSU opened the season without allowing a passing score in the first three games was in 1991. This year’s squad was trying to become the first YSU team since 1981 to not allow a touchdown pass in the first four games.

2-2 Start Not All Bad
    Since 1977, the Penguins have started a year 2-2 on six occasions and each time they have turned things around to win their fifth and sixth games of the season. Last year, YSU was 2-2 before improving to 4-2 and eventually rallying to finish the season with a 7-4 overall mark. In 1987 and 1989, YSU was 2-2 and came back to make the playoffs.

On This Date (Sept. 27)...
    The Penguins have played eight times on Sept. 27 posting a 4-4 record. The most recent contest was in 1997 when YSU beat Hofstra 27-22. In 1986, YSU lost at Southern Illinois 24-17, in 1980 YSU lost to Northern Michigan 10-7, in 1975 YSU lost at Western Illinois 20-19, in 1969 YSU lost to Southern Illinois 43-14, in 1958 YSU beat New Haven 20-15, in 1952 YSU beat Gustavus Adolphus 13-12 and in 1951 the Penguins defeated John Carroll 10-6.

YSU Hasn’t Lost Three Straight Since the End of the 1998 Season
    The Penguins have not lost three consecutive games since the 1998 season losing to Central Florida, Northern Iowa and Illinois State in succession. Since 1990, Youngstown State has lost three straight games only twice -- in 1995 and 1998. Last year, YSU had two two-game losing skids, but rebounding to snap the streak each time.

Time Not On Our Side
    In all four games this season, the Penguins have been on the short end of the time-of-possession stick. The last time YSU went four consecutive games with a lower time of possession than its opponents was a stretch early in the 1999 season in games against Western Michigan, Indiana (Pa.), Western Illinois and Indiana State.
    Since moving up to Division I-AA in 1982, this is the first time YSU has had a lower time of possession than its opponent in each of the first four contests to open a season.

16 Second-Half Points Allowed
    The Penguins defense has surrendered just 16 second-half points this season through four contests. That is the most impressive start to a season since allowing just 12 points to open the 1994 campaign.
    YSU did not allow a point in the second half of the first two games of the season. The last time YSU held its first two opponents of the season scoreless in the second half was in 1996. YSU allowed three field goals at Kent and a third-quarter touchdown by FAU.

Gateway Off to an Awesome Start
    The eight members of the Gateway Football Conference have been impressive at home winning 14 of 15 home games they have played host to so far this season. Also, Gateway teams are 10-1 against I-AA opponents and 9-0 against non-Division I’s.
    Combined, league teams are 20-8 overall. Southern Illinois and Western Kentucky are the league’s two remaining unbeaten teams. Four teams have already won three games this year.

Penguins Go For First Road Win
    The Penguins will be looking for their first road victory of the season when they travel to Liberty on Saturday. Last season, YSU lost its first road game of the year at Western Kentucky, but rebounded to win three of its final four away games posting a 3-2 road record. Under Coach Heacock, YSU is 5-5 on the road.

Turnover Margin Important
    The Penguins are a minus three in the turnover department through four games. So far this season, YSU has given the ball away 10 times, while forcing seven turnovers. Last season through four games, the Penguins also had a minus-three turnover margin before turning things around. Ironically, YSU had 10 turnovers and forced seven turnovers after four games.
    In 16 of the last 17 years (all but 1989), Youngstown State has had an advantage in the turnover-margin department, including a plus-3 margin last year.

Next Opponent: SMS
    The Penguins begin the conference portion of their season against SMS on Oct. 4 at Stambaugh Stadium. YSU has never lost to the Bears in seven previous meetings.
    The series has always been close with five of the seven meetings being decided by seven points or less, including last season’s 24-17 YSU victory in Springfield.
    SMS is 2-1 on the year and plays host to Bacone College this Saturday before travelling to Youngstown for its Gateway opener.
    The Bears won at rival Southeast Missouri State last Saturday 17-10. SMS defeated East Central (Okla.) to begin the year before losing 42-3 at Oklahoma State.
    Since joining the Gateway Football Conference in 1997, the Penguins are 5-1 in league-opening games after losing 13-7 at Western Kentucky in 2002.