Nov. 3, 2005
Football: YSU Plays Final Road Tilt at No. 5 Southern Illinois
    The 15th/17th-ranked Youngstown State football team faces one of its stiffest challenges of the season when it travels to Carbondale, Ill., to play fifth-ranked Southern Illinois on Saturday. Kickoff at McAndrew Field is set for 4 p.m. Eastern time.
    The Penguins (7-2 overall and 4-1 in the Gateway) are coming off a 21-7 loss at 21st-ranked UNI this past Saturday. YSU rolled up 273 yards through the air, but UNI’s 280 yards rushing proved to be too much to overcome. With the score tied 7-7 in the second quarter, UNI scored the contest’s final 14 points to earn the win.
    The Salukis (6-2 and 4-1) are coming off a strong performance in a 31-20 victory over then top-ranked Western Kentucky. Trailing 13-7 in the third quarter, SIU opened up a 30-13 advantage late in the contest. SIU tailback Arkee Whitlock went for 207 yards and had three scores to earn National Player-of-the-Week honors.
    With two conference regular-season games remaining YSU, SIU and Western Kentucky are each tied at the top of the Gateway standings with 4-1 records. The Penguins hold their title hopes in their own hands by virtue of playing the Salukis and Hilltoppers on the final two Saturdays.
    YSU is 9-6-1 all-time against Southern Illinois, but the Salukis have won the last two.

Streaks, Storylines, Sidebars...
  • A win gives the Penguins their second five-win Gateway campaign in school history.
  • YSU is 2-2 on the road this season. A victory over Southern Illinois gives the Penguins a winning regular-season road record for the first time since 2002 (3-2).
  • The Penguins are 6-0 when having a running back rush for more than 100 yards in a game this season. YSU is 1-2 when a back fails to reach the 100-yard plateau.
  • The Penguin defense has posted two shutouts in 2005. That marks the first time since 1997 in which YSU has two shutouts in the same season. The last time the Penguins had three shutouts in a season was 1975.
  • Coach Jon Heacock is 2-2 against the Salulkis while SIU Coach Jerry Kill is 2-2 against the Penguins.
  • Senior wide receiver Kyle Smith has caught a pass in a school-record-tying 28 consecutive games. A reception during Saturday’s game at SIU will give him the school mark over Jeff Patterson.
  • The Penguins had two interceptions against Northern Iowa last Saturday to bring their season total to 16. YSU has recorded an interception in all nine games this year.
  • YSU is trying to snap a 13-game losing streak against ranked opponents. The Penguins’ last win on the road against a ranked team was at Montana in the 1999 playoffs - a span of eight games.

Southern Illinois Scouting Report
    Southern Illinois has the most potent offense in Division I-AA averaging 42.5 points per contest. SIU has scored at least 28 points in every game this season. In eight games, the Salukis have scored 47 touchdowns.
    Tailback Arkee Whitlock had a breakout game against Western Illinois. Whitlock rushed for 207 yards and scored three touchdowns versus WKU. He was named the National Player of the Week on Monday.
    Four-year starting quarterback Joel Sambursky directs the offense once again. Sambursky has completed 63.3 percent of his passes (119-of-188) for an average of 207.9 yards per game and 15 touchdowns. SIU’s defense is allowing 26.5 points and 389.4 yards per game.

Series Information
    Youngstown State has won six of the last nine meetings in the series dating back to a 1988 contest. However, SIU has won two straight and three of the last five since stopping the Penguins’ run of four straight wins with an amazing 21-20 come-from-behind win in 2000. Last year in Youngstown, then top-ranked SIU earned an impressive 37-2 win over the Penguins. YSU lost 24-17 in its last visit to Carbondale in November 2003.

Last Time at Carbondale
    A battered and undermanned Penguin team hung tough before losing 24-17 to the third-ranked Salukis on Nov. 8, 2003 at McAndrew Field. YSU jumped out to a 7-0 lead on a 15-yard Marty Hutchinson interception return for touchdown.
    After SIU tied the contest, Nick Terracina’s 29-yard field goal put the Penguins ahead 10-7. But the Salukis scored 17 straight points pulling in front 24-10 in the fourth. YSU answered back with a five-yard score by Josiah Doby before SIU ran out the clock to preserve the win.
    Aaron Marshall completed 14-of-32 passes for 183 yards, including three passes for 67 yards to Kyle Smith. SIU ran for 337 yards on 55 rushing attempts.

Last Year: SIU 37, YSU 2
Top-ranked Southern Illinois scored four first-half touchdowns on plays of at least 47 yards and the Penguins could not come back losing 37-2 on Oct. 9, 2004 at Stambaugh Stadium.
YSU took its opening possession deep into Southern Illinois territory before Alexis Moreland returned an interception 95 yards for a touchdown. Later in the quarter, Craig Turner went 56 yards on a pass from Joel Sambursky.
In the second quarter following a safety, Brent Little scored on a 47-yard pass and Arkee Whitlock scored on a 49-yard run. YSU’s lone points came on an intentional grounding penalty in the end zone for a safety.

Last Time Out: UNI 21, YSU 7
    Quarterback Tom Zetts threw for a season-high 264 yards, but UNI’s David Horne scored three touchdowns and the Panthers racked up 280 yards rushing as the Penguins lost 21-7 at Northern Iowa last Saturday.
    Zetts completed 20-of-38 passes in the game, including a 10-yard touchdown toss to tight end Derrick Bush that tied the game at seven in the second quarter. But Horne’s 33-yard scamper for a touchdown in the second quarter proved to be the difference in the contest. With 11:32 left, Horne added a two-yard run and the Penguins could not overcome the deficit.

Rush For 100, Means A ‘W’
    This season the Penguins are 6-0 when they have a tailback rush for 100 yards or more in a game. Marcus Mason rushed for 203 in the win over Missouri State. Mason had 125 against Western Illinois, 152 against Indiana State and 126 versus Illinois State -- all victories. Justin Reams rushed for 122 yards against Slippery Rock while Monquantae Gibson had a career-high 198 against Northeastern -- both victories. The only game YSU won without having a 100-yard rusher was at Liberty.

Scoring First is Another Key
    The Penguins are 7-0 when they score first in games this season. YSU failed to score against Pittsburgh and trailed UNI 7-0 this past Saturday. In those two losses, YSU has scored a total of seven points while allowing 62. In the seven victories, the Penguins have scored 240 points, averaging 34.3 points a game.

Who’ll Stop the Run? And Pass
    The YSU rushing defense has made a tremendous turnaround this season. Five times this season, the Penguins have not allowed an opponent to reach 100 yards rushing. In 2004, that happened just once (60 by Western Illinois) in 11 games. Only twice in the last 10 seasons have the Penguins held five opponents under 100 yards in the same year. In 11 games in 2002, YSU was able to hold five teams under 100 yards while in 1997, the Guins held six teams under in 15 games. The Penguins shut down the pass the past two games. Last Saturday, Northern Iowa had 73 yards while the week before Missouri State had 49.

YSU Looks to Stay in Title Hunt
    The Penguins are one of three teams who are 4-1 in Gateway Conference play. Southern Illinois and Western Kentucky are also 4-1, and YSU plays those two schools the final two weeks of the year. There has never been a three-way tie for the title and there has been four co-champions. Western Kentucky plays host to UNI this Saturday. Next week, the Penguins play WKU while Southern Illinois travels to Northern Iowa.
    YSU and WKU did start league play this season 4-0 before losing last week. Of the 21 teams to start Gateway play 4-0, 18 have qualified for the playoffs, including the 1999 Penguins.

Ten Players Catch a Pass
    Against Northern Iowa, the Penguin quarterbacks did a good job of spreading the ball around. Overall 10 different players caught a pass against the Panthers. Of those 10 players, four were wide receivers, three were tight ends, two were tailbacks and one was a fullback.

Zetts Goes Over 200 For Seventh Time
    Sophomore quarterback Tom Zetts threw for a season-high 264 yards against UNI. Four times this season, Zetts has eclipsed the 200-yard mark (UNI, Western Illinois, Liberty and Northeastern). The last quarterback to have four-or-more 200-plus passing yard games was Jeff Ryan, who had five, in 1995.

Mason Making Impact Felt
    Junior tailback Marcus Mason has started all five of the Penguins’ Gateway games and has made his impact known to the league. In the five games, he has rushed for 647 yards on 110 carries and scored six touchdowns. He is averaging 129.4 yards per Gateway game and has posted a 5.9 yards-per-carry average.

Jackson’s Six Picks Lead Nation
    Junior cornerback Codera Jackson leads the Gateway Conference and ranks third in the nation with 0.67 interceptions per game. His six interceptions are tied for the most in the country. He trails Bethune-Cookman’s Bobbie Williams, who also has six interceptions (0.75) and Princeton’s Jay McCareins (0.71) in the national race. Jackson also has intercepted a pass in four of five Gateway contests. Last year at junior college, he had seven interceptions in 10 games.

Defense Leads in Five Categories
    The Penguins lead the Gateway Conference in scoring defense, total defense, pass defense, turnover margin and pass-efficiency defense. In the Division I-AA national rankings, YSU is fifth in turnover margin (1.00 per game) and eighth in scoring defense (15.22 per contest).
    YSU also leads the Gateway in red-zone defense allowing just 16 scores in 25 trips (64.0 percent).

Takeaways Exceed 2004 Number
    Nine games into the 2005 season, YSU has forced a total of 21 turnovers, exceeding the number caused in the entire 2004 campaign. Last year, the Penguins had seven interceptions and recovered nine fumbles for a total of 16. This year, YSU has 16 interceptions and five fumble recoveries. The 16 picks are tied for the fourth most in Division I-AA behind Davidson (18), Wagner (18) and Eastern Illinois (17). Entering the contest against Southern Illinois, YSU owns a Gateway-leading plus-nine turnover margin.

Bush Scores First Career TD
    Freshman tight end Derrick Bush scored the first touchdown of his YSU career on a 10-yard reception in the second quarter against UNI. For Bush, it was his second reception of the season.

Terry, Andrews Tied For Lead
    Sophomore linebacker James Terry and senior linebacker Mike Andrews are tied for the team lead with 57 total tackles. Entering the season, Andrews’ career best was 41, which he set back in 2003. Terry had 71 tackles as a freshman last season. He leads the team in tackles for losses (nine) and sacks (4.5). Jeremiah Wright moved up to third (54) on the squad after being credited with a season-high 12 stops at UNI. Jason Perry is right behind him with 53 tackles.

Staying in the Rankings
    The Penguins dropped to 15th in The Sports Network Poll and 17th in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll this week following the loss to UNI. YSU entered both the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll and The Sports Network Top 25 on Oct. 3 at the No. 22 spot. It marked the first time since Oct. 21, 2002, that the Penguins had cracked the top 25.

Seven Wins Most Since 2002
    YSU has won seven games this season, the most by the program since 2002. That year the Penguins were 7-4. The last eight-win campaign came in 2001 (8-3) while the last nine-victory season was in 2000 (9-3). This year, YSU won seven of eight games to start the season for the first time since 2000. Since 1991, the Penguins have won seven of eight games to start a season on five occasions (1993, 1994, 1997, 1999 and 2000).

Smith Ties YSU Reception Mark
    Senior wide receiver Kyle Smith tied the school record by catching a pass in his 28th consecutive game last Saturday. Against UNI, Smith had five catches for 60 yards. In his career, he has 92 receptions, which is tied for 12th in school history with Maury Bibent (1986-89). He also has 1,372 yards receiving, ranking 13th in school history. During his streak, he caught a pass in every game in 2004 and had a reception in the first 11 contests of the 2003 campaign before missing the season finale.

Touchdown Tommy Zetts
    Sophomore quarterback Tom Zetts has thrown a touchdown pass in 12 of his last 15 games. Against Liberty, he became the seventh quarterback in YSU history to throw four touchdown passes in a single game when he completed the feat at Liberty. It was just the ninth time in the program’s history a quarterback threw for four scores in a game. He has thrown for a score in 15 of 21 career games played.

Numbers of Note
   • Turnover Margin: Since 1996, the Penguins are 69-12 when they win or tie in the turnover margin. When committing more turnovers, YSU is just 11-26.
Since 1990 YSU is:
   • 112-14-2 when holding opponents to fewer than 21 points in a game.
   • 85-6 when rushing for 200-plus yards.
   • 95-10 when scoring 28-or-more points.
   • 55-5-1 when holding opponents to fewer than 100 yards rushing in a game.
   • 120-7 when leading in the fourth quarter.

Point-Scoring Streaks
   • YSU has won its last 32 games when scoring more than 30 points. The last loss came at Central Florida (44-32 in 1998).
   • YSU has won its last 29 games when scoring more than 40 points. The last loss came to James Madison (52-49 in 1992).
   • When scoring 21-plus points under Coach Jon Heacock YSU is 30-4. The Penguins are 1-19 when they fail to score 21 points.

Next Week...Western Kentucky
     The Penguins play their home finale when they play host to Western Kentucky. Both teams have I-AA postseason aspirations, but they each have big games this weekend to keep those hopes alive before next week.
     YSU has dropped four straight to the Hilltoppers, including a 44-19 loss in 2004.