Quick Outs...

• YSU has won 11 of their last 12 season openers with the lone loss coming at Ohio State in 2007 (38-6).

• The Penguins are 19-21-1 all-time against programs from the Football Bowl Subdivision. YSU has dropped its last five straight contests to FBS schools since beating Kent State in 2000.

• Since 1990, the Guins are 15-2-1 in season openers. All-Time, YSU is 39-26-2 in season openers. Coach Jon Heacock is 6-1 in his openers.

• The 2008 team captains are senior defensive tackle Mychal Savage (Hartsdale, N.Y.) and senior center Brad Samsa (Warren, Ohio).

• Head Coach Jon Heacock’s brother, Jim, is the defensive line coach and the co-Defensive Coordinator for the Buckeyes.

• YSU senior fullback Ben Lane is the brother of Ohio State cornerback Shaun Lane.

• Against schools from Ohio, the Penguins own an all-time record of 69-58-5.

• Last season, the crowd of 105,038 fans at Ohio Stadium to witness the YSU-OSU game was the largest crowd to watch a Penguins game.

• The 2008 campaign will be the 68th season and 71st year of Penguins football.

• The YSU volleyball team is also taking on the Buckeyes on Saturday. The Penguins and Ohio State are set to play at 6 p.m. at St. John Arena.

Ohio State Breakdown

The Buckeyes enter the contest with YSU ranked second in The Associated Press Poll and is third in the USA Today Coaches Poll. Georgia is first in both polls while USC is ahead of the Buckeyes in the USA Today Poll.

On offense, OSU features running back Chris "Beanie" Wells, who is the preseason Big Ten Player of the Year. Wells rushed for 1,609 yards last year. On defense, linebacker James Laurinaitis returns after earning the Butkus Award and Big Ten Defensive Player-of-the-Year honors in 2007.

    Youngstown State had an 11-game season-opener win streak snapped with a 38-6 defeat at nationally-ranked FBS Ohio State in last year’s meeting on Sept. 1. The crowd of 105,038 at Ohio Stadium was the largest to ever watch a YSU football game.

    The Penguins, playing against former head coach Jim Tressel, trailed 14-3 midway through the second quarter and 24-6 after three periods before losing 38-6.

    Brian Palmer kicked a 21-yard field goal with 4:34 remaining in the second quarter to get the Guins within 14-3.

    Trailing 24-3, YSU’s Vince Gliatta sacked OSU quarterback Todd Boeckman and Jon Penick pounced on a fumble at the OSU 27. The Penguins capitalized with a 41-yard field goal by Stephen Blose to pull within 24-6.

    Quarterback Tom Zetts completed 10-of-18 passes for 86 yards in the contest.

    The YSU defense held the Buckeyes to just 147 yards rushing on 41 attempts. The Penguins did not commit a turnover and had fewer penalty yards.

    YSU had an 11-game season-opener win streak snapped last year by the Buckeyes. The last time YSU won its season-opener on the road was at Western Michigan in 1993. All-time, the Penguins are 39-26-2 in season openers. In season openers played on the road, the program owns a 10-18 mark.

    The Penguins posted a 7-4 mark last year, but it was the three close games they lost that kept them from the postseason.

Gunning for back-to-back postseason bids for the first time since 1999-2000, the Guins were on the outside looking in after losing four games.

    YSU bounced back from an opening loss at Ohio State to wins its next four games before losing 24-17 at Southern Illinois. The Salukis advanced to the FCS semifinals last year.

    After pulling out a 23-22 win of Southern Utah, YSU faltered losing 27-22 at home to Illinois State.

    With no margin for error, YSU led 13-0 in the fourth quarter at No. 1 UNI only to allow two fourth-period scores in a disappointing 14-13 loss.

    The Guins closed out the year with two wins, but did not have seven Division I wins to be eligible for playoff consideration.

    For the first time since the final game of the 2003 season a quarterback other than Tom Zetts will call the signals as the Guins’ starting quarterback.

    As a four-year starter, Zetts set career school records for touchdown passes (51), completions (654), attempts (1,094), yards (7,643), percentage (59.8), 200-yard games (13) and starts (47). He guided YSU to 26 wins the last three years.

    So with Tom Zetts gone, the Guins will look to juniors Todd Rowan and Brandon Summers and redshirt freshman Paul Corsaro. Rowan has completed one pass in his collegiate career while Summers, a transfer from Toledo, completed 14 passes and started twice for the Rockets in 2006.

    New starting quarterbacks have had tremendous success in their first games. QBs starting their first game at YSU have won 10 of the 12 games since 1989.

    Brandon Summers is the fifth FBS quarterback to transfer to YSU since 2001.

    Summers joins Mike Schneider (Duke), Vince Gliatta (Penn State), Luis Gonzalez (Cincinnati) and Lou Angelo (Temple) as FBS quarterback transfers to YSU. Of that group, Gliatta had the most success, but never started, rushing for 159 yards and passing for 148 in two years as a backup to Zetts and eventually moved to safety.

    Of that group, only Gonzalez started when he took the first snap on Senior Day against Western Kentucky in 2003.

• Second time ever (1987) play season and conference opener on the road.

• Twelve regular-season games for second time in school history (2003).

• Eight conference games tie for the most in school history (1981 OVC).

• First time playing 11 regular-season games against Division I foes since 1993.

• Play two games (Ohio State and Central State) against Ohio schools for first time since 1996 (Kent State and Ashland).

• Play four conference champions: MVFC – UNI, Big Ten – Ohio State, Big South – Liberty, Great West -- South Dakota State.

    The Penguins open the season with two road games for the first time since 1993. Only three times since joining the FCS ranks has YSU played its first two games on the road (1993, 1989 and 1987). All three years, the Guins made the playoffs, but they didn’t win their first two games. YSU was 1-1 in 1987 (8-4) and 1993 (13-2) and 0-2 in 1989 (9-4).

    Youngstown State plays six road games this year. The last time the Guins played six road games in a regular season was since 1987. YSU won four of those six games.

    The Penguins remain in the same conference, but that conference has undergone some major changes since last November. The Gateway is now known as the Missouri Valley Football Conference. Also, Valley Football has two new schools in North Dakota State and South Dakota State.

    The Penguins return all-conference selections Ferlando Williams, Brad Samsa, Mychal Savage, Derrick Bush, Brian Palmer, Ben Nowicki and Torrance Nicholson. Williams, Samsa and Savage were first-team selections, Bush and Palmer were second-team picks and Nowicki and Nicholson earned honorable-mention accolades. YSU had five players named to the All-Newcomer Team -- Williams (Newcomer of the Year), Nowicki, Nicholson, De’Angelo Wilson and Kevin Smith.

    Last year YSU threw seven touchdown passes, tied for the lowest mark by the program since 1988. The Guins also had seven TD tosses in 2002 and 1993. Since 1980, YSU has thrown a fewer number of touchdowns in just three seasons -- two in 1988, six in 1982 and three in 1980. Prior to 2007, the Guins had thrown at least 14 touchdown passes each of the past three years.

    Last year Kevin Smith led the team with 618 yards on 123 carries. Smith’s number of carries were the fewest by a leading rusher since Lorenzo Davis’ 110 in 1988. Dating back to 1978, Smith’s total was the second fewest for a leader by the program. His yardage total was the lowest to lead the team since Jake Andreadis led with 593 in 1995.

    Last year YSU averaged 9.9 yards per punt return, the second-best average by the program since 1993. The only better punt-return season since 1993 was in 2001 when the Guins had a school-best 15.7 yards a return average.

    Returner De’Angelo Wilson played a big role in the increased numbers. Wilson averaged 10.5 yards on 27 returns for the year. He totaled 284 yards in returns. Wilson’s 27 punt returns last year were the most by a Penguin since Jake Andreadis’ 35 in 1997.

    In nine of 11 games last season, the Penguins built double-digit leads, but three times they lost the game.

    In three defeats, YSU led 13-0 at UNI and built 10-0 leads against Illinois State and Southern Illinois.

YSU had a lead at some point in 10 of 11 games last year. The only time the Guins did not lead in 2007 was at Ohio State.

    The defensive unit ranked in the top 20 in the country in two categories. YSU was 14th in scoring defense (18.50 points) and 18th in total defense (318.18 yards). In 2006, the Guins were 60th in scoring defense (23.07 points) and 83rd in total defense (360.43).

    YSU allowed just two teams to accumulate more than 300 yards of total offense in 2007 -- Ohio State had 381 and Illinois State had 309.

    The Penguins defense allowed the opposition to score double figures in just seven of 44 quarters last year. Two of those came in the season opener at Ohio State (14, first and fourth) while the other times were at UNI (14, fourth), vs. Illinois State (13, second), at Southern Illinois (10, second) and vs. Western Illinois (10 and 14).

    In 36 of the other 37 periods, no one scored more than seven (Southern Utah had eight in the third).

    Also last season, YSU did not allow a touchdown in back-to-back games (Stony Brook and Lock Haven) for the first time since 1996.

    Despite having five first-time starters last season, the offensive line surrendered just nine sacks. YSU led the conference and ranked fifth in the FCS in the category (0.82 per game).

    The only two players to start every game at the same position were Nhemie Theodore (right tackle) and Josh Tanner (right guard). Brad Samsa started the first three games at guard before moving to left tackle. Brian Mellott and Bobby Coates along with guard Leon Edwards all started. Mellot started at guard and center. YSU lost three tackles to season-ending injuries at some point.

    In 25 games the past two seasons, YSU has lost just 14 fumbles. Since 2005, the Guins have lost 22 fumbles in 36 games.

    The Penguins have won 19 of the last 21 games when a back rushes for over 100 yards. The Guins were 2-0 in 2007 with wins over Missouri State and Indiana State.

    The Penguins had 12 drives of 10 plays or more last season, however eight ended with field goals. Their opponents had 13 10-plus play drives with eight ending in touchdowns.

    The Penguins are a perfect 7-0 in the month of August with all seven wins coming at Stambaugh Stadium. In the seven games, YSU has outscored its opponents by a combined 236-72.

    The Penguins allowed just 318.2 yards of total offense per game last year, the fewest since allowing 278.5 in 2002. Against the run, YSU surrendered 130.0 yards per game, the fifth-lowest total since 1985. It was the lowest total allowed by the Guins since 2002.

    The Penguins will have their hands full for the entire 2008 season trying to corral some of the top runners in college football. The Penguins see preseason Big Ten Offensive Player of Year Beanie Wells in the opener.

    As the season goes on, things will not get much easier. According to the preseason position rankings by The Sports Network, YSU will face the No. 1 running back in Liberty’s Rashad Jennings, the No. 2 back in UNI’s Corey Lewis, the fourth-ranked back in North Dakota State’s Tyler Roehl and the No. 6 back in Western Illinois’ Herb Donaldson.

    Placekicker Brian Palmer was 14-of-15 on field-goal attempts and 34-of-36 on his extra-point tries last year.

    Palmer’s streak of 11 consecutive made field goals is longest in a season in school history. His mark broke Jeff Wilkins’ record of 10 from the end of the 1992 season that carried over to the 1993 campaign.

    Palmer has made 33-of-42 field-goal attempts in his career and has made 20 of his last 22 kicks. His 33 career field goals rank fifth in school history while his 78.6 percent rate of success is first.

    Ferlando Williams led the team with 11 touchdowns last season and was named first-team all-conference and league Newcomer of the Year.

    Williams became one of just two players in school history with 40 receptions and 70 rushing attempts in the same year (Lorenzo Davis 49-131 in 1987). Last year, Williams was third on the team with 464 yards rushing and had a team-high 499 yards receiving.

    He scored 10 touchdowns in the first seven games last season, but had just one in the final four.

    Senior defensive tackle Mychal Savage was named a preseason first-team All-American by The Sports Network. Savage, who is a two-time first-team all-conference selection has 116 career tackles, incluing eight sacks during his career. He has started 31 games during his career.

    Center Brad Samsa will finish his YSU career where it began, playing center. As a redshirt freshman in 2005, Samsa was a back-up to Ryan Jewell at center and started the final game of the year when Jewell went out because of an injury.

    As a sophomore, Samsa started all 14 games at guard and started the first three games of his junior year at that position before starting the final eight at left tackle because of injuries. Samsa is a two-time all-conference selection earning first-team honors in 2007 and second team in 2006.

    Since 2005, YSU and Southern Illinois have led the way in first-team all-conference selections with 19. YSU had four first-team selections in 2007, 10 in 2006 and five in 2005. SIU had six last year, seven in 2005 and six in 2006. UNI is third with 15 and Illinois State has had 13.

    YSU had a total of 19 first-team selections from 1998 though 2004.

    The Penguins have nine former FBS players on the roster. Those are tailback Dana Brown (Iowa), cornerback Tyler Griffin (Eastern Michigan), defensive tackle Bobby Lykes-Knight (Bowling Green), center/guard Brian Mellott (Ohio), safety Gary Pezzuolo (Akron), guard Eric Rodemoyer (West Virginia), quarterback Brandon Summers (Toledo), offensive tackle Nhemie Theodore (Minnesota) and cornerback De’Angelo Wilson (Nevada).

    The Penguins played five true freshmen last season. Those players to see action were LB Na’eem Outler, SS Nick Gooden, WR Dominique Barnes, P Erik Johnson and FS Brandian Ross. Ross and Gooden are listed as starters for the OSU game.

    The Penguins have three players on their roster who played junior college ball in California. Currently on the team are linebacker Draye Ersery, defensive tackle Crispin Fernandez and tailback Kevin Smith. This continues a run of California Junior College players who have been part of the program. Since 1987, 28 players have come to YSU from the California Junior College Ranks.

    YSU also has hit the state of Florida hard throughout the years. Since 1980, 64 Penguins have migrated north from Florida to be part of the program. The Guins have four players from the Sunshine State on the current roster.

    For the third straight year, the Penguins have at least 20 seniors, with 20 on the current roster.

    Of those, 13 are taking part in their fifth season with a collegiate program. Of the group, five played at YSU as true freshman in 2005 -- Mike Barlak, Derrick Bush, Da’Michael Horne, Mychal Savage and Ben Lane. Since they joined the program, YSU is 26-10.

• Turnover Margin: Since 1996, the Penguins are 85-14 when they win or tie in the turnover margin. When committing more turnovers, YSU is just 13-32.

• 123-15-2 when holding opponents to fewer than 21 points in a game.

• 95-6 when rushing for 200-plus yards.

• 110-10 when scoring 28-or-more points.

• 60-5-1 when holding opponents to fewer than 100 yards rushing in a game.

• 137-8 when leading entering the fourth.

• 65-3-2 when holding opponents to 10 points-or-less in a game.

• YSU has won its last 46 games when scoring more than 30 points. The last loss came at Central Florida (44-32 in 1998).

• YSU has won its last 36 games when scoring more than 40 points. The last loss came to James Madison (52-49 in 1992).

• When scoring at least 50 points, the Penguins are a perfect 20-0. YSU is 18-2 in games following a 50-point contest.

• When scoring 21-plus points under Coach Jon Heacock, YSU is 48-7.

• When scoring under 21 points under Coach Heacock, YSU is 2-24.

    The Penguins open Missouri Valley Football Conference play at South Dakota State next Saturday. YSU has played nine MVFC games in September, but none before Sept. 19. On the road, the Guins are 3-2 in September road conference games with all three wins coming at Missouri State. The contest is the first conference game under the Missouri Valley Football Conference label.

    YSU last played at South Dakota State on Sept. 21, 1974. The Guins are 2-1 all-time at SDSU.