YSUsports.com - Football: Twelve Seniors Play Final Home Contest Against Illinois State

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Nov. 11, 2009

Twelve Seniors Play Final Home Contest Against Illinois State

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The Penguins (4-5 overall and 2-4 in the Missouri Valley Football Conference) play their final home game of the season against Illinois State...kickoff for the contest is set for 1 p.m. at Stambaugh Stadium...for the Guins, 12 seniors will be playing in their final home contest...YSU has lost three consecutive games following a 28-7 loss to 11th-ranked UNI...the Penguins have failed to score double figures in each of the past three games...YSU allowed a season-high 230 yards rushing to the Panthers...Illinois State (5-4, 4-2) beat Western Illinois 25-7 last Saturday and has won three consecutive games...last year, the Redbirds beat the Penguins 54-44 at Hancock Stadium...ISU also won the previous meeting at Stambaugh Stadium, 27-22, in 2007...the all-time series is tied 9-9...it is so close, that one-point separates (446-445 by Illinois State) the teams in those 18 meetings...the schools have played every season since 1995...YSU is 2-2 at home this season and has alternated wins and losses in those four games...YSU wraps up the 2009 campaign next Saturday at North Dakota State...it’s the program’s first trip to NDSU since 1972.

The Series vs. Illinois State
This is the 19th meeting in a series that has each team owning a 5-4 mark at home. After the Penguins won twice in 2006 (regular season at ISU and at home during the playoffs), Illinois State has won the previous two meetings - 27-22 in 2007 and 54-44 in 2008.
YSU is 9-2 when holding the Redbirds under 30 points and 1-7 when allowing 31-or-more points. Since 2001, YSU has scored at least 20 points in every game. Ten meetings have been decided by a touchdown or less. YSU has won five of those contests.

Quick Notes From UNI
• The Penguins have been held to single digits in points five times this season after scoring one touchdown at UNI.
• YSU has not scored double figures in each of the past three games, the longest streak since four consecutive games in 1980.
• Senior QB Brandon Summers has thrown an interception in each of the last seven games and in eight of nine contests this year. On the flip side, he has thrown a touchdown pass in six of the past seven games.
• Junior WR Dominique Barnes caught his team-leading fifth touchdown pass of the season and the eighth of his career.
• Senior WR Donald Jones had five receptions against the Panthers and now has 60 for the season and 91 for his career.
• Summers threw the 30th touchdown pass of his career and 12th of the season.
• Sophomore LB David Rach intercepted his second pass of the season and career.
• The Penguins defense has not allowed a play of 20 yards-or-more since the second quarter of the contest at Southern Illinois.
• Freshman Jamaine Cook had two kickoff returns for 69 yards, including a career-long 37-yard return.
• Jones has 41 receptions in the past five games after hauling in five grabs against UNI. He ranks 13th in the FCS in receptions per game (6.67).
• YSU held UNI to 104 yards passing and leads the MVFC in pass defense, allowing just 161.3 yards a game.
• WR Dominique Barnes has caught a pass in 21 straight games while Jones has a reception in 19 consecutive contests.

Last Meeting: Illinois State 54, YSU 44
    Quarterback Brandon Summers tied a school record with four passing touchdowns and YSU rolled up 544 yards of total offense, but Illinois State found a way to score more points to earn a 54-44 victory over the Guins at Hancock Stadium.
    Summers had two first-half scoring throws and added two more in the fourth quarter. His third of the day was a 28-yarder to Derrick Bush and gave the Guins a momentary 37-33 lead.
    But Illinois State’s Chris Garrett returned the ensuing kickoff 93 yards for a score 14 seconds later, and the Guins never led again.
    ISU’s Walter Mendenhall scored two rushing touchdowns in the fourth quarter to seal the wild win for the Redbirds.
    Kamryn Keys led YSU on the ground, scoring two touchdowns. He had 85 yards on 19 carries in the game.
    The 44 points are the most YSU has ever scored in a road loss and it was the first time it scored 40 in a loss since 1992.

Last Game: UNI 28, YSU 7
    The Penguins played catch-up the entire afternoon but could not come all the way back, suffering a 28-7 loss to 11th-ranked UNI at the UNI-Dome.
    UNI opened the scoring when Carlos Anderson capped a 12-play, 80-yard drive with a 12-yard scamper.
In the second quarter, quarterback Pat Grace scored from two yards to increase UNI’s lead to 14-0.
    The Penguins cut the deficit in half when Brandon Summers connected with Dominique Barnes from 10 yards out with 1:28 remaining before halftime.
    However, Anderson returned the ensuing kickoff 48 yards to the YSU 33, and with 13 seconds left before halftime, Grace scored from three yards out to increase the advantage to 21-7.
    UNI put the game away in the fourth quarter. After a YSU drive stalled at the Panthers’ 26, UNI drove 74 yards in 15 plays putting the game out of reach when Matt Strathman scored from a yard out.

Ball Security
    The Penguins and Lafayette are the only two FCS teams who have lost just two fumbles this season.
    YSU did not lose a fumble for the first 18 quarters of the year before Kevin Smith lost a fumble at the start of the third quarter against Missouri State. Brandon Summers lost a fumble against Western Illinois on Oct. 10.

Passing Penguins
    The Penguins have become more of a passing program than a rushing one in just over the past two seasons.
    This year, YSU has thrown for 1,743 yards while rushing for 1,120. The Guins have tried to rush the football, having 328 attempts compared to 271 attempted passes, but the yardage is in favor of the passing game.
    Last season was the first time since 1995 that the program passed for more yardage (2,045) than it rushed for (1,988).
    In the past 22 games, dating back to the final game of the 2007 season, YSU has passed for 4,102 yards compared to 3,198 on the ground (a 186.5 to 145.4 per game average).
    The last time YSU had more yards passing than rushing in consecutive seasons was 1986 and 1987.

Two Earn Academic Honors
    The Penguins landed two players on the ESPN the Magazine CoSIDA Academic All-District IV team. Senior offensive guard Brian Mellott and junior placekicker Stephen Blose are first-team selections and are eligible for the Academic All-America team.
    Mellott has already graduated, posting a 3.90 cumulative grade-point average in accounting. Blose has a perfect 4.00 GPA as a Middle Childhood Education major. The last time YSU had two first-team Academic All-District picks in the same year was 2001. The last Academic All-America pick was Scott Thiessen in 2003.

Rushing Defense Takes a Hit
    UNI became the first team this season to rush for more than 200 yards against the Penguins. The Panthers had 230 yards on 48 carries last Saturday. The previous high was 187 at Pitt in the season opener.
    Twice this year, YSU has held team under 70 yards (Austin Peay and Indiana State) and only three backs have gone over the century mark (last year nine did).
    The last time the Guins held at least two teams under 70 yards rushing in the same year was 2005 - four times.
    On the flip side, YSU has the top passing defense in the conference allowing just 161.3 yards per contest.

More on the Defense's Improvement
    Through nine games this year, the Penguins defense has allowed 2,668 yards in total offense. Talk about a turnaround. After nine games last year, YSU had surrendered 3,410 yards.
    In per game averages, opponents averaged 388.8 yards a contest in the first eight games last year. That is down to 296.4 this season. The last time YSU surrendered less than 300 yards a game in a season was in 2002.
    Also in nine games this year, the most total offensive yards the Guins have allowed is 390 to Pitt. Last season, YSU surrendered more than 399 yards on seven occasions.
    YSU is allowing 21.1 points per game this season compared to 29.2 a season ago.

Summers’ Impressive Starts
    Senior QB Brandon Summers has been extremely sharp in the first halves of the last four games. Summers has completed 51-of-66 passes (77.3 percent) for 481 yards and four touchdowns.
    However, in the second half of the past five games, he is 55-of-99 (55.5 percent) for 545 yards with six interceptions and one touchdown. YSU has had to try and rally in four of those five games.

Over the Hill
    Redshirt freshman LB Taylor Hill has quietly been putting together a solid first year.
Hill has had 20 tackles the past two games, including a 12-stop performance against South Dakota State on Oct. 31.
    He now ranks second on the team in total tackles with 51, six behind Sir Demarco Bledsoe. However, Bledsoe is out for the season with a knee injury, so Hill has a shot to be the team’s leading tackler as a freshman. He is four stops ahead of free safety Andre Elliott.
    The last freshman to lead the team in tackles was Pat Narduzzi in 1985.
    Hill has had five-or-more tackles on six occasions this season.

Pitts Picks It Up For Career Year
    Senior wide receiver Aaron Pitts is having the best year of his YSU career. Pitts has 27 receptions for 288 yards and two touchdowns. Entering his senior campaign, he had 12 receptions for 137 yards and one score, which came in 2007. He had the best game of his career with seven receptions for 102 yards and a touchdown at Southern Illinois on Oct. 24.

Dependable Duo at Wideout
    Wide receivers Donald Jones and Dominique Barnes have combined for 107 receptions, 1,150 yards and nine touchdowns this season. Last year in a 12-game regular season, the two combined for 69 catches, 878 yards and 10 scores.
    In their two years together (21 games), they have 177 receptions for 2,020 yards and 19 scores. Jones had 31 catches last year and already has 55 grabs in 2009. Barnes had 38 catches a year ago and has 44 this year.
    Jones’ 60 receptions are the most in a season since Elliott Giles had 62 in 15 games in 1999. YSU has never had two receivers in the same year with at least 50 catches. Barnes has 47 entering the final two games of the season.

Defense Shows Stability
    Seven players have started every game on the defensive side of the ball for YSU ,which a stark contrast to last year when just one (Crispin Fernandez) started all 12 games. Players who have started all nine games so far are LB Taylor Hill, FS Andre Elliott, LB Na’eem Outler, CB Brandian Ross, DE Mychal Savage, NT Luke Matelan and RE Stephen Meadows. Of that group, only Savage is a senior.
    On offense, four players have started all nine games -- Donald Jones, Dominique Barnes, Brandon Summers and Brian Mellott.

Mr. Jones and Me
    Senior wide receiver Donald Jones has twice tied the school record for receptions in a game this season. Jones has had 11 against Southern Illinois and Missouri State this year.
    He has caught a pass in 19 straight games and has had multiple grabs in the past 17.
    Jones has 60 receptions on the year, the most by any YSU player in a decade. The last player with 60-plus was Elliott Giles (62) in 1999. The school record for receptions in a season is 75 by Jim Ferranti in 1979.

November Time to Shine
    YSU has won eight of 10 November tilts dating back to 2005. Last year, YSU picked up wins over Indiana State and Western Illinois after losing at Illinois State. The Guins have won at least two games in each of the past three seasons in November. Since 2001, the Penguins are 14-8 in the month of November.

Wins vs. Losses
    The difference between winning and losing has been dictated by turnovers and red-zone performance so far this year for the Guins, and the stats back that up.
    In the four victories, YSU has caused 14 turnovers while giving the ball up just five times. In the red zone of those victories, YSU is 14-of-18 (78 percent) while its opponents are 5-for-9 (56 percent). In the five defeats, YSU has committed 11 turnovers while causing just three. In the red zone, the Guins are 1-of-7 while opponents are a 18-of-19, including 14 touchdowns.
    Also, in the wins, YSU has scored 18 touchdowns compared to just three in its losses.

Barnes Becomes Playmaker
    Junior WR Dominique Barnes has a touchdown pass in five of the last seven games.
    At UNI he caught a 10-yard pass from Brandon Summers. Against Western Illinois he caught a seven-yard strike, at Indiana State he hauled in a 36-yard toss, at Northeastern he had a 32-yard scoring reception, and, against Austin Peay, he had 16-yarder.
    Barnes has caught a pass in 21 straight games and has 20 career multi-catch games, including his last 18 contests.

Jones Holds School Reception Mark
    Senior WR Donald Jones is the only player in school history to catch 11 passes in two different games. He is also the only player to have two double-figure reception games.
    Jones holds the school record with T.J. Peterson, who had 11 against James Madison in 2006, and Dave DelSignore, who had 11 against Southern Illinois in 1968.
    Amazingly, the Guins had one player record 11 catches in a game once in the first 680 games in school history. Recently, it has occurred three times in the past 35 contests.

The O-Line Shuffle
    For the first time this season, the offensive line was the same starting unit in consecutive games. The group of Andrew Radakovich (LT), Eric Rodemoyer (LG), Andy Kowicki (C), Brian Mellott (RG) and Bobby Coates (RT) have started the past two contests.
    In the first eight games, the offensive line has had eight different starting lineups. Mellott, the lone senior of the group, is the only lineman to start every game this season. Five different players have started at right tackle, three have started at center, three have starts at left guard and three have started as a left tackle.

Three Players Over 1,000; One Just Shy
    Senior TBs Kevin Smith and Jabari Scott have each rushed for more than 1,000 yards in their YSU careers. Smith is the active team leader with 1,168 yards on 253 carries. Scott has rushed for 1,116 yards on 202 attempts in his career.
    WR Donald Jones has 1,097 career receiving yards on 91 receptions. WR Dominique Barnes is 48 yards shy of 1,000 as well.

Up Next: at North Dakota State
The Penguins play their final game of the 2009 slate next Saturday at North Dakota State. Kickoff at the Fargo Dome is set for 2 p.m. Eastern/1 p.m. Central time.
It is the program’s first trip to Fargo, N.D., since 1972 when Ron Jaworski was quarterback.