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Nov. 14, 2002
Football: Penguins Set 2004 Grid Schedule
Youngstown -- The Youngstown State football team will
face one of the toughest road
schedules in school history and play
host to six contests -- including
three of the first four and five of
the first seven games of the season
in 2004, the athletic department
announced on Thursday. The
Penguins play home non-conference contests
against Slippery Rock, Florida
International and Liberty while
playing at McNeese State before
beginning Gateway Football
Conference play.
The Penguins' home slate features Gateway games against
Northern Iowa, Southern Illinois and
Indiana State. While road contests
at Western Kentucky, Western
Illinois, Illinois State and SMS
round out the schedule.
Head Coach Jon Heacock said the 2004 schedule will be present
many challenges both in the Gateway
season and the non-league campaign.
"Playing two of our first three Gateway games at home, it
will be critical for us to get off
to a good start in a conference as
good as ours," Heacock said. "Again
we play a difficult non-conference
schedule and I am happy our great
fans can see us against an
up-and-coming team in Florida
International and Liberty, whom we
had a good rivalry with in the early
1990's. We'll have our work cut out
for us on the road playing five very
good teams at their place."
YSU opens the season with two home games, the first a
Thursday night contest on Sept. 2
against nearby Division II power
Slippery Rock. The Penguins then
play host to Division I-AA
Independent Florida International on
Sept. 11.
After two home games, YSU plays at McNeese State on Sept. 18.
It will be the Penguins' second-ever
trip to Lake Charles, La., and the
first since September 1995.
Youngstown State returns home to play host to Liberty on
Sept. 25. The last time the Penguins
and the Flames meet on the gridiron
in Youngstown was in 1993.
Following four non-league games, YSU opens the 2004
conference season at Western
Kentucky on Oct. 2.
YSU then plays host to Southern Illinois (Oct. 9) and
Northern Iowa (Oct. 16) before
playing three of its final four
games away from Stambaugh Stadium.
The tough stretch includes a game at Illinois State (Oct.
23), a home contest against Indiana
State (Oct. 30), a road game at
Western Illinois (Nov. 6) and a
contest at SMS (Nov. 13).
With the configuration of the schedule, YSU will not play a
home regular-season game in the
month of November for the first time
since 1994 when YSU played its final
three games on the road.
The 2004 schedule does not feature a bye week until the end
of the season (Nov. 20). The NCAA
Division I-AA Playoffs are set to
begin on Nov. 27 at various campus
sites.
YSU's 2003 slate includes home games against Slippery Rock,
Florida Atlantic, Western Illinois,
Western Kentucky, Southwest Missouri
State and Illinois State. The
Penguins play at Kent State,
Liberty, Indiana State, Northern
Iowa and Southern Illinois. |
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