Streaks, Storylines, Sidebars...
    • YSU plays its final two games of the regular season on the road for the first time since 1998.
    • The Penguins finished their home slate with a 3-3 mark finishing with at least a .500 record at the Ice Castle for the 20th time in 23 years. YSU has won at least three home games at Stambaugh Stadium except for two years -- 1995 and 1986.
    • Youngstown State will be looking for its first win on the road this season. YSU is 0-3 on the road this year and has lost five straight dating back to last year.
    • This is the first time YSU and WIU have played in November since 1997. The Penguins’ last win in Macomb will be exactly 22 years to the day of Saturday’s contest -- Nov. 6, 1982.
    • The Penguins have had eight players start every game this season. Of those individuals, four are on offense (Tom Zetts, John Bartos, Tony Limongi, Kyle Smith) and four are on defense (Justin Scholes, Mike Bracken, Jeremiah Wright, Matt Briggs).
    • YSU has played five true freshmen and 13 redshirt freshmen this campaign.

Western Illinois Scouting Report
    Western Illinois owns a perfect 4-0 home mark this year, while all five of its losses have come outside of Macomb. In Gateway play, the Leathernecks have defeated Indiana State and Illinois State at home. Three of their four home games have been decided by nine points or less.
    WIU enters the contest following a 66-13 loss at top-ranked Southern Illinois. SIU jumped out to a 35-0 lead, including a four-touchdown outburst in the first quarter.
    Tailback Travis Glasford leads the team and the Gateway in rushing averaging 120.9 yards per contest. On the year he has 967 yards on 196 carries having scored 11 touchdowns. Against SIU he was limited to 34 yards on 24 attempts.
    On defense, the Leathernecks are allowing 268.2 yards rushing per game and 436.7 total offensive yards per game. Last Saturday, Southern Illinois had 606 total offensive yards, including 436 on the ground.

WIU Holds 10-9 Series Edge
    Western Illinois grabbed the series lead at 10-9 last season with a 54-20 victory over the Penguins in Youngstown. In games played in Macomb, YSU is 3-7 all-time. The Penguins have not won in Macomb since Nov. 6, 1982, losing each of their previous four trips. YSU has won two of the past overall five meetings.

Last Meeting: WIU 54, YSU 20
    The Penguins could not overcome a rough start despite a record-setting performance by then quarterback Matt Rycraft. Rycraft set a quarterback rushing record with 152 yards, but Western Illinois rolled to a 54-20 victory at Stambaugh Stadium last year.
    WIU jumped out to a 24-0 lead early in the second quarter as YSU turned the ball over four times. The Penguins closed within 27-14 in the third quarter before Travis Glasford added three of his school-record five touchdown runs in the second half. Glasford had 198 yards on 35 carries.
    Rycraft ran the ball 21 times to gain his school-best 152 yards scoring two touchdowns. He also threw a touchdown pass.

Last Time Out: YSU 45, Indiana State 20
    The Penguins used a 31-7 second-half outburst to break open a 14-13 halftime lead on the way to beating Indiana State 45-20 on Saturday at Stambaugh Stadium.
    Josh Cayson ran for 158 yards on a career-high 32 carries and scored two touchdowns. Of his 158 yards, 116 came in the second half.
    Indiana State took a 7-0 lead on a 30-yard pass from Phillip Johnson to Jamie Petrowski in the first quarter. YSU answered with a one-yard scoring leap by Demetrius Ison to tie the game. The YSU defense held the Sycamores to two short field goals. Tom Zetts threw a 17-yard touchdown pass to Matt Rycraft giving the Penguins a 14-13 halftime edge.
    Cayson scored the first of his two touchdowns from one-yard out and Ison scampered 23 yards for a score on a pass from Zetts as the lead ballooned to 28-13. Nick Terracina kicked a 27-yard field goal before Johnson connected with Markus Naves 61 yards for a score. Late in the game, Cayson added a five-yard run and Steve Reynolds returned an interception 43 yards for a touchdown.

Penguins Point Total Ties Mark
    The Penguins’ 45 points against Indiana State on Saturday tied the school record for most points in a Gateway Football Conference game. YSU scored 45 points in a 45-13 victory over SMS on Nov. 15, 1997. The last time Youngstown State had scored that many points in a game was against Slippery Rock last season.

Cayson Tops Career Mark
    For the third consecutive game, junior tailback Josh Cayson (Warren, Ohio) established a career high in rushing attempts. He had 32 rushes for 158 yards against Indiana State on Saturday. The previous week at Illinois State he had 25 carries, while against UNI he had 23. He has 395 yards rushing the last three weeks.

Cayson Total Best Since 1991
    Besides his 158 yards rushing, Josh Cayson had 80 yards on three kickoff returns and four yards on a pass reception giving him 236 total yards for the game. The last Penguin to have that much all-purpose yardage in a game was Tamron Smith against Samford (246) in 1991.

Ison Has Solid All-Around Game
    Sophomore fullback Demetrius Ison (Jackson Center, Pa.) had one of the best all-around games of his career against Indiana State. Ison ran for 39 yards and a touchdown and caught three passes for 56 yards and a score. The contest marked the first time Ison had two scores in the same game in his career.

Smith Continues Reception Streak
    Junior wide receiver Kyle Smith (San Diego, Calif.) caught two passes for 19 yards against Indiana State on Saturday to extend his reception-in-a-game streak to 20. This year, Smith has caught a pass in all eight games and now has a reception in every game he has played dating back to the final game of the 2002 season.

Sophomores Battle For Tackle Lead
    Sophomore linebacker Marty Hutchinson (Newton Falls, Ohio) and sophomore linebacker Jeremiah Wright (Orlando, Fla.) are two of the Penguins’ top three tacklers this season along with senior strong safety Mike Bracken (Imperial, Pa.). Wright leads the team with 67 stops while Bracken and Hutchinson are tied for second. The last time a sophomore led the Penguins in tackling for an entire season was Dwyte Smiley in 1997 when he finished with 92 stops in 15 games.

Cayson Over 1,000 Yards for Career
    In 21 career games, Josh Cayson has rushed for 1,312 after his season-high 152-yard performance against Indiana State. He now has five 100-plus yard rushing games in his career.

Zetts’ Numbers Close To Record
    Through nine games, redshirt freshman quarterback Tom Zetts (Boardman, Ohio) is in the running to set the school single-season record for completion percentage. Through eight contests, Zetts has completed 60.9 percent (126-of-207) of his passing attempts. The record is currently held by Demond Tidwell who completed 60.7 percent (147-of-242) in 1997.

Smith Cracks Top 20 And Top 5
    Junior wide receiver Kyle Smith (San Diego, Calif.) has exactly 1,000 receiving yards in his career. He currently ranks 20th in school history with 1,000 career receiving yards on 60 career catches. He also ranks in the top five in two career punt returning categories -- returns and yards.

Career Punt Return Yards
1. Trent Boykin (1991-94), 534
2. Russ Musiel (1973-76), 421
3. Dave Roberts (1989-92), 346
4. Rick Shepas (1983-86), 313
5. Kyle Smith (2002-present), 281

Bracken Over 200 Career Stops
    Senior strong safety Mike Bracken (Imperial, Pa.) has recorded 229 career tackles in his YSU career. He has had 18 performances where he recorded at least seven tackles. Bracken also picked up the fifth interception of his career and second of the season against Illinois State.

Terracina Over 100 Career Points
    Senior placekicker Nick Terracina (Lake Charles, La.) has scored 118 points in his two-year YSU career. He leads the Penguins with 50 points this year after recording a team-best 68 a year ago. On Saturday against Indiana State, he made a career-high six extra-point kicks.

Terracina Streaking
    Entering the contest against Western Illinois, Nick Terracina has made 40 straight extra-point conversion kicks. The last time he missed an extra point was at Kent State in 2003. This year, he is 23-of-23 on PAT kicks. He is just six extra-point kicks shy of Jeff Wilkins’ school mark of 46 straight. Terracina is also bidding to become the first placekicker since John Dowling in 1986 to convert all point-after kicks in a season.

Wright Ties Career High
    Against Indiana State, Jeremiah Wright tied his career high with 12 tackles. Wright, who leads the Penguins with 67 stops, had 12 tackles earlier this season against Florida International. He also had 10 against UNI.

Reynolds Scores Touchdown
    Senior cornerback Steve Reynolds (Akron, Ohio) made the most out of his Senior Day when he returned an interception 43 yards for a touchdown with 1:57 remaining in the win over Indiana State. It was the Penguins first interception return for a touchdown since Marty Hutchinson scored on 15-yard return at Southern Illinois in 2003.

What Might Have Been
    This year, the Penguins have led in the fourth quarter on seven occasions (out of nine games), but have let four of those advantages slip away. At Illinois State, YSU took a 24-20 lead in the fourth quarter, but the Redbirds rallied with 10 points to earn a six-point victory. Against Northern Iowa, YSU came back to grab a 20-19 lead with 3:53 remaining only to have UNI win on a field goal as time expired. At McNeese State, YSU rallied to take a 20-17 lead with 12:52 left, but the Cowboys scored the go-ahead touchdown with 5:28 remaining. Against Florida International, YSU led 16-3 with 9:47 left only to have the Golden Panthers score twice and eventually win the game in overtime.

Up Next: at SMS
    The Penguins conclude the season next Saturday with a contest at SMS. Youngstown State has never lost to the Bears in eight all-time meetings.
    All four games in Springfield have been close with the outcome being decided by a touchdown or less each time. Last year in Youngstown, YSU won 34-7.