Quick Outs...

• YSU has won six straight games in November since losing at SIU in 2005.

• YSU has played three one-point games in the past 14 contests. Prior to last October, YSU had played just three one-point games since 1989.

• YSU has not led in a game since the second quarter at Southern Utah. Since then, the Guins have not had a lead for a total of 216 minutes and 14 seconds in 14-plus quarters.

• The Guins will be looking to avoid their first six-game losing skid since 1970 and first eight-loss season since 1995.

• YSU has scored 28 points in two losses this year (31-28 to Liberty and 42-28 at Missouri State). The last time the Guins scored 28 points in two losses in the same season was 1999.

• A total of 26 players have made their first career starts this season.

• Twenty-five players have missed at least one game because of an injury. Nineteen of those have missed multiple games.

• Only five players - three of which are offensive linemen -- have started all nine games. Only two defensive players -- CB Lenny Wicks and DT/DE Crispin Fernandez have started every game.

• Dominique Barnes was a named the Missouri Valley Football Conference Special Teams Player of the Week following his performance against UNI.

• Since the two teams played in the 2006 playoffs, YSU is 9-12 while Illinois State is 6-12.

Illinois State Breakdown

    Illinois State will be trying to bounce back as well having lost its last three games. The Redbirds suffered a 25-7 loss to North Dakota State last Saturday at Hancock Stadium.

    Turnovers have played a big role in the season as ISU has given the ball up 19 times -- 10 INTs and nine fumbles -- while its opponents have committed seven.

    Running back Geno Blow has rushed for 549 yards and six touchdowns to lead the offense. Kelvyn Hemphill has 68 total tackles this season to lead the defense.

Last Meeting: ISU 27, YSU 22

    Youngstown State jumped out to a quick 10-0 lead, but two big Illinois State scoring plays and a late Redbirds defensive stop was too much for the Penguins to overcome in a 27-22 Homecoming defeat at Stambaugh Stadium last year.

    Kevin Smith put YSU ahead 7-0 on its first drive of the game and a 37-yard field goal by Brian Palmer extended the lead to 10. ISU answered with a 77-yard run by Geno Blow.

    Palmer’s 41-yard field goal put the Penguins ahead 13-7, but after two Brian Fetzer field goals, the Redbirds went ahead when Luke Drone connected with Jason Horton for a 69-yard touchdown pass just before halftime.

    Palmer’s 40-yard field goal cut the deficit to 20-16 before Drone connected with Kevett Mickle for a 14-yard score and 27-16 lead early in the fourth.

    A 76-yard punt return by De’Angelo Wilson set up a one-yard touchdown run by Smith with 10:10 left. YSU’s last chance stalled on downs at the Illinois State 32-yard line with 1:49 remaining.

Last Game: UNI 21, YSU 20

    Youngstown State overcame a 14-point deficit and pulled within one point on a 51-yard Brandon Summers to Donald Jones touchdown strike with 3:55 remaining, but UNI blocked the potential game-tying extra point and was able to hang on for the 21-20 win at Stambaugh Stadium.

    UNI led 14-0 after a one-yard pass from Zach Davis to Schuylar Oordt and a one-yard run by Derrick Law.

But the Guins hung tough and trailed 14-7 at halftime when Summers connected with Da’Micahel Horne from 18 yards out with 1:35 left in the second.

    Late in the third, Kamryn Keys ripped off a 61-yard run to tie the contest at 14.

    UNI regained the lead when Law scored his second one-yard touchdown of the game with 12:04 left.

    YSU pulled within one at the 3:55 mark on Jones’ score, but that was as close as it would get in the game.

    Keys rushed for 101 yards on nine carries and Summers completed 15-of-32 passes.

Nicholson Makes Impact in Return

    Sophomore defensive tackle Torrance Nicholson made an impressive return to the lineup against Northern Iowa. Nicholson was credited with a career-high 12 tackles, including three for losses. He registered a sack for a 12-yard loss in the fourth with YSU trailing 21-20.

    Nicholson had missed the past six games after breaking a bone in his foot at South Dakota State on Sept. 8.

Guins Make Big Plays

    Against UNI, the Penguins had four of their six longest plays of the season.

    For YSU against the Panthers, Kamryn Keys scored on a 61-yard touchdown run, Donald Jones scored on a 51-yard touchdown pass and Dominique Barnes had kickoff returns of 57 and 48 yards. The other two longest plays of the year were a Brandon Summers to Ferlando Williams 61-yard pass against Central State and a 59-yard run by Jabari Scott against Missouri State.

    It was the first time YSU had two scoring plays of 50 yards or more in a game since at Western Illinois in 2006. It was also the first time the Guins had a rushing and passing score over 50 yards in the same game since Liberty in 2005.

Keys Opening Some Eyes

    Redshirt freshman Kamryn Keys has rushed for more than 100 yards in a game three times this season. Keys is one of two freshmen in school history to run for 100 yards in a game three times in a season.

    In 2003, Josh Cayson rushed for more than 100 yards three times. Cayson was listed as a sophomore, but after earning back his fourth year, the 2003 campaign became his freshman season.

    Keys has gone over the 100-yard mark against North Dakota State (146), Missouri State (113) and UNI (101). He is the only player this year to go over 100 yards against the Panthers this year.

    Keys, who leads the team with 596 yards on 100 carries, has been the team’s top rusher in four straight games (101-68-113-71) and five on the season. Of his 596 yards, 428 have come in Valley Football action.

One Senior on Defense

    Against UNI, the Penguins played just one senior on defense -- cornerback De’Angelo Wilson. The Guins’ two-deep for the game had just one senior -- Wilson -- listed as well. Four true freshmen, four redshirt freshmen, seven sophomores, five juniors and Wilson represented the defense on the field against the Panthers.

Simons Says I’m Back

    Junior linebacker Roshon Simons made his first start of the season against UNI. Simons recorded 11 total tackles, including four solo stops. Entering the game, Simons had 10 tackles on the year. He missed three games because of injury.

Simons started nine games last year and finished with 55 tackles.

    He had 91 total tackles entering the season, including 36 his freshman year in 2006.

A Long Road Travelled

    The Penguins are looking for their first victory on the road this Saturday at Illinois State. In the four road games this year, YSU has been outscored 139-42, including 61-14 in the first (30-7) and fourth (31-7) quarters. The Guins have allowed 40 points in three of their four road games (43 by Ohio State, 40 by South Dakota State and 42 by Missouri State).

Great Scott

    Junior tailback Jabari Scott has rushed for 1,062 yards on 179 carries in his YSU career. He has scored 13 rushing touchdowns - most on the team. He did not play against UNI because of injuries and has been limited in his availability since being hurt on the first snap against Liberty.

    He had 299 yards on 46 carries starting the first four games. He has played in just three of the last five games and has nine carries for 104 yards.

    Scott is the only player on the team to score touchdowns in three different seasons. He had three as a true freshman in 2005, five as a redshirt sophomore in 2007 and five this year for a total of 13 scores.

Summers Returns to Lineup

    Junior quarterback Brandon Summers returned to the starting lineup against UNI. Summers made his first start and appearance since Oct. 4 at Southern Utah this past Saturday.

    Against UNI he completed 15-of-32 passes for 167 yards and two touchdowns. He will be starting just his second road game of the season at Illinois State.

Wilson Ranks Second in Punt Returns

    In just 20 games played, senior punt returner/cornerback De’Angelo Wilson ranks second at YSU in career punt return yardage. After a 23-yard performance against UNI, Wilson has 462 yards on 42 returns. His average of 11.0 per return also ranks second. This season he has 178 yards on 15 returns. In 2007, Wilson had 27 returns for 284 yards.

Palmer Making His Kicks

    Placekicker Brian Palmer had a school-record streak of 14 straight field goals come to an end against Southern Illinois.

It must be something about the Salukis because Palmer’s last miss came at SIU in 2007. He had a 38-yard attempt blocked and pushed a 42-yard kick wide right.

    Last year, Palmer was 14-of-15 on field-goal attempts and is 36-of-47 for his career in field-goal attempts (76.6 percent). He has made 23 of his last 27 kicks and since the start of 2005 is 29-of-35.

    He has made 142-of-152 career extra-point kicks. Palmer has scored 250 points in his career, which puts him in third place for most points scored by a YSU kicker.

O-Line Has Played Together

    This year the Guins have started the same offensive line on seven occasions.

    The Penguins’ three seniors have combined to start 85 games - Brad Samsa (35), Tyler Booth (31) and Nhemie Theodore (19). On the right side, tackle Bobby Coates has 13 starts to his credit while guard Eric Rodemoyer has eight this year. Sophomore Justin Rechichar started at guard against UNI and Southern Utah.

Freshmen Seeing Action

    Six true freshman have seen action -- four on defense and two on offense.

    On defense, linebacker Deonta Tate, defensive tackle Joe Marshall and defensive ends Stephen Meadows and Mike Williams have all seen playing time. Meadows started at Southern Utah becoming the first true frosh to start on defense since Roshon Simons in 2006. Tate has started at linebacker the last two weeks.

    Freshman quarterback Marc Kanetsky is the holder on placement kicks while fellow quarterback Dailyn Campbell started against Southern Illinois. Kanetsky also played quarterback against the Salukis.

    Redshirt freshman to play this season are Patrick Bellish, Andy Colegrove, Kamryn Keys, Josh Lee, Randy Louis, Brad Miller, Josh Myers, David Rach, David Rogers, John Sasson, Greg Sazdanoff, Scott Sentner, Dionte Snow and Joel Younkins.

Injuries Pile Up Fast

    So far this season a total of 25 players have missed at least one game because of an injury, while 19 of them have missed multiple games.

    Players who have been officially ruled out for the season are FB Kyle Banna (knee), DT Luke Matelan (knee), CB Jarvis Richards (knee) and DT Mychal Savage (rotator cuff). All four started at some point this year.

Nowicki a Shining Star

    Junior punter Ben Nowicki is third in the conference averaging 41.5 yards per kick. Nowicki leads the MVFC with 13 punts inside the 20 and eight punts of 50 yards or more.

    At Southern Utah, Nowicki had a career-long 66-yard boot, the longest for the program since Joe Bishop’s 67-yard punt at Pitt in 2005.

    Nowicki currently ranks 23rd in the country in average. Last year, he averaged just 37.1 yards per kick. Of his 87 career punts, only three have been touchbacks.

Wake Me Up When October Ends

    The Penguins did not win a game in October for the first time since 1980. That year YSU posted a 0-3-1 mark. The tie was a scoreless game against Akron.

    November has been a strong month for the program under Coach Jon Heacock. YSU is 12-6 in November under Heacock. In fact, the Guins have won their last six November contests since losing at Southern Illinois in 2005.

D-Line A Work in Progress

    A total of 11 players have started in the four spots up front, with only Crispin Fernandez starting all nine contests. Last season, YSU had eight different starters on the defensive front.

All-American senior defensive tackle Mychal Savage and sophomore defensive end Luke Matelan are out for the year because of injuries.

    Against Southern Illinois, defensive tackles Roger Gillum and Chris Gammon made the first starts of their careers. Gammon has started the past two games and was on offense last year. Of the 11 players who have started on the line this season, eight were starting for the first time.

26 New Starters This Season

    The Penguins have had 26 first-time starters this year -- 10 against Ohio State, six against Central State, five at Southern Utah, one at Missouri State and four against Southern Illinois.

    Offensive starters for the first time this year are guards Eric Rodemoyer and Justin Rechichar, fullback Kyle Banna, tailback Kamryn Keys, wide receivers Dominique Barnes and Donald Jones and quarterbacks Todd Rowan, Paul Corsaro, Dailyn Campbell and Brandon Summers.

    On defense, ends Joel Younkins, Stephen Meadows, Jaimie Frasure and Josh Myers, tackles Crispin Fernandez, Roger Gillum and Chris Gammon, linebackers Na’eem Outler, John Sasson, Mike Barlak, Deonta Tate and Jordan Edwards along with safeties Brandian Ross, Andre Elliott and Nick Gooden and corner Tyler Griffin have started for the first time.

Samsa Back Where He Started

    Center Brad Samsa should 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.

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

Summers Had Memorable Night

    Junior quarterback Brandon Summers set a school record by completing 32 passes in the loss to Liberty on Sept. 27. The previous mark was 31 set by Trenton Lykes against Eastern Michigan in 1987.

    Summers opened the game by completing his first 12 aerials and ended the evening completing 10 of his last 11, two of which went for touchdowns in the fourth quarter. For the game he completed an impressive 82 percent of his passes.

    His yardage (334) ranks fifth while his 12 straight completions is the second-longest streak in YSU history.

    He had 383 total offensive yards in the game.

First-Team All-League

    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 19 first-team selections from 1998-2004.

FBS Transfers Part Of Roster

    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), offensive guard Eric Rodemoyer (West Virginia), quarterback Brandon Summers (Toledo), offensive guard Nhemie Theodore (Minnesota) and cornerback De’Angelo Wilson (Nevada).

Numbers of Note

• 125-16-2 when holding opponents to fewer than 21 points in a game.

• 97-7 when rushing for 200-plus yards.

• 112-12 when scoring 28-or-more points.

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

• 139-8 when leading entering the fourth.

• 66-3-2 when holding opponents to 10 points-or-less in a game.

Point-Scoring Streaks

• YSU has won its last 48 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 50-9.

• YSU has won nine of its last 15 games decided by a touchdown or less.

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