Quick Outs...

• YSU will be trying to avoid its first six-loss season since 2004 (4-7).

• The Guins will also be looking to avoid their first four-game losing streak since 2004 and their first back-to-back home losses since October 2004.

• YSU has allowed 40 points in three games this year. The last time that happened was in 1998.

• 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 23 players have made their first career starts this season.

• YSU has four QBs with at least 13 pass completions this year. It is the first time in school history that has occurred.

• Only seven players - four of which are offensive linemen -- have started each of the first seven games. Only two defensive players -- CB Lenny Wicks and DT Crispin Fernandez have started every game.

• TB Jabari Scott now has more than 1,000 yards rushing in his career. With 95 yards at Missouri State, he now has 1,060 yards in his career.

• Ferlando Williams has caught a pass in 17 consecutive games.

• Placekicker Brian Palmer has made a school-record 14 straight field goals.

• Eighteen players have missed at least one game because of an injury. Of the 18, 13 have missed multiple games. That group has missed a combined 46 contests in ‘08.

Southern Illinois Breakdown

    Southern Illinois has rotated wins and losses through its first five games of the season and will be looking for its first road win of the season. SIU has lost at Northwestern and at North Dakota State while their three wins have come at home (Hampton, UNI, Indiana State).

    On offense, SIU is averaging 31.6 points and 336.6 yards per game. Its defense is allowing 26 points and 353 yards per contest, including 216.2 through the air. The Salukis have surrendered 24 points in four of five games.

    YSU jumped out to a 10-0 lead, but Southern Illinois fought back and with the game tied 17-17, Deji Karim scored the game-winning touchdown with 1:50 remaining for a 24-17 SIU win in a clash of two top-10 teams at McAndrew Stadium.

    After SIU fumbled the opening kickoff, YSU capitalized with a 42-yard Brian Palmer field goal. Later in the first quarter, Ferlando Williams scored on a 12-yard run to give the Penguins a 10-0 lead.

    However, SIU tied the contest in the second quarter as John Randle scored on a five-yard run and Kyle Dougherty kicked a 32-yard field goal.

    In the third quarter, SIU went ahead on a 14-yard pass from Nick Hill to Justin Allen.

    The Penguins tied the game in the fourth on a three-yard run by Williams following a Lenny Wicks interception.

    Karim scored with 1:50 left to put SIU ahead 24-17. YSU had one final chance, but Tom Zetts’ pass to Rory Berry in the end zone was knocked away as time expired.

    YSU rushed for 269 yards and Jabari Scott scored three touchdowns, but Missouri State broke open a 14-14 game with 28 second-half points to earn a 42-28 victory at Plaster Field.

    Scott scored on two one-yard runs and caught an 11-yard pass for a score in the contest. He rushed for 97 yards on just five carries. Tailback Kamryn Keys rushed for 113 yards on 23 carries.

    YSU trailed 14-0 in the second quarter before Scott and quarterback Dailyn Campbell scored to tie the contest.

MSU scored the first 14 points of the third quarter before the Guins pulled within 28-21 on Scott’s second one-yard run. But the Bears added two fourth-quarter touchdowns to put the game away.

    Campbell connected with Scott on an 11-yard pass in the fourth quarter for the final margin.

    Playing in his first career game, Campbell completed 17-of-22 passes for 122 yards while rushing for 35 on 10 carries.

    True freshman quarterback Dailyn Campbell stepped in at Missouri State to handle the signal-calling duties replacing redshirt freshman starter Paul Corsaro in the second quarter. Campbell had not dressed for any of the first six games and recently lost his father to cancer.

    Against the Bears, Campbell was 17-of-22 for 122 yards and a touchdown. He also ran for 35 yards on 10 carries and a score. Campbell led YSU to two scoring drives in the second quarter and two more in the second half. However, a fumble led to an MSU touchdown and his interception came late in the fourth quarter.

    Junior tailback Jabari Scott went over the 1,000-yard mark for his career with a 95-yard performance against Missouri State. Scott only had five carries in the contest, but scored on two and had a 59-yard run, the second-longest of his career. Scott also had a touchdown catch in the contest, the first touchdown reception in his career.

    At YSU, Scott has 1,060 yards on 178 carries for an impressive 6.0 yards per rush. He has scored 13 rushing touchdowns - most on the team.

    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 three this year for a total of 11 scores.

    Redshirt freshman Kamryn Keys led the Penguins in rushing for the second straight game and the third time this season with 113 yards on 23 carries. In the past two games he has gone for 184 yards on 34 rushes. He rushed for a season-high 146 yards on 21 carries in the victory over North Dakota State.

    In the past three games, YSU’s receivers have combined to make 55 catches.

    Ferlando Williams has made 14 of his team-high 21 receptions the past three games. Da’Michael Horne had five catches at MSU and has 14 the past three contests.

Dominique Barnes had a career-high seven receptions at Missouri State and now has 12 in the past three games. Donald Jones has 10 in the past three games, including two on fourth down.

    Overall, the Guins have defeated five of the last six ranked teams at Stambaugh Stadium since 2006. YSU has won seven of its last nine against ranked teams at home since 2005.

    In the six meetings, the Guins have averaged 31 points per contest despite allowing at least 21 in every game.

    Placekicker Brian Palmer has made 14 straight field goals after starting the 2008 campaign 3-of-3. Palmer made two against NDSU (18 and 40 yards) and one versus Central State (23).

    Last year, Palmer was 14-of-15 on field-goal attempts and is 36-of-45 for his career in field-goal attempts (80 percent). He has made 23 of his last 25 kicks and since the start of 2005 is 29-of-33.

    He has made 140-of-149 career extra-point kicks. Both marks rank third in school history. Palmer has scored 248 points in his career, which puts him in third place for most points scored by a YSU kicker.

    In four of the past five games the Penguins have scored on their first offensive possession of the game. YSU scored touchdowns against Central State, Liberty and Southern Utah and kicked a field goal against North Dakota State. Despite not scoring at MSU, the Guins moved the ball 48 yards from their own 20 the Bears’ 32 and the drive ended on downs. Each of the scoring drives was 64 yards or more.

    Through seven games this year the Guins have started the same offensive line on six occasions.

    The Penguins’ three seniors have combined to start 79 games - Brad Samsa (33), Tyler Booth (29) and Nhemie Theodore (17). On the right side, tackle Bobby Coates has 11 starts to his credit while guard Eric Rodemoyer has seven this year. Sophomore Justin Rechichar started in place of Theodore at SUU to make his first career start.

    So far this season six true freshman have seen action -- four on defense, one on offense, one on special teams.

    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.

    Freshman quarterback Marc Kanetsky is the holder on placement kicks while fellow quarterback Dailyn Campbell saw his first career action at Missouri State.

    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. Four of them have started at some point.

    So far this season a total of 18 players have missed at least one game because of an injury. Of that number, 13 are on defense and five are on offense. All totalled, 13 of the 18 have missed multiple games.

    Players who have been 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.

    Junior punter Ben Nowicki is second in the conference averaging 43.3 yards per kick. Despite trailing SIU’s Scott Ravenesi in average, Nowicki leads Ravenesi in punts inside the 20 (9-5) and 50-yarders (7-4). Nowicki has not had a punt blocked this year while Ravenesi has had two blocked.

    At SUU, 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 eighth in the country in average. Last year, he averaged 37.1 yards per kick.

    He has attempted 30 punts, seven of which have gone for longer than 50 yards. Of his 77 career punts, only two have been touchbacks.

    A total of nine players have started in the four spots up front, with only junior college newcomer Crispin Fernandez starting all seven games. Last season, YSU had eight different starters, mostly veterans, on the defensive line.

    All-American defensive tackle Mychal Savage along with defensive end Luke Matelan are out for the year because of injuries. Defensive tackle Torrance Nicholson is sidelined at least another week because of a broken foot.

    Against Southern Utah, defensive ends Stephen Meadows and Jaimie Frasure each made their first career starts. Frasure was a reserve fullback last season while Meadows is a true freshman. Meadows is the first true freshman to start on the line since Mychal Savage in 2005.

    The Penguins have had 23 first-time starters this year -- 10 against Ohio State, seven against Central State, five at Southern Utah and one against Missouri State.

    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 and Brandon Summers.

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

    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.

    Junior quarterback Brandon Summers set a school record by completing 32 passes in the loss to Liberty. 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.

    Ferlando Williams has four touchdown receptions in the past five games and six in his career. Last year he led the team with two scoring grabs.

    Williams, a first-team all-conference pick and the league’s Newcomer of the Year in 2007, seems to provide a lift to the team when he scores. The Guins are 7-2 in games when he scores a touchdown during his 16-game career.

    Also, he has had two touchdown catches in a game twice in his career. Williams is the first Penguin since Renauld Ray (1996-99) to have two multi-touchdown receiving games in a career. He is the first player since Jerald Burley (2002) with touchdown receptions in three straight games.

    He has scored 15 career touchdowns.

    Redshirt freshman Kamryn Keys became the first freshman since Adrian Brown in 1996 (vs. UNI) to rush for 100 yards in a game. Keys had 146 yards on 21 carries and one touchdown against North Dakota State on Sept. 20. He rushed for 113 last Saturday at Missouri State.

    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.

    The Penguins have won 21 of the last 24 games when a back rushes for more than 100 yards. This year, YSU is 2-1 after beating Central State and North Dakota State before losing to MSU. The Guins were 2-0 in ‘07 with a 100-or-more yard runner.

    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).

• Turnover Margin: Since 1996, the Penguins are 87-17 when they win or tie in the turnover margin. When committing more turnovers, YSU is just 13-34.

• 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.

• 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 14 games decided by a touchdown or less.

    The Penguins play their second top-10 ranked foe of the season when Northern Iowa visits Stambaugh Stadium for the annual Homecoming tilt. Kickoff for the contest is set for 4 p.m.