Quick Outs...

• YSU last won a non-conference game on grass on Oct. 12, 2002, at Florida Atlantic (24-17). The Guins’ last non-league road win was at Liberty in 2005.

• PK Brian Palmer leads all active NCAA FCS kickers with 135 extra-points made and 144 attempts. He is third in field-goal percentage at 80 percent (36-of-45).

• TB Jabari Scott is 42 yards shy of rushing for more than 1,000 in his career.

• The 220 yards rushing by Liberty’s Rashad Jennings were the most against the Guins since Illinois State’s Brian Thompson ran for 222 in 2004.

• WR Dominique Barnes caught his first career touchdown pass against Liberty.

• Brandon Summers’ 334-yard passing effort against Liberty was the most by a quarterback since Trenton Lykes threw for 341 vs. Eastern Michigan in 1987.

• Ferlando Williams has caught a pass in 15 consecutive games. He has a touchdown reception in each of the last three games. The last time a Guin had TD receptions in three consecutive games was Jerald Burley in 2002.

• The last player with a TD catch in four straight games was Herb Williams (1992).

• The last time two different Penguins had seven receptions or more in a game prior to last Saturday was Nov. 15, 1986 against Morehead State (Rick Shepas 8-111, Elliott Fedd 7-88).

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

• A total of 17 players have made their first career starts this season.

Southern Utah Breakdown

    Southern Utah is coming off its first road win since 2004 after beating Texas State 34-20 last Saturday. SUU gained 199 yards on the ground and 170 through the air against the Bobcats.

    SUU is averaging 242 yards of total offense and surrendering 433.4 yards per game. TSU amassed 451 yards against the Thunderbirds last Saturday.

    Southern Utah is 1-1 at home. The T-Birds last won back-to-back games at the start of the 2006 season.

Last Meeting: YSU 23, SUU 22

    The Penguins overcame a 22-16 fourth-quarter deficit to pull out a thrilling 23-22 victory over Southern Utah on Oct. 13, 2007, at Stambaugh Stadium.

    Ferlando Williams’ second touchdown of the game came with 5:26 remaining and Brian Palmer’s extra point put the Guins in front 23-22.

    SUU marched to the YSU 17-yard line, but Steve Pulver’s kick off a poor hold sailed wide left with just over a minute left and the Guins were able to run out the clock for the one-point victory.

    After falling behind 7-0, YSU relied on three Palmer field goals to go ahead 9-7 in the third quarter. SUU quickly regained a 15-9 lead on Johnny Sanchez’s run and a two-point conversion.

    Late in the third, YSU took a 16-15 lead on a two-yard run by Williams following an SUU fumble. The Thunderbirds pulled ahead 22-16 on a 24-yard pass from Wes Marshall to Johnny Edwards.

    However, YSU responded going 65 yards on nine plays for the game-winning score.

Last Game: Liberty 31, YSU 28

    Quarterback Brandon Summers completed a school-record 32 passes, but Liberty’s Matt Bevins converted a 24-yard field goal as time expired to spoil Summers’ record-breaking performance as YSU lost 31-28.

    Summers was 32-of-39 for 334 yards and three touchdowns. His 334 yards were the most by a Penguins quarterback since 1987.

    YSU jumped out to a 14-0 lead before the Flames scored 28 unanswered points.

    Trailing 28-14 in the fourth, the Penguins defense forced two turnovers and the offense turned them into touchdowns.

    Summers connected with Donald Jones from four yards out to cut the deficit to 28-21 with 6:19 left. After a Mike Barlak interception, Summers threw an 11-yard strike to Ferlando Williams tying the game at 28 with 1:29 left.

    However, Liberty converted two third downs on the final drive and moved the ball to the YSU 7-yard line setting up Bevins’ game-winning kick.

Wide Receivers Step Up

    Ferlando Williams (nine), Da’Michael Horne (seven), Donald Jones (five), Aaron Pitts (three), Dominique Barnes (three) all set or tied career highs in receptions against Liberty.

    Williams’ previous career best was eight (twice), Horne’s was four against South Dakota State (2007), Pitts’ was two at Ohio State and Barnes’ was three at OSU.

    Williams and Horne became the first tandem since Rick Shepas (eight) and Elliott Fedd (seven) against Morehead State on Nov. 5, 1986, to have at least seven receptions in the same game.

Summers Has Memorable Night

    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 night by completing his first 12 aerials and ended the evening completing 10 of his last 11. For the game he completed 82 percent of his passes.

    His yardage ranked fifth all-time while his 12 straight completions marked the second-longest streak in YSU history.

    Brandon Summers’s total-offensive performance against Liberty also ranked highly in school history. Summers also rushed for 49 yards on 17 carries in the contest to finish with 383 total offensive yards on 56 total offensive plays.

    So far this season three true freshmen have seen action on defense and they could play an increased role on that side of the ball because of injuries.

    Linebacker Deonta Tate, defensive tackle Joe Marshall and defensive end Stephen Meadows have all seen playing time. Because of injuries, Tate and Meadows could be in the starting lineup this Saturday. The last time a true freshman started on defense was linebacker Roshon Simons during the 2006 campaign.

    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 135-of-144 career extra-point kicks. Both marks rank third in school history. Palmer has scored 243 points in his career, which puts him in third place for most points scored by a YSU kicker.

    Youngstown State has picked up its new offense the past three games resulting in some vastly improved numbers.

In the first two games, YSU had seven points, 279 yards of total offense, 183 yards passing and 63 yards rushing.

    In the past three contests, the Guins have scored 98 points, have 1,214 yards of total offense, 672 yards rushing and 542 yards passing.

    Through five games this year the Guins have started the same offensive line.

    The Penguins’ three seniors have combined to start 74 games - Brad Samsa (31), Tyler Booth (27) and Nhemie Theodore (16). On the right side, tackle Bobby Coates has nine starts to his credit while guard Eric Rodemoyer has five this year. Rodemoyer started six games at West Virginia last year.

    YSU posted a season-high 334 yards passing against Liberty after rushing for a season-best 340 versus North Dakota State. It was the most rushing yards allowed by the Bison since 1994. For their efforts the entire line was named the MVFC Line of the week.

    Ferlando Williams has four touchdown receptions in the past three games and now has 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 where 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 has scored 15 career touchdowns.

    The defensive line is what Coach Jon Heacock has called a work in progress.

    A total of seven players have started in the four spots up front, with only junior college newcomer Crispin Fernandez starting all five games.

    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 three more weeks because of a broken foot.

    More changes could be on the way as YSU lost another defensive end, Nick Mernedakis, for this week with an injury.

    To highlight the changes, defensive end Jaimie Frasure intercepted his first career pass against NDSU. Last year, Frasure was a reserve fullback who primarily played on the scout team.

    Junior tailback Jabari Scott leads the team with 304 yards and three touchdowns. However, Scott saw limited action against Liberty because of an injury.

    Before last Saturday, he had rushed for more than 100 yards in consecutive games for the first time in his career. He had 120 against North Dakota State are a 111-yard performance against Central State.

    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 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.

    Entering the game, Keys had just 81 yards on 17 carries through the first three games. Against NDSU, he had 97 yards rushing in the second half on 14 attempts. He had 16 yards on just six carries against Liberty.

    The last time the Penguins lost on a final-play field goal before last Saturday was to Northern Iowa on Oct. 16, 2004 at Stambaugh Stadium.

    That game was similar to the Liberty defeat in that YSU trailed by double figures in the fourth quarter only to get back in the game following turnovers.

    YSU trailed UNI 19-7, but took a 20-19 lead with 3:53 left. The Panthers then took the remainder of the time off the clock and kicked a 31-yard field goal as time expired. The Guins trailed Liberty 28-14 only to tie the game with 1:30 left. But the Flames were able to get in range and convert a 24-yard as time expired.

Since 1990, opponents are 6-of-10 when trying a winning field goal against YSU with fewer than 15 seconds left.

    Junior punter Ben Nowicki is second in the MVFC averaging 42.9 yards per kick. Nowicki currently ranks 15th in the country in average. Last year, Nowicki averaged 37.1 yards per kick.

    He has attempted 22 punts this season, four of which have gone for longer than 50 yards. He had a season-long boot of 54 yards at South Dakota State. Against Central State he had two punts downed inside the 10-yard line.

    The Penguins had 10 first-time starters in the contest at Ohio State and added to that with seven first-time starters against Central State.

    Offensive starters for the first time this year are right guard Eric Rodemoyer, fullback Kyle Banna, wide receivers Dominique Barnes and Donald Jones and quarterbacks Todd Rowan and Brandon Summers.

    On defense, ends Joel Younkins 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 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.

    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 a total of 19 first-team selections from 1998 though 2004.

    The Penguins have won 21 of the last 23 games when a back rushes for over 100 yards. This year, YSU is 2-0 after beating Central State and North Dakota State. The Guins were 2-0 last year when rushing for 100-or-more yards.

    For the third straight year, the Penguins have at least 20 seniors, with 20 on the current roster.

    Of those, 13 are taking part in their fifth season with a collegiate program. Of the group, five played at YSU as true freshman in 2005 -- Mike Barlak, Derrick Bush, Da’Michael Horne, Mychal Savage and Ben Lane. Since they joined the program, YSU is 28-12.

    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 87-16 when they win or tie in the turnover margin. When committing more turnovers, YSU is just 13-33.

• 125-15-2 when holding opponents to fewer than 21 points in a game.

• 97-6 when rushing for 200-plus yards.

• 112-11 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 50-8.

• YSU has won nine of its last 13 games decided by a touchdown or less.

    The Penguins return to Missouri Valley Football Conference action next Saturday when they travel to Missouri State.

    YSU will play its final six conference games of the year beginning with the contest with the Bears. MSU is off to a 1-2 start and plays host to Western Illinois on Saturday.