Quick Outs...

• UNI is the second top-five team to visit Stambaugh Stadium this year (NDSU was ranked No. 2 on Sept. 20).

• This is the fifth FCS ranked team that YSU has played in 2008.

• The Guins will be looking to avoid their first five-game losing skid since 1986.

• The Guins are 19-7 at Stambaugh Stadium on Homecoming.

• YSU has been shut out twice this year for the first time since 1980.

• YSU 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 27 players have made their first career starts this season. QB Dailyn Campbell, DT Roger Gillum, DT Chris Gammon and LB Deonta Tate all started for the first time against SIU.

• YSU has four QBs with at least 13 pass completions and five with 11 attempts.

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

• TB Jabari Scott has 1,062 yards rushing in his career.

• Ferlando Williams has caught a pass in 18 consecutive games while Dominique Barnes has a reception in eight straight.

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

UNI Breakdown

    UNI will be trying to pick up its first road win of the season on Saturday. The Panthers have dropped their two road games losing at Southern Illinois (27-24) and at BYU (41-17).

    UNI has won three straight games and five of its last six after dropping its opener to the Cougars. On defense, the Panthers have been opportunistic forcing 21 turnovers and as a team they have a plus-nine turnover margin. UNI has scored at least 23 points in its last six games.

    Youngstown State held top-ranked UNI scoreless and was leading 13-0 before the Panthers scored two fourth-quarter touchdowns rallying for a 14-13 victory a the UNI Dome in 2007.

    The Penguins took their opening possession and went ahead 7-0 on a 28-yard pass from Tom Zetts to Derrick Bush. Later in the quarter, YSU led 10-0 on a 22-yard field goal by Brian Palmer. Palmer’s second field goal of the contest, this time from 37 yards, put the Guins ahead 13-0.

    UNI hung around and was able to use some big plays in the fourth quarter to pull out the come-from-behind victory. On third-and-two from the YSU 29, Eric Sanders connected with Johnny Gray for a touchdown with 11:58 left.

    After forcing a YSU punt, the Panthers were able to move 80 yards for the game-winning score with 4:54 remaining.

    Facing a third-and-10 from the UNI 48, Sanders connected with Schuylar Oordt for a 34-yard gain. The next play from the YSU 18 was a reverse with Gray racing to the end zone for the winning score.

    The defense did its best to keep the Penguins in the game, but YSU just couldn’t take advantage of some opportunities on offense and ultimately lost 33-0 to Southern Illinois at Stambaugh Stadium.

    It was the first time the Guins were shu out at home since Sept. 9, 1995 (27-0 by Stephen F. Austin).

    SIU jumped out to a 7-0 lead three plays into the game on a 24-yard pass from Chris Dieker to Joe Allaria. Later in the quarter, Ryan Patton intercepted a Dailyn Campbell pass and returned it 52 yards for a score.

    In the second and third quarters, SIU combined to score five points, while YSU was stopped on a fourth-and-1 at the Salukis’ 21-yard line and Brian Palmer, who had made 14 straight field goals, missed chances from 38 and 42 yards.

    In the fourth, SIU broke the game open with two touchdown runs in a 62-second span for the final margin of 33-0.

In his first start, Campbell completed 15-of-29 passes for 102 yards.

    True freshman quarterback Dailyn Campbell made his first career start last Saturday against Southern Illinois.

    Campbell completed 15-of-29 attempts for 102 yards and had nine rushes in the game. He made his first career appearance at Missouri State the previous week.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.

    Redshirt freshman Kamryn Keys led the Penguins in rushing for the third straight game and the fourth time this season with 68 yards on 13 carries against Southern Illinois.

    Keys now leads the team with 495 yards rushing on 91 attempts. The last freshman to lead the Guins in rushing was Adrian Brown in 1996. He has two 100-yard games this season -- 113 at Missouri State and 146 against North Dakota State.

    Junior tailback Jabari Scott went over the 1,000-yard rushing 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. He also had a touchdown catch in the contest, the first touchdown reception in his career.

    At YSU, Scott has 1,062 yards on 179 carries. 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 five this year for a total of 13 scores.

    In the past four games, YSU’s receivers have combined to make 69 catches.

    Ferlando Williams has made 19 of his team-high 26 receptions the past four games. Da’Michael Horne has had five catches in each of the past two games and has 19 in the last four games.

    Dominique Barnes had a career-high seven receptions at Missouri State and now has 14 in the past four games. Donald Jones has 12 in the past four contests.

    In just 19 games played, senior punt returner/cornerback De’Angelo Wilson ranks second at YSU in career punt return yardage. After a 57-yard performance against Southern Illinois, Wilson has 439 yards on 39 returns. His average of 11.2 per return also ranks second.

    This season he has 155 yards on 12 returns. In 2007, Wilson had 27 returns for 284 yards.

    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 this past Saturday.

    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 had made his final 11 of 2007 and his first three of 2008 before missing twice on Saturday.

    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.

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

    The Penguins’ three seniors have combined to start 82 games - Brad Samsa (34), Tyler Booth (30) and Nhemie Theodore (18). On the right side, tackle Bobby Coates has 12 starts to his credit while guard Eric Rodemoyer has eight this year. Sophomore Justin Rechichar started in place of Theodore at Southern Utah.

    Six true freshman have seen action -- four on defense and two on offense this season for YSU.

    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 started at linebacker against Southern Illinois.

    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.

    So far this season a total of 21 players have missed at least one game because of an injury, while 17 of them 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 third in the conference averaging 42.2 yards per kick. Nowicki leads the MVFC with 12 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 17th in the country in average. Last year, he averaged just 37.1 yards per kick. Of his 83 career punts, only three have been touchbacks.

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

    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 Illinois, defensive tackles Roger Gillum and Chris Gammon made the first starts of their careers. Of the 11 players who have started on the line this season, eight were starting for the first time.

    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.

    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 catches this season and six in his career.

    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 when he scores at least one touchdown.

    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.

    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 also rushed for 113 at Missouri State two weeks ago.

    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).

    The Penguins have shown the knack to rebound quickly following a shutout in recent years. YSU has been shut out seven times since 1981, including last Saturday’s 33-0 loss to Southern Illinois. Following the previous six shutouts, YSU came back to win its next game five times. That loss was earlier this season at South Dakota State after the Guins were shut out 43-0 at Ohio State in the opener.

• 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 13-35.

• 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.