The aftermath of a Big Ten road win filled with plenty of jitters and bumps seems the optimal time for a Week 2 tune-up game.
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YOUNGSTOWN STATE PENGUINS |
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1-0 ROSTER / SCHEDULE |
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NOON – SATURDAY, SEPT. 9 OHIO STADIUM COLUMBUS, OHIO |
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| BIG TEN NETWORK |
Following a closer-than-expected win over Indiana to open the season, Ohio State gets the lone non-FBS opponent it plays in 2023, FCS Youngstown State.
If all goes to plan, it should be a more-than-comfortable second victory for the Buckeyes and a chance to iron out kinks in its offense with a Week 4 road tilt against Notre Dame around the corner. Here are five things to know about Youngstown State:
Program On the Upswing
Youngstown State came within one win of what would have been its fifth national championship in 2016, losing to James Madison in the FCS Championship Game by a 28-14 final that year.
The Penguins have not made the FCS playoffs since and have undergone plenty of highs and lows since the 2019 departure of the coach that took them to said title game, Bo Pelini, who left for a second stint as LSU's defensive coordinator in 2020.
Since then, Youngstown State has been under the leadership of Doug Phillips, and to say he got off to a rough start might be understating things. Youngstown State went a combined 4-13 in 2020 and 2021, finishing at the bottom of the Missouri Valley Conference in both years.
In desperate need of improvement, Phillips and his team showed plenty in 2022. The Penguins waddled to their first winning record since 2017, going 7-4 with a 5-3 mark in conference play. They will hope to take further strides in Phillips’ fourth year.
First FCS Opponent In a Decade
Ohio State rarely dips its toes in the pool of opponents below its collegiate football division. Youngstown State will be the Buckeyes’ first FCS opponent since 2013, when an Urban Meyer-led team trounced Florida A&M by a 76-0 final. Back-to-back meetings with the Penguins in 2007 and 2008 represent the only other FCS opponents Ohio State has played this millennium, with the Buckeyes recording 38-6 and 43-0 victories, respectively.
McLaughlin Left a Large Hole
Youngstown State’s efforts in 2022 were spearheaded by running back Jaleel McLaughlin, who picked up 1,588 yards rushing at a clip of 7.0 yards per carry. He gained 144.4 yards per game on the ground, scoring 13 touchdowns and adding 300 receiving yards.
McLaughlin is now playing for the NFL’s Denver Broncos after making the team’s roster as an undrafted free agent, and with him went 43 percent of the team’s offense from a season ago in terms of yardage.
The Penguins do return their top receiving weapon in wideout Bryce Oliver. However, their passing game was shaky as two different quarterbacks started at least four games in 2022, with the team completing just 55.6 percent of its passes for 2,160 yards and 17 touchdowns with three interceptions.
A collective of backs led by Tyshon King has been called upon to replace McLaughlin, with seven different rushers logging at least three carries in the team’s first game. Speaking of which:
Valiant Performance Against Valpo
It’s hard to ask for a better start to a season than Youngstown State got against Valparaiso Week 1, putting together a dominant 52-10 win after the Penguins outscored the Beacons 35-0 in the second half.
As with last season, the ground game is where Youngstown State got most of its work done. It gained 302 yards on the ground as opposed to 169 through the air, averaging 7.4 yards per carry.
King raced off to a 69-yard touchdown run as part of an 11-carry, 111-yard day with Da’Shaw Whatley following suit by picking up 59 yards in five attempts. Quarterback Mitch Davidson went 11-for-19 with 130 yards and a touchdown through the air. Youngstown State’s defense held Valparaiso to a mere 40 rushing yards as part of 195 yards of total offense for the Beacons.
Departure of a Familiar Face
There are few men in the history of Ohio State athletics, and the history of Youngstown State University as a whole, who have made as much of an impact as Jim Tressel. The Senator retired as YSU president on Jan. 31.
Tressel won four Div. I-AA National Championships in the 1990s as the Penguins’ head coach, a position he held for 15 seasons from 1986 through 2000. He then took over for John Cooper at Ohio State in 2001 and reversed what had been a brutal decade for the team in its rivalry with Michigan through the 1990s, during which the Buckeyes went a disappointing 2-7-1 under Cooper. Tressel responded with a 9-1 record against the Wolverines in his 10-year Ohio State tenure.
Tressel and the Buckeyes won a BCS National Championship in 2002 and appeared in title games after the 2006 and 2007 seasons.
After leaving the program amid NCAA sanctions from the “tattoo gate” scandal before the 2011 campaign, Tressel joined the NFL’s Indianapolis Colts as a consultant before returning to Youngstown State as university president in 2014. He served 10 years in the role before his retirement this year.
