OSU-YSU history, preview

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On Saturday, the fifth-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes will welcome into Ohio Stadium a somewhat familiar in-state foe in the Youngstown State Penguins.

Somewhat familiar because it won’t be the first time these two teams have met, however, it will only be for the third time.

The Penguins, out of the FCS’s Missouri Valley Conference, come in at 1-0 after a big 52-10 season-opening win over Valparaiso on August 31.

Ohio State also enters undefeated after their season-opening victory on the road against Big Ten opponent Indiana ended 23-3 in OSU’s favor.

The previous two meetings came back-to-back in 2007 and 2008, both of which went to the Buckeyes.

In both of those seasons, Ohio State was coached by Jim Tressel, who was also YSU’s head coach for 15 years from 1986-2000 before taking the head job in Columbus.

He paid back his former school by pasting the Penguins 38-6 in their first-ever matchup and then besting the Guins 43-0 the following year.

As most in Buckeye Nation fondly remember, “Tress” led the Scarlet and Gray to three championship game appearances and brought the national title back to Columbus in 2002. However, his prolific career in Youngstown is what led to his hiring to come back “home”. After graduating from Baldwin Wallace in 1974 - where he played quarterback for his dad, Lee - he spent four seasons in Akron as a graduate assistant, two more as a QB and wide receivers coach at Miami, Ohio, then two more at Syracuse as their QB coach.

He then took a job under former OSU head coach Earle Bruce in 1983 as his QB/WR coach and was promoted to the team’s running backs coach along with the other two positions the following two seasons. After the ‘85 season and three years in Columbus, he was anointed the top dog for the FCS (formerly Division 1-AA) Penguins.

During his time as YSU’s head coach, Tressel took them to six Division 1-AA national championship games in a nine-year span from 1991 to 1999. He won four, which still stands as the third-most championships in FCS history ever since the NCAA voted in 1978 for a D-1 AA tournament format to crown a champ. The Penguins have seven title game appearances in all, which sits tied-for third all-time, their last coming in 2016.

It’s that kind of prestige that led Youngstown State to hire Tressel as their President in 2014 which just came to an end in February.

And there it might seem the connection between the two schools that are 172 miles apart would end.

As the incomparable Lee Corso would say, “not so fast my friend.”

The ties between OSU and YSU go deeper than just Tressel, especially when it comes to this year’s team.

Penguins fourth-year head coach and Middletown, Ohio native Doug Phillips did time with Tressel in Youngstown as a grad assistant in 1991 and ‘92 and joined him in Columbus as a quality control coach in 2006. Phillips’ OSU association continued 11 years later when he joined former Buckeye player and coach Luke Fickell’s staff at Cincinnati as a tight ends and RB coach from 2017 - ‘19.

Phillips’ current offensive coordinator and QB coach, Troy Rothenbuhler, holds a bachelor’s degree in mathematical sciences after graduating from Ohio State in 1995. However, while still in school, he helped out former head coach John Cooper as a student assistant from 1992 - ‘94 and then became one of Cooper’s grad assistants from ‘95 - ‘96.

Remember Mike Tomczak? Yeah, like that Mike Tomczak, former captain and three-year starter at QB for the Buckeyes from 1982 - ‘84. He helped them win a conference title his senior year and took them to the Rose Bowl after a five-year drought. Not only is he currently in his fourth year as a volunteer advisor to Doug Phillips but his nephew, Max Tomczak, is a third-year WR for the Penguins who played in all 11 games last year, starting in seven.

And Max isn’t the only current player with a Scarlet and Gray association. Former OSU safety Marcus Hooker starts at the same position for the Penguins after leaving Columbus for Youngstown following the 2021 season. Hooker played in seven games last season, started in five and had three tackles in last week’s win over the Beacons.

It is those correlations and connections that OSU head coach Ryan Day said is going to make Saturday’s game even more special.

“I know our guys are excited to have the first home game and certainly being (against) an Ohio university and certainly with coach Tressel his history there and being the president, you know, it’s going to be a good afternoon and we’ve got a lot of respect for the university.”

Phillips knows what lies ahead and the opportunity for his team to get the experience both on and off the field playing Ohio State is something extraordinary.

“It’s bigger than us,” he said during their Tuesday press conference. “Giving our players, our program, our university, the fans … the opportunity to (give) our players the experience of what they’re going to experience on Saturday (is special).”

He said Saturday will give him and his coaching staff a little better feel for where his team is at after going up against one of the best teams in all of college football.

“I tell ya, we play the best in FCS, now we get to go play the best in the FBS. And it’s football and we got to go in with a plan to win and find out how we execute and evaluate how we do going against that type of program.”

Super senior, sixth-year Penguin linebacker Greg Benton, Jr. emulated his coach’s focus and said he and his teammates aren’t necessarily concentrating on the fact they’re playing “the Ohio State”.

“It’s really about us,” he said. “We’re focused on who we’re going against, of course, but we’re more focused on what we have to do in doing our jobs and fitting our fit. We’re not too concerned about the big Ohio State and everything.”

Benton, who played for four seasons at FCS Western Illinois before transferring to Youngstown State after 2021, has had some more experience than what most of his teammates have had playing before some mildly bigger crowds - like the 36,500 in Canvas Stadium at Colorado State - and has some advice for his teammates that might be a little wide-eyed when seeing close to 100,000 in the Horseshoe.

“My advice would be just to play your game and don’t be rattled from the big stadium and all of the big-named guys and everything. Don’t be rattled, don’t be shaken by anybody because you play football just like how they play football. I put my pants on just like they do.”

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Preview

Youngstown St was very efficient in the run game versus Valparaiso on both sides of the ball.

Offensively, expect the Penguins to run and run often. Last weekend, out of their 67 total plays, they ran 41 times for 302 yards and five touchdowns led by fifth-year senior running back and Northern Michigan transfer Tyshon King with 111 yards and two TDs on 11 carries.

Also look out for a couple of redshirt freshmen to tote the rock in Cephus Harris III, who had 58 yards and one TD on seven rushes while Cleveland Glenville alumnus Da'Shaun Whatley had 59 yards on only five carries.

Through the air, YSU is led by sixth-year super senior Mitch Davidson who threw for over 1,600 yards last year with 12 TDs against only one interception. Last weekend, he threw for 130 yards, one TD, no interceptions while rushing four times for 22 yards and one TD.

And Davidson’s favorite target from last year is back in fellow super senior Bryce Oliver. The wide receiver led the conference last season in TD catches, catches per game and finished in the top three in total catches and yards. Last weekend, he led the team with five catches for 65 yds.

Also back is C.J. Charleston, who sat out all last season after suffering an achilles injury not a week into fall camp. The fifth-year receiver finished with four catches for 47 yds and snagged the team's lone receiving score.

Charleston might be a name that sounds familiar to hardcore Ohio high school football fans: after his senior year at Gilmour Academy in Gates Mills, Ohio, he was a first-team, All-State selection, the Division V Offensive Player of the Year and was a finalist for the state's Mr. Football Award in 2018.

Defensively, the Penguins were stout in their win against the Beacons, only allowing 40 rushing yards and sacked QB Mikey Appel five times. Leading the attack were a pair of upperclassmen linebackers in fifth-year Alex Howard, who led with nine tackles - including three for-loss, two of which were sacks - and Benton, Jr., who tallied six tackles including a sack.

For Ohio State to win, they obviously must dominate the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball.

The three-pronged rushing attack they put together against the Hoosiers last weekend consisting of TreVeyon Henderson, Miyan Williams and Deamonte "Chip" Trayanum was effective enough for 143 yards on 31 carries, a 4.6 yard average, with both TDs coming on the ground from Williams while Trayanum played fullback as a lead blocker.

But there were still times the offensive line missed some assignments and allowed Indiana's linebackers to blitz through the gaps and blow up the play.

Day needs to come out and assert their dominance by establishing the run which will hopefully open up the pass, something that was (literally) hit and miss last weekend.

Junior Kyle McCord got the start (the second of his OSU career) and had arguably a decent game completing 61 percent for 239 yards. However, he failed to complete a TD and threw a pick late in the second quarter when OSU was driving into IU territory.

Technically, he did throw a score to fellow St. Joseph’s Prep High School and current wide receiver teammate Marvin Harrison, Jr. but it was called back because the refs said Harrison voluntarily stepped out of bounds but illegally came back inbounds to make the catch, thus negating the score. The Big Ten came out on Tuesday and said the catch should have counted because Harrison was actually pushed by an IU defender and therefore was allowed to come back in without incurring a penalty.

Unfortunately, neither here nor there at this point.

This should be the game where the Buckeyes’ offense gains momentum and they begin to click better as the game goes along. Although, don’t expect major explosions all over the place, because given the slow and somewhat prodding nature last weekend and the inconsistent play of the offensive line, this offense still has some kinks to work out.

As long as the defense plays like they did versus Indiana, there should be no drop off. The second team could possibly give up a score but nothing more than a TD and that’s probably stretching it seeing how some of the second-teamers played in the latter stages of the game in Bloomington.

OSU is around a 40-point favorite, but tempering expectations (even against an FCS team like Youngstown State) might reduce the need for heartburn meds come approximately 3:30 p.m. Saturday because the Penguins will undoubtedly come to play and the fact they have as many OSU brethren coming back to town who know what it means to play and win in front of a LOT of people while tamping down the nerves, don’t be surprised if the Buckeyes fail to cover the spread for a second weekend in a row.

Final score: OSU - 35, YSU - 7