2018 College Football Team Previews: Youngstown State Penguins
Youngstown State Penguins
Location: Youngstown, OH
Coach: Bo Pelini (23-15@YSU, 90-42 overall) 4th Season
Stadium: Dike Beede Field at Stambaugh Stadium (Capacity: 20,630)
CSJ Projections:
4th: Missouri Valley Football Conference
7th: Ohio
21st: FCS
131st: Division I
2017 In A Sentence: Youngstown State won its final three games to end the 2017 campaign to salvage a winning season at 6-5 overall record–but was a disappointment from the year prior when it finished as the national runner-up after losing the national title game to James Madison.
Biggest Shoes to Fill: OT Justin Spencer started all 50 games on the offensive line during his career. He was a three-time All-MVFC selection. While senior center Vitas Hrynkiewicz and senior guard Gavin Wiggins are back, missing the left side protection will be a big hole to fill.
Key Player: RB Tevin McCaster rushed for 1,066 yards on 221 carries and scored 13 touchdowns. He was named first-team All-Missouri Valley Football Conference for his efforts. In the past two seasons, McCaster has scored 24 touchdowns in 27 games played.
Fearless Prediction: The Penguins lost five games and four of them were decided by five points or less. This means the team couldn’t find ways to win like it could in 2016. This team has a number of talents plays despite having just 10 total starters back. The key for the team is to win its share of the close games. If the Penguins can do that, they will see another playoff berth.
Originally from LaMoure, North Dakota, Kent is a 1996 graduate of North Dakota State University. His prior writing experience is over 15 years having previously worked with D2football.com, I-AA.org, and College Sporting News before coming to College Sports Journal in 2016. His main focus is college football is the Missouri Valley Football Conference within the Division I FCS. And in 2017, he began also to look at the FBS Group of Five conferences of the American Athletic, Conference USA, Mid-American, Mountain West, and Sun Belt.
Reach him at this email or click below:
The College Sports Journal’s proofreaders need to do a better job.
Youngstown State University does not play its home games at Hancock Stadium (which is where Illinois State University plays its home games. YSU plays it home games on Dike Beede Field at Stambaugh Stadium.
Fix this obvious mistake post haste.
Sorry, copy and paste error. Thanks for pointing out.