Correspondent photo / Robert Hayes YSU receiver Max Tomczak looks to elude a pair of Pitt defenders after making a catch in last week’s loss against the Panthers at Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh.

YOUNGSTOWN — With non-conference play now behind it, Youngstown State is looking to reset as it begins Missouri Valley Football Conference play this week.

The Penguins have struggled to a 1-3 start in four games against non-league opponents, which has included a pair of gut-wrenching, one-score defeats.

“You gotta learn from disappointments and hopefully, that learning lesson, you can apply it starting league play,” head coach Doug Phillips said. “There’s been times we go into league play feeling pretty good, and all of a sudden you lose two of the first three during the first part of it. To us, it’s a new season. This is what you prepare for. … We gotta have the mindset that we just gotta let it fly and we have to show tremendous growth from last week.”

How the Penguins begin conference play could go a long way towards determining how the season shakes out overall.

Win these first two games against Missouri State and Indiana State, and all of a sudden, YSU sits at a more stabilizing 3-3 before it stares down the barrel of five straight games against ranked opponents.

“Coach Phillips has been harping that we’re 0-0 right now and we need to go into every game like it’s our last and just give it everything we have to win every single game,” junior linebacker Preston Zandier said. “(We need to) start each week as if it was our last week, so that we do not lose an opportunity and we can seize the moment that we have in front of us.”

In 2021 when YSU went 3-7, the Penguins dropped its first two MVFC games, losing to Western Illinois and Northern Iowa. In 2022, YSU did the same, losing to North Dakota State and North Dakota before winning five of its next six games.

Then last season, the Penguins suffered a narrow loss to Northern Iowa, before returning home to crush a ranked Southern Illinois squad the next week. YSU finished both the 2022 and 2023 regular seasons at 7-4.

“In this league, it’s a rollercoaster,” Phillips said. “We go on the road last year to UNI and it was a barnburner that you lose by three and everybody thinks your head’s between your legs and you’re down and out. Then we beat a Southern Illinois team at home that was rolling. So it’s truly a one-week season where you gotta stay focused on the mission that you gotta try to accomplish.”

This week’s showdown at Missouri State on Saturday at 3 p.m. (ESPN+/570 WKBN) will be YSU’s last meeting as MVFC opponents. Missouri State is making a move to the FBS level in 2025 to join Conference USA.

YSU’s “work-in-progress” defense will continue to be tested this week, as it faces the Bears’ offense.

The Penguins and Missouri State are both averaging 388.8 total yards per game this season, which ranks 30th in the FCS, but the Bears’ offense is significantly more pass happy, while YSU’s is more run-heavy.

Missouri State averages 301.2 passing yards per game, ranking fourth in the FCS, and it all starts with senior quarterback Jacob Clark.

“Here’s a guy — he can make every throw,” Phillips said. “(Clark’s) 6-foot-5, 220 (pounds), he can run if he wants to run, but he likes to throw the football.”

Clark started the first four games for the Bears last season before suffering a season-ending injury, so he didn’t play in YSU’s 44-28 victory over Missouri State last October.

Top-rusher Jacardia Wright is also back for the Bears, and he leads the team’s ground attack with 287 rushing yards and five touchdowns.

Hunter Wood and Jmariyae Robinson are Clark’s favorite targets, as they each have over 240 receiving yards this season. But tight end Lance Mason is Missouri State’s big-play threat, having averaged 23.7 yards per reception, which ranks eighth in FCS.

“They’re going to challenge you in every phase with their offense versus your defense,” Phillips said. “If you don’t come with the preparation — we told our kids (Tuesday), you can trust the how and you understand the why. But for me, it’s not what we know, it’s what you guys know, and how quickly you know is how fast you can play. And I still haven’t seen our team play at full speed, and we need to see it Saturday.”

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