Correspondent photo / David Dermer. Youngstown State wide receiver Kylon Wilson (1) is congratulated by wide receiver Max Tomczak (4) after a touchdown reception during the second half of the Penguins’ game at North Dakota on Saturday in Grand Forks, North Dakota.

YOUNGSTOWN — When firing on all cylinders, Youngstown State’s offense has ranked among the best in the FCS.

The Penguins have a deep stable of running backs at their disposal, an experienced offensive line, an explosive group of receivers led by a preseason All-American and a dynamic quarterback, who is among the best in the country statistically.

Yet, in three losses this season, the offense has struggled with both consistency and efficiency. Even in wins, with the exception of the Robert Morris game, there have been some issues.

“We gotta look in the mirror. It starts with me, with our coaches,” head coach Doug Phillips said. “It’s a process. … Mistakes are going to happen. I don’t think there’s a perfect team out there. We coach 18-22 year olds, sometimes 23-year-olds. The effort’s gotta be there. We gotta correct those mistakes. We gotta coach better. We gotta get our guys better prepared to be able to execute what we’re asking them to execute, whether it’s on offense, whether it’s on defense.”

Against Michigan State, YSU couldn’t run the ball outside of one long run. Then against South Dakota State, the offense disappeared in the third quarter when the Jackrabbits made their comeback. And finally last week against North Dakota, the Penguins’ slow start put them in too deep of a hole and the offense had issues finishing drives.

The offensive players often speak with confidence that they feel they have one of the best units in the country, so what is holding the offense back?

Poor execution at times is the most notable reason, according to Phillips. But he also credits opposing defenses for adjusting to get the Penguins out of rhythm.

“It comes down to, did we have the right scheme? Did we have the right play call? Did we execute? Did we miss a read?” Phillips said. “It’s a 4-6 second play, and things happen fast. … That’s what execution comes down to. So for us, you gotta be a lot better. Give (opposing teams) credit, they obviously did something that affected us in how we execute. So we gotta get back to what we do and be successful.”

The Penguins have shown flashes of their potential.

Against the Colonials, YSU rushed for 424 yards. Through the last four games, quarterback Beau Brungard averaged 265.8 passing yards per game. Then in the fourth quarter against Towson, the Penguins rallied back from an 11-point deficit to win.

But so far, two of YSU’s biggest deficiencies offensively have been an inability to get the running backs going in the ground game and the lack of a deep, vertical passing attack.

Brungard leads the Penguins with 727 rushing yards and averages 121.2 rushing yards per game, but no other player is averaging more than 35 rushing yards per game.

“That’s one thing we want to see,” Phillips said last week. “I do believe we have good running backs, and we gotta get them involved too. They do a good job of catching the ball out of the backfield, but establishing them too as runners would be great.”

The deep ball over the top was the No. 1 thing that the offense was missing last year. As a result, YSU put an increased emphasis on developing the vertical passing game in the offseason.

Through the first five games, the Penguins had yet to see it materialize. But in the second half against North Dakota, YSU finally connected downfield, as Brungard hit Kylon “Flash” Wilson for a 57-yard pass, as well as a 37-yard touchdown.

“We’ve been working on it,” Phillips said. “That’s timing. You look at (Illinois State’s) quarterback (Tommy) Rittenhouse and receiver (Daniel) Sobkowicz — they’ve been playing together for a long time. Those guys are on the same page. Beau and Max (Tomczak) are the same way. Then you got new receivers, which everyone runs a different route, and everyone is a different speed, so just working on the timing.

“That was positive to see us hit ‘Flash’ in stride. He made a great catch on that first one, going up with two hands with two guys there. And the second one, he has the speed to get behind the secondary, and we know our quarterback has the arm to get it beyond, so it was great to see. We’ve been working on that hard ever since spring, and to start to see that come to fruition, you know it’s a positive thing for the offense.”

Despite YSU’s struggles, the team sits at 3-3 overall and 0-2 in the Missouri Valley Football Conference, which magnifies the importance of Saturday’s 3 p.m. (ESPN+/570 WKBN) road showdown in Normal, Ill., at No. 10 Illinois State.

A win keeps the Penguins’ fading FCS playoff hopes alive. A loss likely makes it exponentially more difficult.

“They’re all critical now. That’s the realness of it,” Phillips said. “In our league, you fall behind 0-2, and guess what? We own it. We put ourselves there. Now we gotta fight, bite, scratch and do whatever it takes to get back out. We’ve been before in a spot like this and our kids responded in a positive way. Our guys know that. The rest of the year, we have no leeway for failure.

“For us, we work hard all year to do one thing, and that’s playoffs. That’s having the opportunity to play in December. When you start off 0-2, you’ve dug yourself a hole, and the only way to get out is to keep climbing, keep working and stay together. Whatever comes out of that locker room this week in Normal, Ill., we gotta be ready to play football for 60-plus minutes.”