Correspondent photo / Robert Hayes. YSU quarterback Beau Brungard carries the ball in the first half of Saturday's win over Murray State at Stambaugh Stadium.

YOUNGSTOWN — Beau Brungard had his fair share of doubters when he took over as Youngstown State’s starting quarterback before the start of last season.

While he had his ups and downs in his first season as the starter, this year, Brungard has looked exactly like the quarterback YSU’s coaches envisioned he could be when he followed in his father Mark’s footsteps to join the Penguins three years ago.

Still, no matter what he does on the field, Brungard knows those doubters are always going to be there.

“I know there’s always gonna be and there always has been doubters,” Brungard said. “But Coach (Doug) Phillips believes in me, my teammates believe in me and the Lord’s given me this ability. So I just try to maximize it to the best of my ability. That’s just what I do. That’s what I’m going to keep doing for next week.”

Last week, he accounted for five touchdowns and a program-record 528 total yards of offense. This week, he replicated his five-touchdown performance, which included hauling in his first career receiving touchdown, as the Penguins did what they needed to do, dominating winless Murray State 51-17 on Saturday during Homecoming at Stambaugh Stadium.

“It was our message all week — we’re not going to take any opponent lightly. We’re not going to look at their record,” Brungard said. “We just gotta do our job, and we gotta handle our business. … I’m proud of the way we practiced, and the mindset we had going into this game to just handle our business.”

Brungard was nearly perfect through the air, completing each of his first 13 passes to finish 22-for-25 for 248 yards and two touchdowns. His 13 straight completions tied for the second-most in program history and matched the number he had last year against Northern Iowa.

He also ran 15 times for 64 yards and two touchdowns, just his third game this season with less than 100 rushing yards.

“We have an attack mindset. That’s what we do,” Brungard said. “We’re going to attack until the clock strikes 0:00.”

Coming in at 0-7 on the season, Murray State showed its desperation early on. The Racers opted to receive the opening kickoff and proceeded to drive 75 yards in nine plays for the game’s opening score — a 32-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Jim Ogle to Lucas Desjardins on fourth down.

From there, however, YSU’s defense settled in, forcing the Racers to punt on four of their next six possessions, as DJ Harris picked off Ogle on one of the other possessions.

“First drive of any football game, I don’t get too excited or too low,” Phillips said. “Because even for us, a lot of that is scripted based on what they saw on film. So usually you wait until about the second, third and fourth quarters, when the game really gets into situational football.”

The Penguins held Murray State to 3-for-13 on third down, while limiting the Racers to 271 total yards.

After Murray State’s opening touchdown, YSU scored 38 unanswered points before the Racers snapped the scoring drought with a late 38-yard Jack Tannehill field goal at the start of the fourth quarter.

“Third down, getting off the field, getting our offense the football, possessing the football, we feel good when our offense gets the football,” Phillips said. “Defense, I thought did a great job in their preparation, focusing on the process, not the end result. Now that consistency, you gotta do it week-in and week-out.”

The deep ball continued to have success for Brungard and the Penguins’ receivers, as he hit Kylon Wilson over the top of the Racers’ defense on a post route for a 62-yard touchdown in the second quarter. Wilson finished with five receptions for 89 yards and a score, to go along with four carries for 37 yards on the ground.

“I feel like living up to my nickname, I kind of have to,” Wilson said. “If I’m named ‘Flash,’ I gotta be moving around fast. So once I gave myself that nickname in high school, I just had to live up to it and that’s what I’m doing right now.”

Brungard then got involved in the receiving game in the third quarter when YSU ran a double pass to Fresh Walters and back to Brungard, and with blockers in tow, he took it 50 yards for the touchdown.

“I love trick plays,” Brungard said. “It catches the defense off guard, and anytime I can get a reception, that’s always fun. So I was happy we ran that one.”

Two weeks ago, Wilson confidently declared that he was going to break a long kick return at some point this season.

It didn’t take him long, as Wilson returned a kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown after the Racers’ field goal at the start of the fourth quarter that gave YSU a 45-10 lead.

“I told you I’m going to get y’all one. I’m going to get more. I ain’t done yet,” Wilson said. “I was just thankful for my blockers. It started in practice as well. We schemed it. We already knew how they were going to kick the ball, what they were going to do, and we just went with the game plan. All the special teams was hype and (assistant) Coach Shep (Pat Shepard) was hype too.”

YSU now heads back out on the road next week, as it visits No. 1 North Dakota State in the Fargo Dome.

No. 22 Youngstown State 51, Murray State 17

AT STAMBAUGH STADIUM

BY QUARTERS

MSU 7 0 0 10 — 17

YSU 7 17 14 13 — 51

TEAM STATISTICS

First Downs: MSU: 15, YSU: 26; Rushes/Yards Rushing: MSU: 25-79, YSU: 43-241; Yards Passing: MSU: 192, YSU: 298; Comp-Att-Int: MSU: 19-29-1, YSU: 23-27-0; Penalties: MSU: 11-83, YSU: 7-71; Fumbles-Lost: MSU: 0-0, YSU: 0-0; Total Yards: MSU: 271, YSU: 539; Offensive Plays: MSU: 54, YSU: 70

INDIVIDUAL LEADERS

Passing: MSU: Jim Ogle 11-for-20 102 yds TD INT; YSU: Beau Brungard 22-for-25 248 yds 2 TDs

Rushing: MSU: Baxter Wright 7 carries 30 yds; YSU: Beau Brungard 15 carries 64 yds 2 TDs

Receiving: MSU: Darius Cannon 4 rec. 33 yds; YSU: Kylon Wilson 5 rec. 89 yds TD

Scoring summary

First quarter

MSU: Desjardins 32 pass from Ogle (Tannehill kick) 10:48 (0-7)

YSU: Brungard 5 run (Lastovka kick) 7:03 (7-7)

Second quarter

YSU: Wright 1 run (Lastovka kick) 10:32 (14-7)

YSU: Wilson 62 pass from Brungard (Lastovka kick) 5:39 (21-7)

YSU: Lastovka 34 field goal 0:06 (24-7)

Third quarter

YSU: Brungard 50 pass from Walters (Lastovka kick) 12:08 (31-7)

YSU: Brungard 1 run (Lastovka kick) 7:00 (38-7)

Fourth quarter

MSU: Tannehill 38 field goal 13:34 (38-10)

YSU: Wilson 100 kickoff return (Lastovka kick) 13:15 (45-10)

MSU: Bulluck 17 pass from Wright (Tannehill kick) 11:22 (45-17)

YSU: Tomczak 2 pass from Brungard (Schmidt kick missed) 7:04 (51-17)