Penguins looking to address mistakes, deficiencies against South Dakota
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YOUNGSTOWN -- Despite dropping its conference opener at South Dakota State this past week, the Youngstown State football team isn't hitting the panic button just yet.
However, the Penguins have their share of issues to address moving forward after struggling to run the ball against SDSU's defense and having a hard time stopping Jackrabbits running back Josiah Johnson.
"We gotta get back to basics. It's fundamentals," YSU head coach Doug Phillips said. "It starts with us, as coaches, we gotta have our young men ready. We felt like we were climbing uphill the whole game, and it's hard to go on the road in the Missouri Valley. You're playing a good team, a great team in the Missouri Valley, and you gotta play clean.
"And what I mean about clean is you gotta be fundamentally sound. You gotta stop the run. You gotta be able to run the football. You gotta score when you're in the red zone. You gotta be great on special teams, stuff that we work on each and every day."
Difficulty running the ball and stopping the run have been a recurring theme in both of YSU's losses this season.
In the two games against Kentucky and SDSU, the Penguins ran the ball a combined 51 times for 116 total yards, a paltry 2.3 yards per carry. Defensively, YSU gave up 513 total rushing yards, or 256.5 yards per game.
Defensive back Cam Smith attributed the issues with the run defense to missed assignments on certain plays.
"At the end of the day, it was maybe one or two people not doing their job on one specific play and that led to a couple big explosive runs," Smith said. "I feel like we played good run defense throughout the game, but then we had those couple long runs that definitely affected our rushing stats and his rushing stats. But I feel like if we just take it one play at a time, day by day right now, just continuing to understand what type of offense, what type of run game we're going to get, we're going to give ourselves a great chance to be successful on Saturdays."
Meanwhile, Phillips acknowledged that the Penguins know they need to be able to run the ball if they're going to be successful offensively the rest of the season.
"I think if you look down the road and you want to play a second season in the playoffs or even getting into the months of October and November, you gotta be able to run the football," Phillips said. "We gotta put an emphasis on it. We got a veteran offensive line, we have good running backs and those are the things that you know. You go in with a base run, but sometimes the game kind of takes you away from that. But you gotta establish that physicality in a football game, especially if you want to have success later in the season."
While the issues are glaring, YSU ultimately believes that they are fixable. But there's a sense of urgency to figure things out because it's not going to get any easier for the Penguins in MVFC play.
"We gotta fix some things. But it's fixable, and we got a long season," Phillips said. "I love our kids. I think they have the fundamentals, they have the speed and they have the athleticism. We gotta put them in the right position, and all those things can be proved. If I was sitting here worried about their effort, their attitude, their competitiveness -- if I was worried about that, I'd be not sleeping at night. But I know our young men have those things. Now we gotta apply, and they gotta understand."
Despite the mistakes and on-field shortcomings, the Penguins have a chance to turn things around this week, as they return home to host No. 8 South Dakota on Saturday at 2 p.m. (ESPN+/570 WKBN) at Stambaugh Stadium.
The Coyotes pose a similar, but also slightly different challenge for YSU than the Jackrabbits did last week.
Offensively, South Dakota has been one of the most explosive teams in the country, averaging nearly 7.75 yards per play, which is third-best in the FCS.
"I feel like they have a very good run game. Then off that run game, they like to take their deep shots after continuously pounding the football quarter after quarter," Smith said. "So I feel like for our game, the key on defense is to stop the run, first and foremost. Then when they do decide to take those shots, that we have to play excellent coverage and make sure that we have our safeties over the top."
In three of the last five years, the Penguins have opened conference play 0-2. They want to avoid falling into an early hole that would minimize their margin for error the rest of the season.
"Our young men learned last year when we buried ourselves 0-2. You know why? We let the South Dakota State game linger as we went on the road at North Dakota, and what happened? North Dakota just kicked our butt," Phillips said. "They're focused on trying to get ready for this game.
"Our goal each and every week is it's a one-week season. We gotta go 1-0 this week, and I'm sure they want to start off their league slate by going 1-0. So what does that do? It makes for a great matchup come Saturday."