Penguins’ defense remains a work in progress as team prepares for Indiana State
YOUNGSTOWN — On paper, the numbers aren’t kind to Youngstown State’s defense.
Through five games, the Penguins are 97th in the FCS in total defense, giving up an average of 424.2 yards per game. YSU is also giving up 8.29 yards per play and 8.26 yards per rush, both of which are at or near the bottom of the FCS statistical rankings.
However, those numbers are skewed slightly by the 644 total yards that YSU surrendered in a 73-17 loss to FBS foe Pitt, the same issues still remained against the Penguins’ FCS foes, as YSU sits at 1-4 on the season.
But despite what the numbers indicate, head coach Doug Phillips said that he’s steadily seeing improvement from his defensive unit.
“Every day I see improvement, I really do,” Phillips said during his weekly press conference on Tuesday. “We’re far from where we probably need to be at this point of the season, but I see improvement. It’s us believing — I believe in them. I believe in how they’re practicing, and now it’s just about playing fast. You get guys in the right place, then all of a sudden, they think, ‘Okay, this is where I’m going to be.’ When you don’t have to think, that’s when you start making plays, and I trust that process.”
One positive for the defense this season has been its ability to make adjustments to opposing offenses in game.
It happened against Villanova in the season opener. YSU gave up just seven points to the Wildcats after halftime and limited Villanova to just 51 total yards at 3.4 yards per play in the fourth quarter.
Then against Valparaiso, the Penguins held the Beacons to only three points in the second half after allowing them to score 22 in the second quarter.
YSU saw improvements in the second half against Missouri State this past week as well.
“I saw glimpses of that — I really believe we saw a little bit of an identity in the second half last week where we got a strip fumble and we had a couple of sacks there in the second half that maybe I haven’t seen (yet),” Phillips said. “So we’ve gotta continue to build off that.”
Some of YSU’s issues on defense can be attributed to the number of new faces that the Penguins have on that side of the ball.
YSU came into the season needing to replace 10 starters on defense, and so far this season, 13 different players have made their first career starts for the Penguins on that side of the ball.
“It’s competitive,” Phillips said. “We go out on that practice field, whoever pracrices the best will get the opportunities to get into the football game. It’s that competition where you can’t take a day off because I’m competing to get reps on a given Saturday, and that’s for offense, defense and special teams.”
It takes time to develop chemistry and trust with one another, and a good number of those new faces only joined the program this spring or this summer.
“No matter what you’re doing in life, it takes six to eight months to build trust and communication,” Phillips said. “For some of these kids, they haven’t been here six to eight months, and we’re still working on that. But when you get to a game, you gotta trust, if this is what we’re doing, you gotta trust. We’re going to show you how, but you’re trusting the why.”
YSU will need to continue to see improvement from its defense, if it wants to get back in the win column this Saturday at 2 p.m. (ESPN+/570 WKBN) at Stambaugh Stadium against Indiana State, as the Penguins return home for the first time in a couple weeks.
The Penguins have had some close contests with the Sycamores in recent years. In 2021, YSU fell to Indiana State by 11, but the Penguins have won the last two games, winning by six in 2022 and by 12 last season.
Like YSU, Indiana State is also a run-first team. Tailbacks Shen Butler-Lawson and Plez Lawrence and quarterback Elijah Owens each all have run for more than 100 total yards this season.
On defense, linebacker Garret Ollendieck is back leading the Sycamores in tackles this season. He also has two fumble recoveries, while Kendrick Milford leads the team with 3.5 sacks.
“I have all the respect for coach (Curt) Mallory,” Phillips said. “They’re always fundamentally sound and disciplined. It’s going to be a battle. They take care of the football, and they don’t make a lot of mistakes. They let you make mistakes. If you recall last year, it was a fight. … They try to win the field-position battle. They try to not give up explosive plays, let you drive and eventually you’re going to turn the ball over. So we’re playing a very disciplined, fundamental football team that we’ve battled with the last two years, and we gotta be ready for a four-quarter football game.”
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