Penguins’ 5-game win streak a full-team effort
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YOUNGSTOWN -- For five straight games, the Youngstown State football team has found a way to -- as the Penguins like to put it -- "go 1-0 each week."
As a result, YSU is in the midst of a milestone win streak. The Penguins have won five consecutive games for the first time since the 2016 team won six straight en route to an FCS title game appearance. It's also the first time YSU has won five straight Missouri Valley Football Conference games since 2013.
"Coming in my freshman year, we weren't as good as we are now," tailback and Niles product Antuan Gardner said. "Even last year, we were pretty good. But just to have a five-game winning streak that could be six, it means a lot just to the community and everybody on the team right now."
In order to pull that off, it's taken a collaborative effort from everyone around the program, both on the field and off.
"We talk every day about it," cornerback Dev Holman said. "Our coaches tell us our greatest strength is each other. We say that every day in order to go on this run we want to go on. We talked earlier in the summer and spring when everyone got here, we're going to need everybody on the team. We need the coaches, the players, the strength staff, our trainers, everybody. We're just being together and showing that togetherness, that connectivity. Just stay together, just stay heads down and focus on the run that we're going on."
Off the field, the team's success can be traced to the strength coaches, team trainers, nutritionists, academic advisors and others surrounding the program, in addition to the coaches and players.
But on the field, YSU's success has been a combination of each phase of the ball working hand-in-hand together.
"It takes all three parts, special teams, offense, plus the treatment staff, the coaching staff -- it takes all of us," Gardner said. "They do an amazing job."
Through nine games, the Penguins are seventh in the FCS in total offense at 468.3 yards per game and 48th in total defense at 359.7 yards allowed per game.
Scoring wise, the offense is tied for eighth, scoring 38.2 points per game, while the defense is 38th, allowing 23.7 points per game. All those numbers are a product of complementary football.
"We're still trying to figure out 60 minutes of complementary football. At times you see it, second half at Southern Illinois, second half of North Dakota, first half of [Northern Iowa]," Phillips said. "I think the challenge for every coach is how do you get that going for 60 minutes? When you get into November, that's what separates the good from the great teams. The great ones figure it out, and that's what we're trying to do now."
With just two games remaining in the regular season, the Penguins will look to extend their win streak on Saturday at 2 p.m. (ESPN+/570 WKBN) against Murray State.
While the Racers sit at the bottom of the MVFC standings at 1-8 overall and 0-5 in conference play, YSU is being cautious not to overlook its struggling opponent.
"The record might show something, but when you cut the film on, they're a whole different team," Holman said. "They're not just somebody who's getting overpowered, a lot of the games, they've been in [them]. We talked about that this morning. There are a lot of dogfights, there are a lot of battles -- they're just a couple plays away. A lot of the teams in this conference are very good. We play in the hardest conference at the FCS level, in my opinion. So you can't overlook any team in this conference at all."
The Penguins are fourth in the FCS Stats Perform poll and were third in the FCS playoff committee's latest seedings, so they are playing for playoff seeding and are also in contention for their first MVFC championship.
"The word of the week this week was 'finish', and to keep going and just keep attacking and keep our head down, just keep piling through this road that we're going through," Holman said. "That's what we're staying focused on. We're not getting our heads up too high or looking forward to what we could be. We're focused on Murray State and going 1-0."