The opening game for Youngstown State against Dayton should be a blowout, right?  Not so fast…  Dayton has a respectable football program.  They won five of their final six games last season.  They return eight starters on defense alone.  They have had 35 winning seasons out of the last 36.  They hold a 9-0 series advantage over YSU, and you can bet they have had this day circled on their calendar for months.

“Coach {Rick} Chamberlin is a UD alum, and that program has quite a bit of history”, said Coach Eric Wolford.  “Dayton is in a conference that gets an automatic bid into the playoffs now and they finished last year on a good note, we have to be ready to play.”

“Schematically, they will run a spread offense with four wide, they do some zone read, and they run some counter plays.  Youngstown State has never beaten Dayton at football, and we are taking that to heart.  Some of our alumni know that statistic and they will be watching.  It is a part of this program that involves them.”

The biggest concern that a spread offense poses to YSU is that the secondary will truly be tested.  Donald D’Alessio, Jameel Smith, Julius Childs, and DeVon McKoy will have to make plays.  Will Bardo has been the starting quarterback for Dayton for the past two seasons.  He had a hand in more than half of the offense that the Flyers put up last season.  His favorite target is Branden Johnson who had 28 catches in the first six games of 2012 before missing the rest of the season with a shoulder injury.

One of the Penguins captains, Dom Rich, commented on the opener.

“We are 0-9 against this team,” said Rich.  “With the spread offense, we expect them to pass a lot and try to make big plays.  We have to be ready to play as a team.  As Coach Tresey said, we are ‘more fast and more physical’ this year.”

Kurt Hess is getting a chance to show his skills in front of family and friends making the trip from Dayton, where Hess played high school football.

“It is going to be cool to go up against my hometown team.  I am excited that my family and friends are going to come here to a nice environment.  It will be nice to share this experience with all of them.  You don’t hear about Youngstown State too much there.”

“We are sick of waiting, let’s just play”, said Hess, a self proclaimed nervous energy machine.

“I only have two classes Thursday.  I will do all I can to just get ready and think about the game.  I will listen to music and just focus on what I need to.  Everybody has their own way to get prepared.”

Kickoff is set for 7:30 and there are still some tickets remaining.  Support the Penguins!