Youngstown State at South Dakota State
Oct. 12, 2024 | Dykhouse Stadium
Brookings, S.D. | 3 p.m. Eastern/2 p.m. Central

Broadcast Information
TV – ESPN+ (Jay Elsen, Kurtiss Riggs)
Radio Network – 1390 WNIO (Bob Hannon, Steve Leslie)
Internet Radio – TBA
App Audio - iHeartRadio App

Penguins
Record: 2-4, 1-1 MVFC
Last Game: Indiana State (W, 21-14)
Head Coach: Doug Phillips (Fifth Season)
X (Formerly Twitter): @ysufootball

Jackrabbits
Record: 4-1, 1-0 MVFC
Last Game: at UNI (W, 41-3)
Head Coach: Jimmy Rogers (Second Season)
X (Formerly Twitter): @GoJacksFB

Series History
All-Time Series: SDSU leads 17-7
At SDSU: SDSU leads 703
Win Streak: SDSU, 5 games
Last Meeting: SDSU 34-0 (2023)

Opponent	Date	Location	Video	Audio	Live Stats
	Saturday Oct. 12 | 3 PM Eastern	Dykehouse Stadium Brookings, S.D.	ESPN+	1390 WNIO	Live Stats

    The Youngstown State football team visits top-ranked South Dakota State this Saturday. Kickoff at Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium in Brookings, S.D., is set for 3 p.m. Eastern time/2 p.m. Central time. The game is available on ESPN+, WKBN 570 AM and iHeartRadio.
    The Penguins (2-4 overall, 1-1 in the MVFC) picked up a hard-fought 21-14 victory over Indiana State last Saturday at Stambaugh Stadium. YSU scored 21 first-half points before holding off the Sycamores comeback bid in the second half.
    YSU took a 7-0 lead on Ethan Wright's two-yard scoring run in the first quarter. In the second, the Guins tacked on a pair of scores as Beau Brungard tossed an eight-yard TD pass to Latrell Fordham and Wright added his second two-yard scoring run of the half.
    However, the Sycamores scored twice in the third quarter to cut the deficit to 21-14. Last in the fourth, Indiana State had 1st-and-10 at the YSU 12, but the defense stiffened and forced a turnover on downs in the final two minutes to seal the win.
    South Dakota State (4-1, 1-0) thumped UNI, 41-3, in the UNI-Dome last Saturday. The Jackrabbits scored the first 24 points of the game and were never threatened in the impressive win. The 38-point road win extended SDSU's winning streak to 31 straight vs. FCS opponents.
    At UNI, the Jacks forced four turnovers and returned a blocked punt for a touchdown against the Panthers. QB Mark Gronowski threw for 223 yards and three touchdowns in the victory.
    This is YSU's first visit to Brookings since March 13, 2021. The Penguins hung tough in that contest losing on a final-play field goal, 19-17. The last two meetings have been in Youngstown, including a 34-0 triumph by the Jackrabbits last November. YSU's last win in Brookings was October 2014.
    The Penguins face a daunting schedule their next four contests. They return home to face two more top-10 foes in the coming weeks. YSU faces fourth-ranked South Dakota on Oct. 19 before taking on ninth-ranked North Dakota on Oct. 26. The Guins open the month of November at No. 16 Illinois State.

The Wright Stuff

    TB Ethan Wright has been a huge addition to the program after transferring from Cincinnati.
    Wright has started at tailback each of the past two games for the Penguins. In each of the past two games he has rushed for season highs. 
    Against Indiana State, he had 81 yards on 15 carries and scored two touchdowns At Missouri State, he rushed for 76 yards on a season-high 17 carries and added a touchdown. 
    In five of the six games this year, Wright has rushed for 61 yards or more. 
    In 32 career games played at UC from 2020-23, he had 215 yards on 44 attempts and caught five passes for 44 yards. After six games at YSU, he has 71 carries for 393 yards and 11 catches for 63 yards.

Hunting Down Quarterbacks

    Senior DE Hunter Allen registered two sacks and had two QB hurries in the win against Indiana State. 
    For the contest he had four solo tackles. His final QB hurry came on the ISU's last play, a 4th-and-23 from the YSU 25 with just over a minute and a half left.
    In his YSU career, he has played in 44 games registering 64 total tackles and 10 sacks. He has a career-high four sacks this season.

Johnson Nearing Career High

    Senior LB Devin Johnson is closing in on a career-high for tackles. Johnson has 23 stops through six games, including 18 solo stops. His previous career best was 25 in 2022.
    In 44 games played during his career, he has been credited with 77 tackles (51 solos).

Shahid Having Breakout Year

    First-year starter Makai Shahid is having a solid debut season in the Penguins' secondary.
    Shahid leads the team with 27 total tackles, including 20 solo stops so far this year.
    He tied his season high with seven tackles against Indiana State. He also had seven tackles in the season opener at Villanova. 

Tomczak Stepping Up

    WR Max Tomczak is off to a great start to the 2024 season. Through five games he has 28 receptions for 392 yards and two touchdowns.
    He's had at least four receptions in every game this season.
    In the win over Valpo, he had a career-high two touchdown receptions, hauling in four catches for 98 yards. At Pitt he had a season-high six catches for 48 yards.
     Tomczak caught 56 passes for 669 yards and a touchdown last year. In 2022, he had 26 catches for 430 yards and two TDs.
    For his career, he has 110 receptions for 1,491 yards and five scores.

Traugh Emerges At WR

    Redshirt freshman WR Cyrus Traugh has emerged as a go-to receiver this season. 
    Through six games, Traugh has 19 receptions for 248 yards and a team-high three touchdowns.
    He had a breakout performance at Pitt with two touchdown receptions and four catches for 89 yards. At Pitt he had scoring catches of 44 and 25 yards accounting for both of YSU's touchdowns in the game.
    His first career touchdown grab came at Villanova in the season opener.

The King Penguin

    Tailback Tyshon King has four rushing touchdowns in 2024. He had a season-high two scores against Duquesne.
    This season he has rushed for 254 yards on 69 carries, including a season-high 67-yard performance against Duquesne.
    In his first season at YSU last year, King rushed for 1,011 yards on 187 carries and scored nine touchdowns en route to earning second-team All-MVFC honors. Six times last year he has eclipsed the 100-yard mark.

Specialists Keep Excelling

    The Penguins specialists are two of the most talented at the FCS level.
    PK Andrew Lastovka, who was 17-of-20 on field-goal attempts in 2023, has made five of six attempts this season, including a season-long 46-yard boot at Pittsburgh. He is now 22-of-26 on field-goal tries in his career.
    P Brendon Kilpatrick boomed a career-long punt of 65 yards in the opener at Villanova and added a punt of 63 yards at Pitt. He has 20 punts on the year and is averaging 47.8 per kick. He has nine punts of 50 yards or more.

Brungard Shows Off Run Skills

    Sophomore QB Beau Brungard has rushed for 473 yards on 64 carries after six games. He is averaging an impressive 78.8 yards per game and 7.4 yards per rush.
    Twice this year he has rushed for more than 100 yards - 194 vs. Valparaiso and 110 at Missouri State. 
    He has 10-or-more rushes in four of the first six games with a high of 16 vs. Villanova and Missouri State. 

Kilpatrick Earns MVFC Honor

    Brendon Kilpatrick was named the Missouri Valley Football's Special Teams Player of the Week following the Penguins' 21-14 win over Indiana State on Saturday at Stambaugh Stadium.
    Against Indiana State, Kilpatrick averaged 47.8 yards on five punts. He had kicks of 52, 51, 50, 44 and 42 in the win. He had two inside the 20-yard line and placed one inside the 10. His last punt put the Sycamores at their own eight with under six minutes left.
    Through six games, Kilpatrick is averaging 46.3 yards per attempt on 20 kicks. He would rank sixth nationally, but is only averaging 3.3 punts per game, just below the NCAA's minimum qualifications of 3.6 attempts a contest.

New Faces on Defense

    This season, 13 different players have made their first career starts on defense for the Penguins.
    Most recently, CB Payton Edwards (Indiana State transfer) and DB Andrew Centofanti started at Missouri State. The week before, LB Preston Zandier started at Pitt. Against Duquesne, DT Tyler Bukur, DT Nehemiah Dukes and CB Jordan Rudolph were starters.
    Against Villanova in the season opener, first-time starters were SS Stephon Hall, FS Makai Shahid, DB Kerion Martin and CB Isaiah Hackett, LBs Mike Wells and Devin Johnson and DTs Joe Brown and Jaelen Crider.
    Previous starters were CB Jaylen Castleberry, DE Dawan Martin and DE Hunter Allen. Allen and Castleberry have started every game so far this year.

Father-Son QB Starters

    QB Beau Brungard joined his father, Mark, as starting quarterbacks for the Guins. 
    Beau Brungard, a third-year sophomore, started for the first time in his career at Villanova. He has started all five games for YSU so far this season.
    Mark made his starting debut on Sept. 2, 1993, at Western Michigan. Ironically both of those were season-opening Thursday night road games.

O-Line Features Experience

    YSU's offensive line has a plethora of experience with three players starting more than 30 games.
    That group features right tackle Jaison Williams (45 starts), Aidan Parker (43 starts), left guard David Metzler (32 starts) and left tackle Desmeal Leigh (19).
    New to the lineup this year is Shane Keenan who has started six times at right guard. Van Keen, who started twice at center in 2023, started the past three contests along the line, including a start at center at Missouri State.

Grinding Down the Clock

    The Guins, who ranked first in the FCS in time of possession averaging 35:06 per game in 2023, are currently first in the country again with an impressive TOP average of 36:37.
    The Guins lead nationally in the category by 30 seconds ahead of North Dakota State.

Scoring Drives Breakdown
By Plays
9 | 7-or-fewer plays
13 | 10-or-more plays
17 | 8-or-more plays

By Time
8 | 3 minutes or less
9 | 6-plus minutes
16 | 4-plus minutes

Williams Garners Multiple Preseason Accolades

    Veteran OL Jaison Williams was named to multiple preseason FCS All-American teams.
    Williams was tabbed a preseason Second-Team All-American by FCS Football Central/SI.com and a third-team All-American by Stats Perform.
    In 2023, he earned second-team all-conference honors after being named Honorable-Mention All-MVFC in 2021 and 2022.

Five Earn All-MVFC Honors

    YSU had five preseason All-MVFC selections.  Garnering first-team accolades were OL Jaison Williams and TB Tyshon King. 
    Additionally, WR Max Tomczak was a second-team pick while long snapper Sam Merryman and placekicker Andrew Lastovka were honorable-mention selections.

2024 Team Captains

    YSU has elected five team captains for the 2024 season. The five players voted captains for the upcoming year are Jaison Williams (54), Tyshon King (10), Michael Voitus (42), Devin Johnson (45) and Logan Pasco (34). Williams and King are the offensive captains, Voitus and Johnson are the defensive captains and Pasco is the special teams captain.

Memorable Performance

    The performance against Valparaiso was one of the top all-around efforts in program history.
    YSU's 59 points tied for the seventh most in a game in school history. The 429 rushing yards were the eighth-most while the 554 total yards ranked as the 19th-best in program history.

Numbers of Note

• Turnover Margin: Since 1996, YSU is 158-48 when they win or tie the turnover margin. When committing more turnovers, YSU is just 31-93.
Since 1990 YSU is:
• 179-22-2 when holding opponents to fewer than 21 points in a game.
• 158-23 when rushing for 200-plus yards.
• 182-34 when scoring 28-or-more points.
• 97-14-1 when holding opponents to fewer than 100 yards rushing in a game.
• 212-23 when leading entering the fourth.
• 95-3-2 holding opponents to 10 points-or-less.