Youngstown State at Pitt
Sept. 21, 2024 | Acrisure Stadium
Pittsburgh, Pa. | 3:30 p.m.

Broadcast Information
TV – ACC Network Extra, ESPN+ (Doug Sherman, Forrest Conoly)
Radio Network – 570 AM WKBN (Bob Hannon, Steve Leslie)
Internet Radio – 570wbkn.iheart.com
App Audio - iHeartRadio App

Penguins
Record: 1-2
Last Game: Duquesne (L, 25-28)
Head Coach: Doug Phillips (Fifth Season)
X (Formerly Twitter): @ysufootball

Panthers
Record: 3-0
Last Game: West Virginia (W, 38-34)
Head Coach: Pat Narduzzi (10th Season)
X (Formerly Twitter): @PITT_FB

Series History
All-Time Series: Pitt leads 4-1
At Pittsburgh: Pitt leads 4-1
Win Streak: Pitt, 2 games
Last Meeting: Pitt 28-21 OT (2017)

Opponent	Date	Location	Video	Audio	Live Stats
	Saturday Sept. 21 | 3:30 PM	Acrisure Stadium Pittsburgh, Pa.	ESPN+	570 WKBN	Live Stats

    The Youngstown State football team returns to Pennsylvania for the second time this season when it visits Pitt on Saturday. Kickoff for the contest at Acrisure Stadium is set for 3:30 p.m. The game is available on ACC Network Extra, ESPN+, WKBN 570 AM and iHeartRadio.
    The Penguins (1-2) suffered a tough 28-25 home defeat to Duquesne this past Saturday at Stambaugh Stadium. YSU owned a 17-7 lead in the second quarter before the Dukes scored three unanswered touchdowns and held on for the upset victory.
    The Guins took a 3-0 lead on a 45-yard field goal by Andrew Lastovka, but found themselves trailing 7-3 less than a minute later. Touchdown runs by QB Beau Brungard and TB Tyshon King put the Guins ahead 17-7 late in the second quarter, but the Dukes executed a perfect two-minute drill and closed to within a field goal at intermission.
    Duquesne went in front 21-17 when Darius Perrantes connected on a five-yard TD pass to Tedy Afful with 1:21 left in the third. With under two minutes left in the game, the lead became 28-17 when JaMario Clements went 75 yards for a score. King scored with 20 seconds left, but YSU was unable to get an onside kick in the final seconds.
    For the game, YSU held a 42:17-17:43 advantage in time of possession, had 32 more offensive snaps and 10 third-down conversions.
    Pittsburgh (3-0) is coming off an impressive 38-34 win over rival West Virginia this past Saturday at Acrisure Stadium. The Panthers trailed 34-24 in the fourth quarter, but scored two touchdowns in the final 3:06 to earn the come-from-behind win. It was the second straight week that Pitt had trailed in the fourth quarter before coming behind to win.
    This is the sixth all-time meeting between the programs, but first since September 2017. In the 2017 contest, YSU trailed 21-0 in the third quarter before rallying to force overtime. In 2015, the Penguins dropped a wild 45-37 contest. Youngstown State knocked off the Panthers 31-17 in the season-opening game of the 2012 campaign.
    The Penguins open MVFC play next Saturday when they travel to Missouri State. YSU returns home on Oct. 5 to play host to Indiana State.

Last Time at Pitt (2017)

    YSU showed heart overcoming a 21-0 third-quarter deficit at Pittsburgh to force overtime against the Panthers. However, the Penguins came up just short falling 28-21 at Heinz Field on Sept. 2, 2017.
    In the second half, YSU outgained Pitt 276-85 to mount a furious comeback. Down 21-0, Tevin McCaster scored on a one-yard run with 4:44 left in the third quarter to get the Penguins on the scoreboard. In the fourth quarter, a pair of Hunter Wells to Christian Turner touchdown passes tied up the contest. The first was a 25-yard scoring toss that brought YSU within 21-14 at the 6:10 mark. The pair connected again, this time on a 42-yard score, with 3:35 remaining to tie the contest.
    In overtime, Pitt had possession first and scored on an 11-yard Max Browne to Jester Weah pass. On YSU's possession, Wells was intercepted in the end zone by Bricen Garner to end the contest.

Our King Penguin

    Tailback Tyshon King has three rushing touchdowns through three games in 2024. He had a season-high two scores against Duquesne.
    This season he has rushed for 129 yards on 36 carries following a season-high 67-yard outing 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. He also caught 18 passes for 149 yards.
    Six times last year he has eclipsed the 100-yard mark. Five times last year he had 18-or-more carries in a game.
    King had a career-high 152 yards at Murray State in the 2023 regular-season finale.

Brungard's Big Day

    QB Beau Brungard rushed for 194 yards on just 10 carries and had three touchdowns against Valparaiso on Sept. 7. For his efforts he was named the MVFC's Offensive Player of the Week. He also completed 11-of-14 passes for 125 and a pair of touchdowns.
    He was just one yard shy of the school record for rushing yards in a game by a quarterback. Demeartic Crenshaw had 195 yards against Missouri State during the 2021 campaign.
    Through three games he has 315 yards rushing on 38 carries. He's had 12-plus carries in each game this season.

Top 5 QB Rushing Performances
195, Crenshaw vs. Missouri State, 2021
194, Brungard vs. Valparaiso, 2024
152, Matt Rycraft vs. WIU, 2003
134, Crenshaw vs. WIU, 2021
125, Jeff Ryan vs. Hofstra, 2000

The Wright Stuff

    TB Ethan Wright picked up the first touchdown of his YSU career on a 64-yard run against Valparaiso. It was his first collegiate touchdown since the 2021 campaign when he was a running back at Cincinnati.
    Against Valpo, he had seven carries for 77 yards. He opened the season with 63 yards rushing on 12 carries and added 27 yards on three receptions at Villanova.  He picked up 61 yards on 12 carries vs. Duquesne.
    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 three games at YSU, he has 32 carries for 201 yards.

Tomczak Stepping Up

    WR Max Tomczak is off to a great start to the 2024 season. Through three games he has 14 receptions for 198 yards and two touchdowns.
    In the win over Valpo, he had a career-high two touchdown receptions, hauling in four catches for 98 yards. Against Duquesne he caught five passes for 62 yards. 
    Tomczak caught 47 passes for 564 yards and a touchdown last year. He led the Penguins during MVFC play with 41 receptions. In 2022, he had 26 catches for 430 yards and two TDs.
    For his career, he has 87 receptions for 1,192 yards and five scores.

Time Of Possession Solid

    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 a TOP average of 37:18.
    YSU held the ball for an eye-popping 42:17 against Duquene after maintaining possession for 36:12 in the season-opening game at Villanova and 33:25 vs. Valparaiso.
    Against the Dukes, the Guins had four drives that last 6:52 or longer while five featured 10-or-more plays. 
    At Villanova, all of YSU's three scoring drives were all 10 plays or longer - 15, 15 and 10. The Penguins had two scoring drives of longer than nine minutes in the game - 9:47 and 9:14. 

Defense Shuts Down the Pass

    The Penguins have allowed just 32 completions after the first three games. 
    Valparaiso had nine completions while Villanova had only six in the season opener. Duquesne completed a season-best 17 passes but for only 157 yards last Saturday. The Beacons had 167 yards passing while YSU held the Wildcats to just 90 yards.
    Last season, YSU held two opponents to fewer than 100 yards passing - Southern Illinois (94) and Duquesne (74).
    The six completions were the fewest allowed since Illinois State had three on Nov. 23, 2019.
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. 
    Mark made his starting debut on Sept. 2, 1993, at Western Michigan. Ironically both of those were season-opening Thursday night road games.
    Beau rushed for 82 yards on 16 attempts while completing 18-of-25 passes for 152 yards and his first career TD pass.

First-time Score

    WR Cyrus Traugh caught his first career touchdown pass on what was QB Beau Brungard's first career touchdown throw at Villanova.
    In the third quarter, and on a fourth down, Brungard found Traugh for an 18-yard score. Traugh finished the game with three catches for 42 yards. He had two receptions vs. Valpo.

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 guard Jaison Williams (42 starts), center Aidan Parker (40 starts), left guard David Metzler (32 starts) and left tackle Desmeal Leigh (16).
    New to the lineup this year is Shane Keenan who has started three times at right guard. Van Keen, who started twice at center in 2023, started at left guard vs. Valparaiso.

New Look Defense

    Through three games, 10 different players have made their first career starts on defense for the Penguins. 
    Most recently, DT Tyler Bukur, DT Nehemiah Dukes and CB Jordan Rudolph were in the starting lineup against Duquesne.
    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.

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, Tyshon King, Michael Voitus, Devin Johnson and Logan Pasco. Williams and King are the offensive captains, Voitus and Johnson are the defensive captains and Pasco is the special teams captain.

Strong on Special Teams

    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 all three of his attempts this season, including a season-long 45-yard boot against Duquesne. He also is YSU's kickoff specialist for the first time.
    P Brendon Kilpatrick boomed a career-long punt of 65 yards in the opener at Villanova. He has seven punts on the year and is averaging 42.4 per kick. Last year, Kilpatrick averaged 43.4 yards per punt which ranked second in a season in school history.

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 in a contest 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 30-91.
Since 1990 YSU is:
• 178-22-2 when holding opponents to fewer than 21 points in a game.
• 158-23 when rushing for 200-plus yards.
• 182-33 when scoring 28-or-more points.
• 97-14-1 when holding opponents to fewer than 100 yards rushing in a game.
• 211-23 when leading entering the fourth.
• 95-3-2 holding opponents to 10 points-or-less.
• YSU is 21-6 when a back rushes for more than 200 yards in a game.

Up Next:

    YSU opens MVFC play next Saturday with a  visit to Missouri State. Kickoff in Springfield, Mo., is set for 3 p.m. Eastern time.