2019 Youngstown State Penguins football team

The 2019 Youngstown State Penguins football team represented Youngstown State University in the 2019 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They were led by fifth-year head coach Bo Pelini and played their home games at Stambaugh Stadium. They were a member of the Missouri Valley Football Conference. They finished the season 6–6, 2–6 in MVFC play to finish in eighth place.

2019 Youngstown State Penguins football
Conference	Missouri Valley Football Conference
2019 record	6–6 (2–6 MVFC)
Head coach	Bo Pelini (5th season)
Offensive coordinator	Brian Crist (5th season)
Defensive coordinator	Donald D’Alesio (4th season)
Home stadium	Stambaugh Stadium (Capacity: 20,630)

2019 Missouri Valley Football Conference standings
	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
No. 1 North Dakota State $^		8	–	0					16	–	0
No. 5 Northern Iowa ^		6	–	2					10	–	5
No. 7 Illinois State ^		5	–	3					10	–	5
No. 10 South Dakota State ^		5	–	3					8	–	5
Southern Illinois		5	–	3					7	–	5
South Dakota		4	–	4					5	–	7
Indiana State		3	–	5					5	–	7
Youngstown State		2	–	6					6	–	6
Missouri State		1	–	7					1	–	10
Western Illinois		1	–	7					1	–	11
$ – Conference champion ^ – FCS playoff participant Rankings from STATS Poll

Previous season

Main article: 2018 Youngstown State Penguins football team

The Penguins finished the 2018 season 4–7, 3–5 in MVFC play to finish in a three-way tie for sixth place.

Preseason

MVFC poll

In the MVFC preseason poll released on July 29, 2019, the Penguins were predicted to finish in seventh place.[1]

Predicted finish	Team	Votes (1st place)
1	North Dakota State	392 (32)
2	South Dakota State	348 (4)
3	Illinois State	289 (3)
4	Indiana State	279 (1)
5	Northern Iowa	266
6	South Dakota	176
7	Youngstown State	153
8	Western Illinois	128
9	Southern Illinois	89
10	Missouri State	80

Preseason All–MVFC team

The Penguins did not have any players selected to the preseason all-MVFC team.[2]

Schedule

YSU has scheduled 12 games in the 2019 season instead of the 11 normally allowed for FCS programs. Under a standard provision of NCAA rules, all FCS teams are allowed to schedule 12 regular-season games in years in which the period starting with Labor Day weekend and ending with the last Saturday of November contains 14 Saturdays.[3]

Date	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
August 24	vs. Samford*		Cramton Bowl Montgomery, AL (FCS Kickoff)	ESPN	W 45–22	12,560
September 7	Howard*		Stambaugh Stadium Youngstown, OH	ESPN+	W 54–28	12,390
September 14	Duquesne*		Stambaugh Stadium Youngstown, OH	ESPN+	W 34–14	15,991
September 28	Robert Morris*	No. 22	Stambaugh Stadium Youngstown, OH	ESPN+	W 45–10	12,659
October 5	at No. 13 Northern Iowa	No. 18	UNI-Dome Cedar Falls, IA	ESPN3	L 14–21	10,137
October 12	No. 3 South Dakota State	No. 19	Stambaugh Stadium Youngstown, OH	ESPN+	L 28–38	12,381
October 19	at Southern Illinois	No. 19	Saluki Stadium Carbondale, IL	ESPN+	L 10–35	7,670
October 26	Western Illinois		Stambaugh Stadium Youngstown, OH	ESPN+	W 59–14	10,437
November 2	No. 1 North Dakota State		Stambaugh Stadium Youngstown, OH	ESPN+	L 17–56	11,102
November 9	at South Dakota		DakotaDome Vermillion, SD	ESPN+	L 21–56	4,561
November 16	at Indiana State		Memorial Stadium Terre Haute, IN	ESPN+	L 17–24	3,645
November 23	No. 7 Illinois State		Stambaugh Stadium Youngstown, OH	ESPN+	W 21–3	9,190
*Non-conference game Rankings from STATS Poll released prior to the game

[4][5][6]

Game summaries

vs. Samford

	1	2	3	4	Total
Penguins	14	10	0	21	45
Bulldogs	7	0	0	15	22

See also: 2019 Samford Bulldogs football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
4–0	2016 FCS Playoffs	W, 38–24

Scoring summary

Quarter Time Drive Team Scoring information Score Plays Yards TOP YSU SAM 1 9:09 5 85 1:22 SAM Robert Adams 55-yard touchdown reception from Liam Welch, Mitchell Fineran kick good 0 7 1 2:12 13 83 6:57 YSU Samuel St. Surin 16-yard touchdown reception from Nathan Mays, Colton McFadden kick good 7 7 1 1:29 YSU Fumble recovery returned 25 yards for touchdown by Cash Mitchell, Colton McFadden kick good 14 7 2 10:57 8 41 3:55 YSU 43-yard field goal by Colton McFadden 17 7 2 0:36 12 90 2:46 YSU Josh Burgett 4-yard touchdown reception from Nathan Mays, Colton McFadden kick good 24 7 4 14:29 8 63 3:45 YSU Braxton Chapman 1-yard touchdown run, Colton McFadden kick good 31 7 4 13:37 3 70 0:52 SAM Montrell Washington 64-yard touchdown reception from Chris Oladokun, 2-point run good 31 15 4 5:16 13 75 8:21 YSU Braxton Champan 1-yard touchdown run, Colton McFadden kick good 38 15 4 3:17 6 36 1:59 SAM Chris Oladokun 10-yard touchdown run, Mitchell Finehan kick good 38 22 4 2:16 3 44 1:01 YSU Christian Turner 3-yard touchdown run, Colton McFadden kick good 45 22 "TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football. 45 22

Howard

	1	2	3	4	Total
Bison	14	0	7	7	28
Penguins	6	21	20	7	54

See also: 2019 Howard Bison football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
First meeting

Duquesne

	1	2	3	4	Total
Dukes	0	7	0	7	14
Penguins	7	14	6	7	34

See also: 2019 Duquesne Dukes football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
3–0	2016	W, 45–10

Robert Morris

	1	2	3	4	Total
Colonials	7	0	3	0	10
No. 22 Penguins	7	24	7	7	45

See also: 2019 Robert Morris Colonials football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
3–0	2017	W, 30–0

at Northern Iowa

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 18 Penguins	0	7	7	0	14
No. 13 Panthers	7	14	0	0	21

See also: 2019 Northern Iowa Panthers football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
9–21	2018	W, 31–10

South Dakota State

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 3 Jackrabbits	3	0	13	22	38
No. 19 Penguins	7	7	7	7	28

See also: 2019 South Dakota State Jackrabbits football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
7–13	2018	L, 7–36

at Southern Illinois

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 19 Penguins	3	7	0	0	10
Salukis	14	14	7	0	35

See also: 2019 Southern Illinois Salukis football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
16–12–1	2018	W, 17–14

Western Illinois

	1	2	3	4	Total
Leathernecks	7	0	0	7	14
Penguins	28	17	14	0	59

See also: 2019 Western Illinois Leathernecks football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
18–13	2018	L, 38–45

North Dakota State

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 1 Bison	21	21	7	7	56
Penguins	0	7	3	7	17

See also: 2019 North Dakota State Bison football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
4–9	2018	L, 7–17

at South Dakota

	1	2	3	4	Total
Penguins	7	7	0	7	21
Coyotes	21	14	14	7	56

See also: 2019 South Dakota Coyotes football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
6–1	2018	W, 29–17

at Indiana State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Penguins	0	10	0	7	17
Sycamores	3	14	7	0	24

See also: 2019 Indiana State Sycamores football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
22–6	2018	L, 17–43

Illinois State

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 7 Redbirds	0	3	0	0	3
Penguins	7	7	0	7	21

See also: 2019 Illinois State Redbirds football team

Overall record	Last meeting	Result
13–15	2018	L, 28–35

Ranking movements

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking.
NR = Not ranked. RV = Received votes. т = Tied with team above or below. ( ) = First place votes.

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	Final
STATS FCS	RV	RV	RV	24	22	18	19	19	RV	RV	RV	NR	NR	NR
Coaches	NR	RV	RV	21	20	17	17	18	RV	RV	NR	NR	NR	NR

References

1. "North Dakota State Picked to Win Missouri Valley Football Crown". www.valleynewslive.com. Retrieved August 8, 2019.
2. "MVFC Announces Preseason All-Conference Team". valley-football.org. Retrieved August 8, 2019.
3. "Bylaw 17.10.5.1: Number of Contests, Maximum Limitations—Institutional" (PDF). 2018–19 NCAA Division I Manual. NCAA. July 2018. p. 273. Retrieved March 14, 2019.
4. "2019 Youngstown State Football Schedule". FBSchedules.com. Retrieved January 11, 2019.
5. Kelley, Kevin (9 January 2019). "Youngstown State releases 2019 football schedule". FBSchedules.com. Retrieved January 11, 2019.
6. "2019 Youngstown State Football Schedule". Youngstown State Athletics.