With the offense sputtering uncharacteristically, No. 8 Youngstown State had to dig deep on the road on Saturday.
The Penguins leaned on their defense and created enough separation in the second half to grind out a 28-16 victory over No. 21 Southern Illinois for their first road win of the season at Saluki Stadium in Carbondale, Ill.
It’s also the second straight ranked win for YSU (4-2, 2-1 MVFC), making it the first time the Penguins have strung together back-to-back ranked wins since 2016.
“It was a grinder,” head coach Doug Phillips said in a phone interview after the game. “That first half, I just didn’t feel like we got into a rhythm offensively. But I thought our defense kept coming up and making plays and putting pressure on the quarterback. … Really proud of our effort defensively.”
Coming in, with each unit led by a high-profile dual-threat quarterback, both offenses earned most of the headlines. But it was the defenses that stole the show in the first half.
YSU and SIU each had some success moving the ball, but neither could consistently figure out a way to turn those yards into points, as the Salukis managed to eke out a slight 10-7 advantage at halftime.
During its first six possessions, the Penguins punted twice, turned the ball over on downs once and quarterback Beau Brungard threw two interceptions — his first game with multiple interceptions since Nov. 9, 2024, also against Southern Illinois — all while mustering just 157 total yards.
“It’s probably the first time I really saw our offense — I’ve never seen it truly struggle to figure it out,” Phillips said. “To come in at halftime and put together a plan, what we were going to do for the next 30 minutes, and go out there and execute, it was tough.”
Despite giving up 217 yards in the first half, YSU’s defense kept the Penguins in the game as the offense worked through its issues. However, the offense started to figure things out in the second half with a lot of assistance from the defense.
For the second straight week, a pair of takeaways in the second half led to two touchdowns that allowed the Penguins to pull away.
“Even at halftime, I told them I like to see when things get hard. I really do. It tells you a little bit about your team, tells you a little bit about the players on your team,” Phillips said. “What I told them is, ‘I know when things are hard. I say, good.’ I want to see how our guys respond, and I saw how our guys responded in the second half. Winning road games in the Missouri Valley Football Conference, that’s what it takes. Sometimes you gotta grind them out, and you just gotta keep taking your punches.”
First, Ebony Curry’s strip sack of SIU quarterback DJ Williams turned into a fumble recovery for Mike Wells and a 20-yard touchdown pass from Brungard to Austin Bray, who had a career day with five receptions for 78 yards, along with the touchdown.
“Honestly, I’m just doing my job. I’m doing what’s asked of me, whether that’s blocking or catching the ball,” Bray said. “But it felt amazing, especially getting the win.”
Then, with the Salukis approaching the red zone early in the fourth quarter, Williams was picked off by Stanley Clyne in the end zone for a touchback when SIU receiver Allen Middleton bobbled and tipped the ball up into Clyne’s hands.
“Everybody’s always running for the ball, everybody’s always trying to make a play, everybody’s hungry,” Curry said. “We want to get the offense the ball because we know what they can do.”
YSU turned that into a long, 12-play scoring drive that chewed up 8:24 on the clock and ended with a 6-yard touchdown run by Jaden Gilbert, which put the Penguins ahead 28-10 with under four minutes left.
Even though SIU drove down to score less than two minutes later, that long touchdown drive by the Penguins proved to be the knockout punch, as YSU recovered the ensuing onside kick and ran out the clock.
“That strip sack definitely got us going and got the rhythm going,” Phillips said. “Beau’s third-and-25 run, that was pretty incredible too. That got the momentum going on the touchdown run. I thought we were putting pressure all night on [Williams]. I gave the game ball to our D-line. Those guys were playing hard, and I truly believe they were affecting the quarterback.”
YSU’s defense held the normally-potent Salukis to 99 rushing yards at just 2.8 yards per carry, while sacking Williams five times. It also held SIU to 4-of-15 on third down.
“We held a team under 100 yards rushing, and it starts there,” Phillips said. “If you can hold a team under 100, you’re giving yourself an opportunity because now they gotta pass, now you can get a pass rush going. Seeing our guys starting to get into a groove, understanding what our players can do, whether it’s Mike Wells and the different spots he can go, what our secondary can do, what our linebackers can do, it was great.”
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