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Dec. 7, 2005
Football: Penguins to Take On Big Ten Champ Penn State in 2006
Youngstown -- The Youngstown State football team will play its first-ever game against an opponent from the Big Ten Conference next fall when the Penguins travel to State College, Pa., to take on Penn State. The Penguins and Nittany Lions will play at Beaver Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 16, both university athletic departments announced on Wednesday.
YSU Athletic Director Ron Strollo said playing against a perennial power and historic program like Penn State increases the national exposure for the entire University.
"This is a great opportunity for our school to play against one of the most prestigious institutions in the country when it comes to college football," Strollo said. "We are grateful for the chance to play Penn State, and I know everyone involved with our football family is excited as I am to compete against a school from the Big Ten on the gridiron for the first time."
Both schools had to do some schedule juggling to make the matchup possible.
The Nittany Lions were scheduled to play Louisiana Tech for that Saturday while YSU was scheduled to travel to Northeastern. However, Louisiana Tech opted out of the contest and the Penguins were able to reschedule the game against the Huskies in Boston for a future season.
Penn State is the Big Ten's automatic qualifier into this year's BCS following a 10-1 campaign, which included a 7-1 mark in conference play. The Nittany Lions are ranked third in the final ESPN/USA Today Coaches and The Associated Press Polls. PSU will play Florida State in the FedEx Orange Bowl on Jan. 3.
On 39 occasions, Youngstown State has played a Division I-A foe since moving to the Division I-AA ranks in 1981. YSU is 19-19-1 all-time against I-A schools and played its first-ever game against a member of the Big East Conference, Pittsburgh, this past season.
YSU is coming off an 8-3 campaign in which it was 5-2 in the Gateway Football Conference tying playoff semifinalist Northern Iowa and playoff quarterfinalist Southern Illinois for the league title. The only other loss in 2005 was at Pitt.
The remainder of the Penguins' 2006 season will be announced in the near future.