2016 Valley Football Standings (FINAL)

Illinois State • Indiana State • Missouri State • North Dakota State • Northern IowaSouth Dakota • South Dakota State • Southern Illinois • Western Illinois • Youngstown State

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For Immediate ReleaseAug. 28, 2017 Mike Kern

Noteworthy• • Media Services • •

Players of the Week Each week a panel will select players of the week for offense, defense, newcomer, offensive line and special teams.

MVFC Media Vault By Tuesday of each week, the league will collect school weekly coach press confer-ences (audio/video links) and PDF links to weekly notes in the MVFC Media Vault.

Statistics Interactive school and league statistics are available, courtesy of the league’s part-nership with SIDEARM.

Weekly Features The league produces weekly video segments (Two Minute Drill and The Extra Point) and a bimonthly audio podcast (First and Goal). Each is available by visiting the league’s web site (valleyfootball.org) - under the Multimedia tab on the main menu bar.

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MVFC Points Overall PointsTeam W-L Pct. For Opp W-L Pct. For Opp H A Stk.

North Dakota St. 7-1 .875 213 106 12-2 .857 408 232 7-2 5-0 L1South Dakota St. 7-1 .875 283 187 9-4 .692 431 355 6-1 3-3 L1Youngstown State 6-2 .750 176 128 12-4 .750 442 319 8-0 4-3 L1Illinois State 4-4 .500 208 187 6-6 .500 312 262 4-2 2-4 L1Northern Iowa 4-4 .500 251 168 5-6 .455 320 242 2-3 3-3 L1Western Illinois 3-5 .375 219 282 6-5 .545 319 346 2-3 4-2 L3South Dakota 3-5 .375 212 235 4-7 .364 329 379 3-2 1-5 L4Southern Illinois 2-6 .250 230 261 4-7 .364 340 338 4-2 0-5 W1Indiana State 2-6 .250 178 252 4-7 .364 274 359 2-3 2-4 L3Missouri State 2-6 .250 172 336 4-7 .364 257 393 2-3 2-4 L3

Schedule/ResultsThursday, Aug. 31

Eastern Illinois at Indiana State, 7 pm ET Terre Haute, Ind. • ESPN3Western Illinois at Tennessee Tech, 6 pm CT Cookeville, Tenn.Duquesne at South Dakota State, 7 pm CT Brookings, S.D. • MidcoSN/ESPN3

Saturday, Sept. 2

Youngstown State at Pittsburgh, 1 pm ET Pittsburgh, Pa. • ACC NetworkSouth Dakota at Drake, 6 pm CT Des Moines, IowaUNI at Iowa State, 7 pm CT Ames, Iowa • Cyclones.tvMissouri State at Missouri, 11 am CT Columbia, Mo. • SEC NetworkMississippi Valley St. at NDSU, 2:30 pm CT Fargo, N.D. • NBC ND/ESPN3Butler at Illinois State, 6:30 pm CT Normal, Ill. • ESPN3

Saturday, Sept. 9

Indiana State at Tennessee, 4 pm ET Knoxville, Tenn. • SEC NetworkMissouri State at North Dakota, 4 pm CT Grand Forks, N.D. • MidcoSNNDSU at Eastern Washington, 3 pm CT Cheney, Wash. • NBC ND/ESPN3Cal Poly at UNI, 4 pm CT Cedar Falls, Iowa • PSN/ESPN3South Dakota at Bowling Green, 5 pm CT Bowling Green, Ohio • ESPN3South Dakota State at Montana State, 7 pm CT Bozeman, Mont. • PlutoTVMississippi Valley St. at S. Illinois, 6 pm CT Carbondale, Ill. • ESPN3Western Illinois at Northern Arizona, TBD Flagstaff, Ariz. • PlutoTVRobert Morris at Youngstown State, 2 pm ET Youngstown, Ohio • ESPN3

Best in the FCS The MVFC is well represented on national pre-season rankings/player recognition lists. The Conference has an FCS-best five teams on the FCS coaches poll; an FCS-best six teams on the STATS FCS top-25 poll; an FCS-best five student-athletes on the STATS Buck Buchanan Award Watch List; an FCS-best 17 student-athletes on the STATS FCS pre-season All-America teams, which includes an FCS-best seven individuals on the first-team unit. South Dakota State, mean-while, has an FCS-best three student-athletes on the STATS Walter Payton Award Watch List (TE Dallas Goedert, QB Taryn Christion, and WR Jake Wieneke).

Against the FBS MVFC schools set a league record with four wins against FBS schools last year. Three MVFC games this weekend are at FBS sites. The Con-ference has had at least one FBS win in each of the last seven seasons.

Home Sweet Home Last year, MVFC schools recorded a 16-4 re-cord in home non-conference games. In the last eight seasons (since 2009), MVFC schools have combined for a 131-17 (.885) record in games played at MVFC sites.

Pioneer League Lid Lifter The Redbirds are a combined 10-6 against current members of the Pioneer League, with the only losing record coming at the hands of Valparaiso. ISU has winning records against Butler (1-0), Dayton (1-0), Drake (5-3) and Morehead State (2-1), but has only defeated Valpo in one out of its three games in the all-time series.

Home Sweet Home The Redbirds have played well at home under the leadership of head coach Brock Spack, including in their home openers the last eight seasons. ISU is a perfect 8-0 in home openers in the past eight seasons, and the Redbirds hope to extend that streak to eight against Valparaiso last season. In 2015, the ‘Birds put an early exclamation point on the season with a 67-14 drubbing of Morgan State in the home opener.

Go For Four When Illinois State heard its name called on the NCAA FCS selec-tion show in 2016, the Redbirds punched their third-straight ticket to the playoffs for the first time in program history. ISU made its seventh playoff appearance overall, and had previously advanced to the playoffs in back-to-back seasons in 1998-99. The four playoff appear-ances in the last five years for the Redbirds is also unprecedented for the ISU football program, but one streak the team hopes to continue in the future.

ILLINOIS STATE REDBIRDS(0-0, 0-0 MVFC)

S2 Butler ESPN3 6:30 p.m.S16 at Eastern Illinois TV TBD 2:00 p.m.S23 *at Missouri State ESPN3 2:00 p.m.S30 *Indiana State ESPN3 6:30 p.m.O7 at Northern Arizona TV TBD TBAO14 *at Southern Illinois ESPN3 2:00 p.m.O21 *South Dakota (HC) CSN / ESPN3 2:00 p.m. O28 *at Youngstown State ESPN3 1:00 p.m. N4 *Western Illinois ESPN3 Noon N11 *at South Dakota State ESPN3 2:00 p.m.N18 *North Dakota State CSN / ESPN3 Noon*MVFC game

New Era The Curt Mallory era is set to begin Thursday under the lights against regional rival Eastern Illinois. Mallory was announced as In-diana State’s 21st head coach on Jan. 23, and since he has brought in an entirely new coaching staff and an upbeat feel to the Sycamore Football program. This is Mallory’s first stint as a head coach, but the former Michigan linebacker has had an illustrious career as an assistant coach at Ball State, Central Michigan, Indiana (where his father Bill led the program to unprecedented success from 1984-96), Illinois (where he helped lead the Illini to a Rose Bowl as the co-de-fensive coordinator in 2007), Akron, Michigan and, most recently, at Wyoming with former North Dakota State head coach Craig Bohl.

All of the Lights For the first time in seven seasons, the Sycamores will be playing under the lights at Memorial Stadium. ISU’s last home night game was on Sept. 4, 2010 (vs. St. Joseph’s) and its last Thursday night game was held Aug. 27, 2009 (vs. Quincy).

Harker Earns Starting Job For the second straight season, Isaac Harker has won the starting QB job following a spring practice and training camp battle. Harker, a Second-Team All-MVFC honoree in 2016, had a superb sophomore season last year. He was the first Valley QB to 2,000 yards passing (ending with 2,559, the third-best passing season in school history), he recorded five 300-yard games (coming one game shy of Mike Perish’s 2014 single-season record of six games) and nearly broke Perish’s single-season TD record of 21 with 19 passing TD.

Runnin’ Runnin and Runnin’ Runnin’ Indiana State’s depth at the running back slot resulted in two talented tailbacks moving to the defense. Redshirt senior and Pre-season Honorable Mention All-MVFC running back LeMonte Booker, who missed all of 2016 due to injury, enters his final year with 2,321 career all-purpose yards and will be featured as the main point of at-tack in the new run-first system.

INDIANA STATE SYCAMORES(0-0, 0-0 MVFC)

A31 Eastern Illinois ESPN3 7:00 p.m. ETS9 at Tennessee SEC Network 4:00 p.m. ETS16 at Liberty Big South Net 6:00 p.m. ETS30 *at Illinois State ESPN3 7:30 p.m. ETO7 *North Dakota State ESPN3 1:00 p.m. ETO14 *South Dakota ESPN3 3:00 p.m. ETO21 *Southern Illinois (HC) ESPN3 3:00 p.m. ETO28 *at Missouri State ESPN3 3:00 p.m. ETN4 *Youngstown State ESPN3 1:00 p.m. ETN11 *Western Illinois ESPN3 1:00 p.m. ETN18 *at UNI ESPN3 5:00 p.m. ET*MVFC game

Season’s Greetings Missouri State will kick off its 106th season of varsity football Sat-urday (Sept. 2) when the Bears travel to Columbia for an 11 a.m. non-conference contest against the Missouri Tigers at Memorial Stadium. The Bears and Tigers will be meeting for the first time in varsity action since 1923, when MU logged a 10-0 home victory. MSU is 51-51-3 all-time in season openers, including a 15-20 mark since its move to Division I in 1982. The Bears will be gunning for their first win over an FBS opponent since opening the 1990 season with a 31-24 decision over UNLV.

Happy Homecoming Saturday’s game will be a homecoming of sorts for the majority of the Bears’ coaching staff. Head coach Dave Steckel spent 14 years on the Tigers’ coaching staff under Gary Pinkel, while eight of his nine full-time assistants either played or coached at Mizzou. Former All-Big 12 safety Kenji Jackson (2008-11) was a two-year starter for the Tigers, while Munir Prince (2008-09) and Jason Ray (2003-07) each contributed on three bowl teams during their time in Columbia.

Historic Holliman Senior return specialist Deion Holliman earned preseason All-Amer-ica recognition after ranking among the nation’s top home run threats over the last two years. Holliman is the lone FCS return man to bring back both a kickoff and a punt for a touchdown in each of the last two seasons and enters the 2017 campaign second on the Bears’ all-time lists for return TDs (4) and kickoff return yardage (1,952).

MISSOURI STATE BEARS(0-0, 0-0 MVFC)

S2 at Missouri SEC Network 11:00 a.m.S9 at North Dakota Midco SN 4:00 p.m.S16 Murray State KOZL / ESPN3 2:00 p.m.S23 *Illinois State ESPN3 2:00 p.m.S30 *at North Dakota State ESPN3 1:00 p.m.O14 *at Western Illinois ESPN3 3:00 p.m.O21 *South Dakota State ESPN3 2:00 p.m.O28 *Indiana State (HC) ESPN3 2:00 p.m.N4 *at Southern Illinois ESPN3 1:00 p.m.N11 *UNI ESPN3 2:00 p.m.N18 *at Youngstown State ESPN3 11:00 a.m.*MVFC game

NDSU Opens 14th Division I Season North Dakota State opens its 121st season of football this Satur-day at home against Mississippi Valley State. The Bison are 81-33-6 all-time in season openers and have won 11 of 13 as a Division I program since 2004. NDSU is looking to bounce back from a season-ending loss against James Madison in the national semifinals last December. The Bison have not lost back-to-back games since 2009.

Bison Return 16 Starters North Dakota State returns nine starters on defense and seven on offense from last year’s NCAA semifinal team that finished 12-2 and won a sixth straight Missouri Valley Football Conference champion-ship with a 7-1 league record. Included are linebacker Nick DeLuca, a two-time nominee for the Butkus Award who returns for a fifth sea-son after being limited to three games last year with a shoulder injury, and defensive tackle Nate Tanguay, who missed the final five games with a knee injury.

Menard Out For Year Two-time All-America defensive end Greg Menard will miss the 2017 season with a knee injury suffered during the opening week of fall camp. Menard will take a redshirt year and have one season of eligibility remaining in 2018. He played in 14 games as a true freshman in 2014 and has made 29 consecutive starts at right defensive end. Menard has 125 tackles, 33.5 tackles for loss and ranks seventh at NDSU with 28.0 career sacks in 43 games for the Bison. He is a civil engineering major and two-time CoSIDA Academic All-American®.

NORTH DAKOTA STATE BISON(0-0, 0-0 MVFC)

S2 Mississippi Valley State NBC ND / ESPN3 2:30 p.m.S9 at Eastern Washington NBC ND / ESPN3 3:00 p.m.S23 Robert Morris NBC ND / ESPN3 2:30 p.m.S30 *Missouri State (HC) NBC ND / ESPN3 1:00 p.m.O7 *at Indiana State NBC ND / ESPN3 NoonO14 *at Youngstown State ESPN3 6:00 p.m.O21 *Western Illinois NBC ND / ESPN3 2:30 p.m.O28 *UNI NBC ND / ESPN3 2:30 p.m.N4 *at South Dakota State NBC ND / ESPN3 2:00 p.m.N11 *South Dakota NBC ND / ESPN3 2:30 p.m.N18 *at Illinois State NBC ND / ESPN3 Noon*MVFC game

UNI Opens at Iowa State Northern Iowa begins its 118th season of football against in-state foe Iowa State on Saturday at 7 p.m. CT. The game will mark the third-straight season the Panthers have faced the Cyclones. In the last meeting, UNI defeated ISU in Ames by a score of 25-20 to open the season. The victory marked the Panthers’ third win over the Cyclones in the last five contests. The series between the Panthers and Cy-clones dates back to 1899.

Panther Success Over FBS Teams UNI owns an all-time record of 22-70-5 against FBS opponents. Most of the success has come in the last 28 years, with an 11-26 mark against FBS teams since 1985. Head coach Mark Farley is 4-16 against FBS foes, with wins over Ball State (2001) and Iowa State (2007, 2013, 2016).

Sack Happy Under head coach Mark Farley, UNI has been known to produce stout defenses. Since 2009 however, the Panthers have used a fierce pass rush to rank among the best in the nation when it comes to sacking the quarterback. In six of the last eight seasons, UNI has landed in the Top-30 in the FCS for sacks. The highest the Panthers have climbed is third in the FCS for sacks, after recording a mon-strous 51.0 in 2014. Over the last three seasons, the UNI defense has ranked 3rd, 20th and 18th for sacks in the FCS.

Farley Named to Preseason Teams Senior linebacker Jared Farley earned a pair of prestigious honors ahead of the 2017 season as the Cedar Falls native was named to the STATS FCS Preseason All-America Second Team and the Pre-season All-Missouri Valley Football Conference First Team. Farley was just one of 17 MVFC players selected to the STATS FCS All-America teams. In addition to the national honors, Farley was also named one of UNI’s team captains.

NORTHERN IOWA PANTHERS(0-0, 0-0 MVFC)

S2 at Iowa State Cyclones.tv 7:00 p.m.S9 Cal Poly PSN / ESPN3 4:00 p.m.S16 at Southern Utah PlutoTV 7:00 p.m.S30 *at Southern Illinois ESPN3 6:00 p.m.O7 *Western Illinois (HC) PSN / ESPN3 4:00 p.m.O14 *at South Dakota State ESPN3 2:00 p.m.O21 *Youngstown State PSN / ESPN3 1:00 p.m.O28 *at North Dakota State ESPN3 2:30 p.m.N4 *South Dakota PSN / ESPN3 1:00 p.m.N11 *at Missouri State ESPN3 2:00 p.m.N18 *Indiana State ESPN3 4:00 p.m.*MVFC game

Year Two Under Nielson South Dakota begins year two under Bob Nielson with eight start-ers back on offense and five on defense. Senior quarterback Chris Streveler (MVFC Newcomer of the Year, All-MVFC) returns nearly all of his receivers and three linemen. Junior Michael Fredrick earns his first turn at lead back. Senior linebacker John Wessel returns to lead the defense after missing last year due to injury.

Opener Against Drake South Dakota and Drake are meeting in a season opener for the first time. The Coyotes last visited Drake in 1971. USD has won each of the three meetings since (1972, 2009, 2015), all of which took place in Vermillion. South Dakota won 51-21 in 2009 and 52-0 in 2015.

Two Keys Stopping the run and position battles to replace the leg of All-American Miles Bergner have been a focus throughout fall camp. The Coyotes allowed 250 yards rushing on average a year ago. Redshirt freshman Brady Schutt and true freshman Bryan Clements are vying for the open punting position. Junior Ethan James and Kansas trans-fer Ryan Weese are dueling for place-kicking duties.

SOUTH DAKOTA COYOTES(0-0, 0-0 MVFC)

S2 at Drake TV TBD 6:00 p.m.S9 at Bowling Green ESPN3 5:00 p.m.S16 North Dakota Midco / ESPN3 2:00 p.m.S30 *at Western Illinois ESPN3 3:00 p.m.O7 *Youngstown State (HC) Midco / ESPN3 2:00 p.m.O14 *Indiana State Midco / ESPN3 2:00 p.m.O21 *at Illinois State ESPN3 2:00 p.m.O28 *Southern Illinois Midco / ESPN3 3:00 p.m.N4 *at UNI ESPN3 1:00 p.m.N11 *at North Dakota State ESPN3 2:30 p.m.N18 *South Dakota State Midco / ESPN3 2:00 p.m.*MVFC game

For Openers Now in his 21st year as head coach, John Stiegelmeier has led SDSU to a 12-8 record in season openers. The Jackrabbits won each of their first seven season openers under Coach Stig, starting with a 17-7 victory at UC Davis in 1997. SDSU is 9-1 when opening the season at home, with the last home-season combination opener being played exactly four years ago to the day (Aug. 31, 2013), when the Jackrabbits scored a 55-14 victory over Butler at Coughlin-Alumni Stadium. Of SDSU’s eight losses in season openers under Coach Stig, four have come against Football Bowl Subdivision opponents, includ-ing a 59-41 defeat at TCU in 2016.

Wieneke Nears Another Record All-America wide receiver Jake Wieneke is poised to add his name to another SDSU receiving record. He enters the season opener with 223 career receptions — three away from passing Josh Davis (225 receptions from 2002-05) for the Jackrabbit all-time lead. Wieneke has recorded 72 or more receptions in each of his first three seasons, including a career-best 78 in 2016 to rank in a tie for second on the SDSU single-season charts. Wieneke already holds school and MVFC career records with 4,192 receiving yards and 43 touchdown catches in 39 career games. The MVFC career record for receptions is 273, which was set by Lance Lenoir of Western Illinois from 2013-16. Wieneke’s 4,192 receiving yards also rank 11th in FCS history, and he stands only 137 yards from moving into the top five. He also ranks in a tie for 11th for career touchdown receptions in the FCS annals.

Top Sophomores The top-two vote-getters in the race for the 2016 STATS FCS Jerry Rice Award as the top freshman in the FCS a year ago will be on op-posite sidelines in Thursday’s opener. Duquesne RB A.J. Hines won the balloting by a single vote over Jackrabbit LB Christian Rozeboom. Hines rushed for 1,291 yards and 13 touchdowns, and added 15 catches for 200 yards and a score. Rozeboom paced the Jackrabbit defense with 132 tackles and contributed two interceptions.

SOUTH DAKOTA ST. JACKRABBITS(0-0, 0-0 MVFC)

A31 Duquesne Midco / ESPN3 7:00 p.m.S9 at Montana State TV TBD 7:00 p.m.S16 Drake Midco / ESPN3 6:00 p.m.S30 *at Youngstown State ESPN3 6:00 p.m.O7 *Southern Illinois ESPN3 6:00 p.m.O14 *UNI (HC) Midco / ESPN3 2:00 p.m.O21 *at Missouri State ESPN3 2:00 p.m.O28 *at Western Illinois ESPN3 1:00 p.m.N4 *North Dakota State Midco / ESPN3 2:00 p.m.N11 *Illinois State Midco / ESPN3 2:00 p.m.N18 *at South Dakota Midco / ESPN3 2:00 p.m.*MVFC game

Year Two SIU head coach Nick Hill is in his second year as the head coach of his alma mater. Hill, who was the starting quarterback for SIU in 2006 and 2007, led SIU to a 4-7, 2-6 MVFC record in his inaugural season in 2016. Hill’s staff returns defensive coordinator Kraig Paulson and offensive coordinator John Van Dam, the first time since 2012 and 2013 that SIU has had continuity with both its coordinators in back-to-back seasons.

Preseason All-MVFC Offensive lineman Austin Olsen was named preseason first-team All-MVFC, and five other Salukis were named honorable mention. Southern’s six combined honorees were fourth-most in the confer-ence. After finishing in a tie for eighth in the MVFC in 2016, the Salu-kis were picked eighth in the 2017 preseason MVFC poll.

First Week Bye SIU’s bye week is on the opening weekend of the season. The Salukis won’t play this weekend, and the season opener is Sept. 9 vs. Mississippi Valley State at Saluki Stadium. Starting with the MVSU game, the Salukis will play 11-straight weeks.

SOUTHERN ILLINOIS SALUKIS(0-0, 0-0 MVFC)

S9 Mississippi Valley State ESPN3 6:00 p.m.S16 at SE Missouri State TV TBD 6:00 p.m.S23 at Memphis WMC / ESPN3 7:00 p.m.S30 *UNI ESPN3 6:00 p.m.O7 *at South Dakota State ESPN3 6:00 p.m.O14 *Illinois State (HC) ESPN3 2:00 p.m.O21 *at Indiana State ESPN3 2:00 p.m.O28 *at South Dakota ESPN3 3:00 p.m.N4 *Missouri State ESPN3 1:00 p.m.N11 *Youngstown State ESPN3 1:00 p.m.N18 *at Western Illinois ESPN3 1:00 p.m.*MVFC game

Season-Opening Success vs. FCS The Leathernecks have had great success in season-opening games against FCS opponents... Western’s 38-21 road win at Eastern Illinois last year marked the 12th win in the last 13 opportunities (only loss 20-6 at Sam Houston State in 2011).

Preseason Honors for Taylor During the off-season Brett Taylor was named to the STATS and HERO Sports Preseason All-American First Team... STATS also tabbed Taylor as one of the Top 10 FCS Players to Watch in 2017... In early August Taylor was one of 21 defensive players nationally to earn a spot on the Buck Buchanan Award Watch List, an honor given to the National Defensive Player of the Year.

Valuable Road Experience Needed Having played six road games last year should benefit the 2017 Leathernecks... Not only will Western play its first three games on the road for the first time since 1935, the seven road games this year are the most in two years overall as the 2015 squad eventually played eight road games (two in the NCAA Playoffs)... The seven regular sea-son road games currently scheduled are the most in program history.

Career Starts Leaders Senior James Torgerson leads all active Leathernecks with 30 career starts, all consecutive... Brett Taylor is next with 27 starts, also all consecutive... David Griffith has 26 starts, 25 of those consecu-tive... Jacob Judd owns 24 straight starts... Josh Baldus has 24 career starts, 15 consecutive... Xavier Rowe has made 20 career starts.

WESTERN ILLINOIS LEATHERNECKS(0-0, 0-0 MVFC)

A31 at Tennessee Tech TV TBD 6:00 p.m.S9 at Northern Arizona TV TBD TBAS30 at Coastal Carolina TV TBD TBAS30 *South Dakota (HC) ESPN3 3:00 p.m.O7 *at UNI ESPN3 4:00 p.m.O14 *Missouri State ESPN3 3:00 p.m.O21 *at North Dakota State ESPN3 2:30 p.m.O28 *South Dakota State ESPN3 1:00 p.m.N4 *at Illinois State ESPN3 NoonN11 *at Indiana State ESPN3 NoonN18 *Southern Illinois ESPN3 1:00 p.m.*MVFC game

Florida Duo at WR YSU’s top two returning receivers are Florida natives Alvin Bailey and Damoun Patterson. Last season Bailey caught a team-high 47 passes for 511 yards and five touchdowns while Patterson had 20 receptions for 484 yards and two TDs. Patterson averaged a school record 24.2 yards per catch, breaking the mark of 23.4 set in 1969 by Dave DelSignore. He was a big-play receiver with nine of his 20 grabs going for 28 yards or more.

McCaster TD a Good Sign Junior TB Tevin McCaster became a key part of the backfield rotation a year ago and this season is slated to start at the position. McCaster was second on the team in touchdowns with 11 in 2016. He had rushing touchdowns in nine different games, and YSU is 8-1 in contests when he scored, including playoff wins over Samford, Wof-ford and Eastern Washington. McCaster rushed for 652 yards on 129 carries in 2016. At EWU he had a career-high 154 yards on 29 carries and scored three touchdowns in the FCS semifinals. He was the only running back to play in all 16 games in 2016.

Spencer a Mainstay Senior OT Justin Spencer, a preseason third-team All-America pick, has been a mainstay on the offensive line since 2014. A preseason All-MVFC first-team selection, Spencer has started all 39 games in his three-year YSU career. After playing right tackle his first two years with the program, Spencer moved to left tackle in 2016 where he started all 16 games for the Penguins. He was a second-team All-MVFC pick in 2016 and an honorable-mention selection in 2015.

Season Openers The Penguins are 42-32-2 all-time in season openers. In eight of the previous 10 openers, the Guins started the year on the road against a Power Five conference foe. The season-opening wins since 2007, when YSU opened against a Power Five school (Ohio State) for the first time in school history, were at Pittsburgh in 2012, at home against Dayton in 2014 and Duquesne last year. Head Coach Bo Pelini’s first game on the YSU sidelines came at Pittsburgh in 2015.

YOUNGSTOWN STATE PENGUINS(0-0, 0-0 MVFC)

S2 at Pittsburgh ACC Network 1:00 p.m. ETS9 Robert Morris ESPN3 2:00 p.m. ETS16 Central Connecticut St. ESPN3 2:00 p.m. ETS30 *South Dakota State ESPN3 7:00 p.m. ETO7 *at South Dakota ESPN3 3:00 p.m. ETO14 *North Dakota State ESPN3 7:00 p.m. ETO21 *at UNI ESPN3 2:00 p.m. ETO28 *Illinois State (HC) ESPN3 2:00 p.m. ETN4 *at Indiana State ESPN3 1:00 p.m. ETN11 *at Southern Illinois ESPN3 2:00 p.m. ETN18 *Missouri State ESPN3 Noon ET*MVFC game