By Dylan Lux / The Jambar
When a team is playing a top-30 FBS opponent, inside a stadium often used by the National Football League, at the opponent’s Homecoming game, against a team coming off a close win in a rivalry that dates back to 1895 — some would say the odds were stacked against the Penguins.
This was certainly the case for the Youngstown State University football team.
Youngstown State traveled to Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh for a matchup with the University of Pittsburgh Panthers to end each team’s non-conference slate.
Duquesne University bested YSU in the team’s previous matchup, while Pitt took care of business against West Virginia University in the “Backyard Brawl.”
The ’Guins entered the Sept. 21 bout as 25-point underdogs, and it was quickly evident why.
Pittsburgh started the game with three unanswered touchdowns, as redshirt-freshman quarterback Eli Holstein was responsible for two of them — one in the air and one on the ground.
Holstein transferred from The University of Alabama in January 2024. Since his arrival at Pitt, he has accumulated over 1,000 passing yards to go along with 12 touchdowns over four games.
By halftime, the Panthers opened up a 42-10 lead, with Youngstown State’s only touchdown coming from a 25-yard screen pass from sophomore quarterback Beau Brungard to redshirt-freshman wide receiver Cyrus Traugh.
The final score ended with a Pittsburgh win 73-17, moving the Panthers to 4-0, and dropping the Penguins to 1-3 before conference play.
Holstein finished the game with 16 completions for 247 yards and three touchdowns through the air, as well as two rushing touchdowns and 93 yards on the ground.
Leading receiver for Pittsburgh was junior wideout Censere Lee, who had four catches for 106 yards and a touchdown.
As for Youngstown State, Brungard finished 18/28 passing, with two touchdowns and one interception. He saw his career high in passing yards with 233 for the game.
Youngstown State fumbled on its opening drive, but Brungard said he was happy with how the team responded to the tough start.
“It wasn’t the start we expected, but after that I felt like our guys got back into it and we started to move the ball well,” Brungard said. “We got some momentum and I feel that as an offense we started to move the ball.”
Head Coach Doug Phillips said there’s always going to be good and bad plays from a team, but he liked the effort he saw from his players.
“Like any game, there’s going to be good plays, [but] it’s the bad ones you really remember,” Phillips said. “I thought our kids were more aggressive on defense, they were physical, especially early.”
The Penguins will travel to Springfield, Missouri for their first Missouri Valley Football Conference game.
The game will be streamed as the MVFC “Game of the Week” and will air on ESPN+ at 3 p.m. Sept. 28 at Robert W. Plaster Stadium.
