YOUNGSTOWN, OHIO – Youngstown State appeared to have the No. 1-ranked SIU football team on its heels during the opening drive Saturday at Stambaugh Stadium. The Penguins advanced to the SIU seven-yard line on the back of a no-huddle offense that caught the Salukis off guard – at first.

But when a host of defenders gave chase to quarterback Tom Zetts on third-and-goal, the redshirt freshman threw a pass that was tipped to SIU’s Alexis Moreland.

The All-American safety raced 95 yards untouched the other way for the game’s opening touchdown.

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“You’re feeling good, everything’s clicking and then something like that happens,” Penguin receiver Kyle Smith said. “It just kind of gets you in the stomach.”

SIU (5-1, 2-0 Gateway Conference) delivered multiple body blows from then on before knocking out the four-time Division I-AA champions 37-2.

The 35-point margin matched Youngstown’s worst-ever home loss and at the same time put any playoff hopes for the Penguins (2-4, 0-2) in serious jeopardy.

Considering Youngstown committed three costly turnovers in a 44-17 loss to No. 6 Western Kentucky last week, the Penguins began Saturday’s contest in the worst possible way. Moreland, who this week was eliminated from the Buchanan Award watch, took advantage of the perfect opportunity for vengeance.

“I caught the ball, took off and I had the defenders behind me, my teammates blocking for me, and that was all she wrote,” Moreland said.

The Salukis fell behind 7-0 last week when Northern Iowa returned a first quarter interception 95 yards for a touchdown. But SIU was able to overcome it and an eventual 20-0 deficit.

The overmatched Penguins, however, were helpless once Moreland scored SIU’s first defensive touchdown of the season less than five minutes into the game.

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“That fired everyone up,” said defensive lineman Mark Philipp, who finished with two tackles and a sack for a second-quarter safety.

The SIU defense dominated Youngstown all game long, limiting the same Penguin team that put up 437 yards last week against Western Kentucky to a season-low 204 yards.

If not for a safety in the third quarter when Joel Sambursky was ruled in the end zone on an intentional grounding penalty, the Salukis would have posted their first Gateway shutout since 1985.

“That was a tough one, but what can you say,” linebacker Royal Whitaker said. “That’s what the referee called so that’s what you’ve got to deal with.”

The Salukis’ dominance on defense was a direct result of the relentless pressure applied on Zetts or any other Penguin who lined up at quarterback. Whether it was a defensive line push up the middle or a linebacker or safety blitzing from the outside, the Salukis had the Penguin quarterbacks on the move all day.

“Watching film we saw that the quarterback had success around the outside on the bootleg and rollouts,” Whitaker said. “So our game plan was to get pressure on the outside and get as many people as we could.”

SIU finished with four sacks and a lot more hurries.

The lone dark sport for SIU was its 17 penalties for 140 yards, a number of which were personal fouls. SIU committed five penalties for 46 yards last week, which even then was too many for head coach Jerry Kill.

“You don’t want dumb penalties, and you can’t win with dumb penalties,” Kill said. “That’s just a lack of discipline, and we need to get it taken care of. There’s no question about that.”

Once again the SIU offense scored mostly on big plays. One week after scoring touchdowns of 58, 69, 71 and 61 yards, the Salukis scored first-half touchdowns of 95, 56, 47 and 49 yards to take a 30-0 halftime lead.

For better or worse, SIU is taking on the identity of an athletic team capable of many big plays rather than an offense that wears down the opposition and the clock.

“It’s not just big plays. It’s hard work,” insists freshman running back Craig Turner, who scored on a 56-yard screen pass from Joel Sambursky in the first quarter. “We work hard in practice and it shows on the field. If you want to call it big plays, then we’ll call it hard work.”

Brent Little outran everyone to the end zone on a 47-yard pass from Sambursky in the second quarter, and Arkee Whitlock scored on a 49-yard run up the middle eight minutes later. Sophomore receiver Alan Turner caught his first career pass for a 19-yard touchdown from backup quarterback Jon Cairns in the fourth quarter.

The Salukis racked up 468 yards of offense and averaged 7.2 yards per play.

Sambursky’s 215 passing yards moved him to No. 2 in school history for total yards in a career. The junior quarterback is 13 yards from breaking the record.

Whitlock led the Salukis in rushing with 97 yards on 14 carries. Brandon Jacobs, after carrying the ball just three times versus Northern Iowa, gained 82 yards on 16 carries. Terry Jackson finished with 24 yards on seven carries.

SIU faces Western Kentucky (4-1, 2-0) next Saturday at McAndrew Stadium.

When asked if demolishing the former I-AA kingpin Penguins sends a message to the rest of the Gateway, Jacobs replied:”If the rest of the league ain’t got the message yet, then they are going to get it. We’ve just got to keep delivering it.”