YOUNGSTOWN, OHIO– After their first win in over a year, Robert Morris (1-2) looked to carry that excitement and new life into a non-conference game on the road vs. Youngstown State (2-1).
Youngstown has always been an unhappy trip for the Colonials, with the team going 0-4 before this trip. This being the fifth trip to Stambaugh Stadium, it did not get any better for RMU, losing this matchup 48-28.
At one point the Colonials had the lead 14-13. After that point, YSU rallied off four straight touchdowns to open up the lead. Meanwhile, RMU’s offense stalled out and couldn’t get anything going.
The inability to get anything going with the run game has been a continuing theme of this season, and today was no different. The stat line does not tell the full story, as 22 attempts averaging 5 yards per carry and totaling 111 sounds promising. However, most of those came in the second half. At halftime, RMU had 9 carries totaling negative 3 yards.
It’s a combination of the offensive line getting on the right blocks and moving the defensive line. It was hard for us to move the defensive line today.” Clark said. “But, we have to get it going it is not something that we are going to back away from.”
Penalties cost the Colonials and they lost significant momentum when trying to get some drives going. Penalties were a big part of this game as the Colonials had 10 penalties for 71 yards.
“When you play a team that good like Youngstown you can’t have as many penalties as we had. We can’t have a holding call. We can’t have an offside call. We can’t have an illegal formation call. Those things hurt us as a football team.” Coach Clark said.
A continuing theme this week was the Chiccit and Robinson connection. Noah Robinson was again the team’s offensive power with nine receptions totaling 100 yards and two touchdowns.
“He’s running great routes where he’s getting open,” Clark said. “It’s a situation where he’s getting open, so he gets the ball.”
The Colonials were unable to get any stops in the red zone tonight as YSU went a perfect 5-5. With that being said there was a tackling problem tonight for RMU. Because of YSU’s toughness, the Penguins could put up so many points.
Coach Clark was able to speak on the team’s tackling tonight.
“We just needed to make some more tackles,” Clark said. “It’s a situation where if we make those tackles, we put ourselves in a much better position.”
A spark for the Colonials at the end of the game was backup quarterback Zin’tayvious Smith. Smith came in during wildcat formations and ran the ball efficiently during the second half. In three attempts he accrued 77 yards with his long one being a 60-yard touchdown run.
RMU will return home for a homecoming matchup versus Lynchburg on Saturday, September 23 with kickoff set for 3 p.m.
