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Double-A Big Leaguers One day, if they keep working at it, college football programs like Nebraska's or Penn State's might earn the right to be called the Youngstown State of Division I-A. But first they'll have to play for a national title four years in a row and win three of those games, which is what the Penguins have now done under coach Jim Tressel. SI's William F. Reed filed this report from Saturday's Division I-AA championship game in Huntington, W.Va., where each team featured a remarkable story. In the giddy moments following Youngstown's 28-14 victory over Boise State, as fans poured onto the field to celebrate a second straight title, Tressel and several Penguin players made a point of going over to shake the hand of DaWuan Miller, the Boise cornerback who was born without a lower left arm. Though he had been beaten on a five-yard touchdown pass—"I just didn't do what I was coached to do on that play," he would say—Miller had also picked off a pass, knocked down two others and made four tackles. Tressel grabbed Miller's hand and said, "Great job, DaWuan...helluva job." The 42-year-old Tressel loves players like Miller who have fought through tough circumstances. One of his own, senior tailback Shawn Patton, is a prime example. In 1991, after a promising freshman season, Patton was arrested on a sexual assault charge in connection with an incident at a bar. His legal problems left him struggling in the classroom, and he became academically ineligible. But instead of abandoning him, Tressel and others at Youngstown supported Patton's decision to enroll at a junior college in Cleveland, where he kept up with his academic work. Two and a half years later, after having been acquitted by a jury, he re-enrolled at Youngstown. This year Patton set the school's single-season rushing record, and after missing the Penguins' three previous appearances in the title game, he beat the Boise State defense for 140 yards, including a juking 55-yard TD run midway through the final quarter. "He knew he would always be welcome back," Tressel said. "If you make progress in the important areas, sometimes you get paid off in the superficial areas." Did the coach of a national champion really call football superficial? If any coach has a sense of perspective, it is Tressel. He takes enormous pride in how the Penguins' success has boosted morale in the economically depressed Youngstown area, and he continues to say no when big schools come courting, trying to lure away the man who has won more games during the 1990s than any Division I coach. "I've had offers, sure," Tressel said last Saturday outside the Youngstown State locker room, where the celebration was still going strong. "But I'm very happy here." Just then he noticed tight end Rob Robes, a senior who had to miss the title game because of an injury, walking by with a cigar in hand. "What's this?" Tressel asked. "It's unlit, Coach," said Robes. "How old are you?" "I'm 22, Coach."   
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