Written by Michael Metzinger
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20 November 2011
In a flash Youngstown State's playoff hopes and season ended when Missouri State quarterback Trevor Wooden found
Cadarrius Dotson in the far end of the
endzone for a two yard touchdown to hand the Bears their biggest win by far of the season, a 38-34 victory over the Penguins. Just when you thought this team turned the corner and we as fans were past those abhorrent losses, this just had to happen.
Last week Coach Wolford picked up his biggest win in his young head coaching career, a 27-24 upset over #1 North Dakota State on the road. A week later, Coach Wolford picked up his worst loss of his career, a 38-34 defeat to a 1-9 team. Give credit where credit is due, Missouri State Head Coach Terry Allen had his team buy into their game-plan for this game and they executed it pretty flawlessly, notwithstanding two turnovers by the Bears. Terry Allen had our number when he was with Northern Iowa and he has had his number with the Bears, now defeating Youngstown State four consecutive years.
Prior to the game, I was walking into the stadium with a man whose son played under Tressel and won three national championships under him in 1991, 1993, and 1994. He said he was a bit worried because you just never know, on any given Saturday anything can happen. Just as NDSU fans were stunned last week when we beat them in the FargoDome, YSU fans were in absolute shock after this heartbreaking defeat.
In this post-mortem of sorts, I will outline the 2011 season by breaking it down with the good, the bad, and the ugly.
The Good
Although fans are waking up still emotional after yesterday's loss, there is plenty of good to find in this team this season. Last year we were 3-8, while this year we improved by three games and finished 6-5 on the campaign. Our offense set numerous records, including average yardage per game (458.6 ypg) and average scoring offense (36.2 ppg). Kurt Hess set a record yesterday with 5 touchdown passes and Jamaine Cook finished eighth nationally with 126 yards per game.
On the defensive side of the football last year, we finished 102nd nationally, giving up 411.2 yards per game. This season we improved on that finishing 54th, giving up 352.27 yards per game. Our defense showed glimpses of taking a couple steps forward, but I will touch upon that in the paragraphs ahead.
Fortunately for us, we return just about everyone on offense and we return a solid corps of talent on defense at LB, CB, and at S. In addition, Donald D'Alesio, Jamarious Boatwright, and Deionte Williams return at CB so we will finally have a bit of depth at that spot on defense. However there is no doubt we have a long way to go.
The Bad
I think yesterday's loss sums it up. We were :12 seconds away from a potential playoff spot, and by no means were we a lock for the playoffs had we won, and BAM.... our season came to a close. We were so close to possibly getting back to the promised land, but we could not deliver. Our defense which had played so well the previous two weeks against #6 Northern Iowa and #1 North Dakota State was scorched for 389 yards and 38 points.
However, what may have been worse were our special teams and our offense's inability once again to not close a game out on that side of the football. On third and five Kurt Hess' pass to Jamaine Cook was dropped right in front of me, and we were forced to punt and I thought here we go again. Had Cook made that catch, I'd be willing to bet we run the clock out since MSU had just one timeout remaining.
The Ugly
Where to begin? I already touched on our offense's inability to seal the deal by running the clock out. But Coach Wolford and his staff must take a serious look at our special teams and defense when it comes to recruiting in this upcoming class. I'd bet we have 20 recruit class with the graduating seniors and the expectation a few players end up quitting the team. We need some serious talent at every position on defense and we desperately need to improve our kick/punt coverage because it is lousy, and one can certainly argue that it cost us the game yesterday.
The bottom line is this: The past two seasons we have had a great offense and bad/average defense (2010 and 2011 respectively). We will never win a National Championship until we have a top 15-20 defense at this level. We have experimented with the approach of winning games with 70+ points scored between the two teams and we ended up 9-13 in the process. It is time to take the next step on defense and be dominant like North Dakota State or Northern Iowa's defense. Until we do, we may be good enough to make the playoffs, but we will not be able to just score massive amounts of points and expect to win a championship. That is just my two cents, but I believe many will agree with me on that.
Finally to the fans: Nothing despises me more than fair-weather fans. They were out there in massive numbers in the 90s when we were winning titles, but when we hit our struggles in the past decade, they stopped coming to the games. It is always easy cheering for a winner, but when your team struggles, you get a better idea of who the true fans actually are. Nebraska, Notre Dame, Delaware, etc. always have near sell-out or sell-out crowds for their games; and you folks know as well as I do that they have had just as many rough seasons as YSU has had as of late. Don't give me this nonsense that it was cold outside or Ohio State was playing. First off 55 degrees and sunny is not cold. Secondly, Ohio State started at 3:30pm, Jim Tressel is not the coach at Ohio State anymore, and the team has a mediocre (by their golden standards) 6-5 record. There is absolutely NO reason that the fans were not out in full force yesterday.
Conclusion
In conclusion, to the true Penguin fans out there who actually made it out to the game, it is time to move forward. Even had we won, there is no guarantee we would have made it. To be quite honest with you, I don't even think we would have got in after seeing Illinois State get the shaft by the committee this morning, who chose a 7-4 OVC team over a 7-4 MVFC team. May I remind you the OVC has lost eighteen straight playoff games, so this one was a slap in the face to our conference.
The future for the program is bright and I truly believe we will be a playoff team next year and depending on how much we improve defensively, we may be able to make a run at it all. However as fans, I urge you to question those that you know who didn't feel like coming out to the game. Those individuals are the same ones calling for Coach Wolford's head after this loss. What kind of fans are you people!? For us to turn the corner as a program, we need more true fans and less fair-weather fans. Until that happens, we can expect to see a half-filled Stambaugh Stadium in October and November.
And to all of you that complain there is nothing to do in Youngstown, where are you when Youngstown State plays football on Saturday's or when YSU basketball plays Division 1 college basketball in a top ten conference in the country? Don't complain if you make no effort to support this University, which is educating our young people so they can make a difference in this community and make it a better place to live for all of us.
End... Of... Rant... Go Penguins!
If you believe that Akron and Youngstown State should renew their football rivalry in a home-and-home series, then please comment below that you are in support of such a deal. In 2014, Ball State of the Mid-American Conference will be traveling to FCS Illinois State of the Missouri Valley Football Conference to play in the second game of the 2013-2014 home-and-home deal.
Illinois State:
Indiana State:
Youngstown State:
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