Most Telling Stat

[penguinpower]

We gave up 22 unanswered points from the 7:22 mark of Q3 before scoring again......and our scores were gritty, low probability plays.

Bottom line is we don't have the depth the corn-shucker teams have. The 6-7 min mark of Q3 is when most FCS teams lose ground against FBS teams due to scholarship numbers. However, this is rarely the case for many of the midwestern states whose largest schools are playing at the FCS level. They take FBS full scholarship power 5 teams to the wire. I just don't know if we have that kind of depth. This is the reason why we cannot make mistakes.....because we cannot afford them because we can't overcome them against good teams.

[The YO Show]

Our oline is weak this year too

[ytownchief22]

O-Line stinks. Can't run the ball inside the tackles.

[penguinpower]

We don’t have a power back to loosen up the LB’s either. We can’t run Allessi up the middle. He is not that kind of running back. That makes our OL look even more inept. I will say they aren’t bad but they would look better with a dedicated power back that had some speed. Perhaps what I mean is a feature back that can pound it between the tackles but also break it outside.

[The YO Show]

I was hoping Braxton could be our big power back. We don't give him many carries either though

[penguinpower]

There is some hope .  If you recall the 2016 season, the team kept improving as the season wore on. The reason is that Pelini develops his underclassmen during the season and by the end of the year they van be pretty good. Last night we had redshirt freshman playing in the secondary. That is likely why we had the blown coverages. Get this corrected by the end of the year and now you've got some depth.

[HappyPenguin]

I was hoping Braxton could be our big power back. We don't give him many carries either though

Same here. But I don't think he can push the pile by himself.

[ucfpengbuck]

What is the difference between the Corn-shucker schools(your label)and the YSU teams under Tressel.  We were playing for titles they were not.  Their population didn't grow and my uneducated guess thinks that the state of Youngstown might be smaller but not signifcant from the year 2000 when JT last coached.

Common denominator = Jim Tressel.   No knock on his predecsessors but Mr President doesn't walk through those doors very often.

After further checking on line the area looks to lost around 20% since 2000.

[Kandrase]

What is the difference between the Corn-shucker schools(your label)and the YSU teams under Tressel.  We were playing for titles they were not.  Their population didn't grow and my uneducated guess thinks that the state of Youngstown might be smaller but not signifcant from the year 2000 when JT last coached.

Common denominator = Jim Tressel.   No knock on his predecsessors but Mr President doesn't walk through those doors very often.

After further checking on line the area looks to lost around 20% since 2000.

It’s still not an excuse. Look at mount Union in d3, they’ve had to deal with the same population decline we have e and they’ve been winning titles since 1993. I understand the recruiting is a little different but still. A program with the facilities and legacy that we have has no business getting out recruited. We have the biggest stadium in our conference, the second best legacy and by far the most famous coach and president.

Personally I don’t think the issue is recruiting anyway, not 100% what the issue is, but we definitely have some talented football players out there.

[The YO Show]

There are schools paying FCOA, and in our conference. If we want recruits, we have to start paying that and it is not cheap.

[goodnews]

The question is what is the difference between the teams under Tressel and now.

1.  Better coaching staff
2.  Leadership within the TEAM
3.  DISCIPLINE
4.  Game Management
5.  Accountability
6.  Motivation
7.  They believed they were gonna win

[penguinpower]

The question is what is the difference between the teams under Tressel and now.

1.  Better coaching staff
2.  Leadership within the TEAM
3.  DISCIPLINE
4.  Game Management
5.  Accountability
6.  Motivation
7.  They believed they were gonna win

And there were only around 80 teams in FCS and our talent was better than the rest of the teams overall. Today kids won't sit as a backup at FBS schools. They want to play and so there is far more talent in the FCS level. There are more teams. Our facilities are no longer in the top 10. More difficult to recruit to compete at the highest level of FCS

[IAA Fan]

1. To the best of my knowledge, we pay the $2k FCOA stipend. If not, we do it in some other way (maybe private). Does anyone have any info on this?

2. You people need to stop living in the past. We lost most of our big games (regular season) under coach T. He ran a vanilla offense, just enough to win 7 games. Then we became a completely different club in the post-season. We simply out-smarted our play-off opponents by giving them things that they had never seen before on O and our D was always one of the best in the US.
- During coach T's successful period, we were intentionally an independent because it was too difficult to win the OVC; or any conference compared to scheduling whomever you wish. We focused on clubs of local interest.
- Our scheduling was so easy that the NCAA finally enacted what was nicknamed "the Tressel Rule" with much more strict scheduling requirements. (7 DI wins, instead of 7-wins). This forced us to join a conference (the Gateway/MVFC) as we could not find enough I-AA teams (as an independent) and we could no longer schedule 2 & 3 DII clubs and still expect to make the post-season. Additionally, the MAC was improving and we could no longer count on these wins. Also, as many had said before, many of the MAC schools did not want to play YSU.
- By continuing to honor our DII commitments, (which made great financial sense) we cut down on the number of games that would help us qualify for the post-season. Tress was really gone by then so it impacted Heacock to a greater degree.

3. I-AA/FCS was designed to encourage local talent to "stay local". You have provide enough scholarship dollars to get a degree, but not (at least back then) live too far from mom and dad. Youngstown is the the heart of football in America. Every kid will take ANY (then IA) school over ANY I-AA school. So the kids from the Valley have plenty of IA choices. I mean we are a few hours from much of the Big-10, Penn State (not in the Big-10 yet), Pitt, WVU, Cinci, Marshall. Kent and Akron are just minutes away and the choice for 9-out-of-10 local players over YSU. The xDSU's do not have this issue.

4. The FCS schools in the Dakota's (4 of them) are the top teams in their perspective states. Our states top teams are Ohio State. Michigan, Michigan State, Penn State, Pitt, etc. So NDSU and SDSU can recruit the top local and regional HS players. We have not even a minor chance to do the same.

5. So if you want to cut into the xDSU teams dominance, the smarter coach might want to consider recruiting the Dakota's. Take away some of this talent. After all don't they say 'if you can't beat them, join them'? Yet, until you start beating the xDSU's it is not likely you will recruit any impact players away from them, kind of a "catch-22". Besides, why spend the recruiting $$$ for a few players from the Dakotas, when the same money will bring in 10 kids from Florida.

5. BTW, it is not as if the Dakota teams just started winning. One of those teams was the DII national champ probably 5 of every 10-years. Always in the final 4.

[go guins]

The question is what is the difference between the teams under Tressel and now.

1.  Better coaching staff
2.  Leadership within the TEAM
3.  DISCIPLINE
4.  Game Management
5.  Accountability
6.  Motivation
7.  They believed they were gonna win

I disagree with you only in that I see it this way:
1.  Better coaching staff Tressel directed coaching staff
2.  Leadership within the TEAM Tressel developed leadership within the team
3. DISCIPLINE Tressel demanded disipline
4. Game Management Tressel was best game day head coach in YSU history by a LONG way
5.  Accountability Tressel developed accountability throughout the entire program.
6. Motivation developed by best head coach we'll ever have
7.  They believed they were gonna win  They didn't "believe" they were going to win, under Tressel they KNEW they were going to win.

[goodnews]

I dont think its about living in the past.  Its more about recognizing the attributes of a once in a generation coach versus a mediocre coach who has many short comings.  Just an observation. I will say Tressel had his fair share of off the field issues as we all know.  But it was ALL business Friday nights and Saturdays at Stambaugh.