Now that you know the final 4 teams where are we in the top 25?

[penguinpower]

Where do we belong in the top 25 (this year)?

[YSUGO]

Well we lost in the second round so no better than 9th  but prolly lower anround 12th Even with the win it brought very little buzz to the community.  Going to take a lot to get that back if they can.  We were not a top 10 team with that Defense.  And if we still had The Bison on the schedule instead of Murray we wouldn’t have made it

[nova75]

Probably around 15.

[YsuPride]

I would say 20th. 

[guinpen]

10 or 11

[Wick250]

Process of elimination. We were better than every team except for the playoff participants from the MVFC, Big Sky, and CAA.

We were better than Sacramento State and Idaho, but inferior to Montana and Montana State.

We were better than Richmond and Delaware, but inferior to Albany and Villanova.

We were vastly inferior to SDSU and NDSU.

We were better than North Dakota, the most overrated team in our conference.

That leaves SIU, South Dakota, and UNI. The latter two beat us so I guess that I will place us below them. But UNI was terrible by the end of the year.

I would place us in position #9.

[penguinpower]

Process of elimination. We were better than every team except for the playoff participants from the MVFC, Big Sky, and CAA.

We were better than Sacramento State and Idaho, but inferior to Montana and Montana State.

We were better than Richmond and Delaware, but inferior to Albany and Villanova.

We were vastly inferior to SDSU and NDSU.

We were better than North Dakota, the most overrated team in our conference.

That leaves SIU, South Dakota, and UNI. The latter two beat us so I guess that I will place us below them. But UNI was terrible by the end of the year.

I would place us in position #9.

I also think we are 9 or 10.  I did a similar analysis.  If YSU is truly 9th in 2023, it would mean ysu is in the 93rd percentile of all teams in the FCS.  If YSU is 10th the team ends up in the 92nd percentile of all FCS teams.

Paladin correctly predicted this earlier this year and he had the wherewithal to closely predict our regular season record in the MVFC. People here don't have to like the message, but the guy is correct.  I hate this censorship crap. We would be fortunate to have him back here.

Now I think we can be critical since the season is over.


1. Does Phillips deserve to remain head coach?  My answer is YES! The question for me is has he reached his ceiling? Is this the best we can do with Phillips?
2.we definitely have to address the defensive play. For me it's less about the players (unless you're talking about the DL) and more about the coaching and scheme. You can't leave your secondary on an island when you can't get pressure from the DL.  We have to upgrade the DL.  The loss of Howard is going to hurt on defense.  He was the best LB we had.
3. Do we need to upgrade the defensive coaches?

I think Phillips has the program going in the right direction.  Now that he's achieved the playoffs, in 3-4 years depending how you count the COVID year, I think people can back off a bit with criticismsnI see all over this board.

The real question is if Phillips is another Heacock. Keep in mind Heacock only made the playoffs a couple times in a weeker Missouri Valley/Gateway conference. The difference between Philips and Heacock is that Phillips is a far better recruiter overall.

You win with players. It's a lot more difficult to improve from the 92nd percentile to the 99th. The amount of effort required is much higher in both recruiting and coaching.


But we are once again better than 90% of the FCS.

[nova75]

Hard to upgrade a coaching staff while paying very low salaries. No seasoned coach is coming here for $50k. You get what you pay for. During the Nova game they showed YSU coaches in the press box. They were all in their 20s if appeared. Maybe good coaches with potential
, but that was eye opening

[penguinpower]

Hard to upgrade a coaching staff while paying very low salaries. No seasoned coach is coming here for $50k. You get what you pay for. During the Nova game they showed YSU coaches in the press box. They were all in their 20s if appeared. Maybe good coaches with potential
, but that was eye opening

I totally agree.  Kids coaching kids.  He's got to develop coaches AND players at the same time.  I've been trying to say this all year but it has fallen on deaf ears.  I will say it again, if you want better assistant coaches, then put up the money for YSU to get them.

By the way I see that I have several spelling errors in my last post including the word "weeker" vs weaker. The phone I use is inconsistent in when it applies spell checker. Not sure why some sites it is used and others it isn't, but I am pretty sure I typed "weaker".


Nova has a nice OL and seasoned coaches.  YSU was mismatched with lesser coaching and that's why they were blown out.

[IAA Fan]

Where do we belong in the top 25 (this year)?

Not even in. Get the blinders off. My gosh look how much NDSU improved in the last half of the season, they became the best team in the country & reputation is the only thing that got them in the play-off. Just as YSU did in the 90's when we played such light schedules and lost to any decent team played in the regular season. The upper-end Big Sky and CAA teams are clearly a step above us (Idaho, Montana, MSU, Nova & Albany). We were not going to beat Villanova & next year they will be playing with more future CUSA players that are even better. Look at all the FBS teams adding Villanova to their schedule

Nova lost to SDSU 23-12 OUT WEST, while YSU could not even manage a score against SDSU in a 34-0 loss AT HOME. We will not compete until we have the players.

[penguinpower]

Where do we belong in the top 25 (this year)?

Not even in. Get the blinders off. My gosh look how much NDSU improved in the last half of the season, they became the best team in the country & reputation is the only thing that got them in the play-off. Just as YSU did in the 90's when we played such light schedules and lost to any decent team played in the regular season. The upper-end Big Sky and CAA teams are clearly a step above us (Idaho, Montana, MSU, Nova & Albany). We were not going to beat Villanova & next year they will be playing with more future CUSA players that are even better. Look at all the FBS teams adding Villanova to their schedule

Nova lost to SDSU 23-12 OUT WEST, while YSU could not even manage a score against SDSU in a 34-0 loss AT HOME. We will not compete until we have the players.

Don't smoke crack

[guinpen]

Where do we belong in the top 25 (this year)?

Not even in. Get the blinders off. My gosh look how much NDSU improved in the last half of the season, they became the best team in the country & reputation is the only thing that got them in the play-off. Just as YSU did in the 90's when we played such light schedules and lost to any decent team played in the regular season. The upper-end Big Sky and CAA teams are clearly a step above us (Idaho, Montana, MSU, Nova & Albany). We were not going to beat Villanova & next year they will be playing with more future CUSA players that are even better. Look at all the FBS teams adding Villanova to their schedule

Nova lost to SDSU 23-12 OUT WEST, while YSU could not even manage a score against SDSU in a 34-0 loss AT HOME. We will not compete until we have the players.

I assume that you are kidding and just trying to spur some debate.

[penguinpower]

Where do we belong in the top 25 (this year)?

Not even in. Get the blinders off. My gosh look how much NDSU improved in the last half of the season, they became the best team in the country & reputation is the only thing that got them in the play-off. Just as YSU did in the 90's when we played such light schedules and lost to any decent team played in the regular season. The upper-end Big Sky and CAA teams are clearly a step above us (Idaho, Montana, MSU, Nova & Albany). We were not going to beat Villanova & next year they will be playing with more future CUSA players that are even better. Look at all the FBS teams adding Villanova to their schedule

Nova lost to SDSU 23-12 OUT WEST, while YSU could not even manage a score against SDSU in a 34-0 loss AT HOME. We will not compete until we have the players.

I assume that you are kidding and just trying to spur some debate.

He's serious. Needs to lay off the crack pipe.

The wind was a major factor in the SDSU vs Villanova game. The wind limited the throwing of both teams. Villanova has better line play than YSU.  YSU has a comparable passing game.  Nova has better defensive coaches, probably a better collection of LB's and a better DL.  YSU had better athletes in the secondary, but they have bad coaching and ZERO pressure from the DL to help the coverage (when they got the coverage correctly handled).

In 2023 YSU is between #9 and #18.  It could be argued a lot of different ways.  But >20 is a crack induced response.  NDSU is going to get their ass handed to them by SDSU, who is clearly the best team in the nation

[Wick250]

Let's not forget that Tressel, with the exception of Ken Connatzer (sp?) and veteran high school coach Bob Stoops, had a very young coaching staff. Some of these guys advanced to become prominent head coaches and coordinators. And that was an era when P5 assistants were not making too much more money than IAA head coaches.

The issue is not that Phillips has a young staff; the issue is does he have the right staff? Can these guys grow into good coaches and move on, to be replaced by the next generation of ambitious young men? Right now I feel that the problem with our defensive coaches is not their youth but rather their basic competence. You can't evolve in your profession if you lack the ability to be in that profession.

[YSUGO]

Let's not forget that Tressel, with the exception of Ken Connatzer (sp?) and veteran high school coach Bob Stoops, had a very young coaching staff. Some of these guys advanced to become prominent head coaches and coordinators. And that was an era when P5 assistants were not making too much more money than IAA head coaches.

The issue is not that Phillips has a young staff; the issue is does he have the right staff? Can these guys grow into good coaches and move on, to be replaced by the next generation of ambitious young men? Right now I feel that the problem with our defensive coaches is not their youth but rather their basic competence. You can't evolve in your profession if you lack the ability to be in that profession.

The last good defensive coach we had really was Heacock and I guess you could say the Pelliini as well but they had the horses upfront to get the job done if you remember the Heacock era, we have many all Americans on a defensive line at linebacker and in the secondary so it does take players as well as coaches, and like what was said in the previous post head coach has to make the correct hire