Bison v Towson

[YSU1]

The field condition is awful.  We need to improve our defense and on offense run the ball first then pass.  This is a pretty good game.

[rayI09]

The condition of the field shows the lack of respect this level of football gets. There was another fcs title game years ago where the turf was in even worse condition. Just another reason why ysu needs to move to the fbs. Not much to gain at fcs level.
No way will the field condition be that bad for a bcs bowl game.

[ScarletRook]

The condition of the field shows the lack of respect this level of football gets.
No way will the field condition be that bad for a bcs bowl game.

Agreed !

[YsuPride]

So Ysu needs to move to the FBS because of field conditions.  Ok then.

[ScarletRook]

So Ysu needs to move to the FBS because of field conditions.  Ok then.

No - the NCAA should be ashamed.  Lucky no serious injuries came from that field.

[HappyPenguin]

Anyone remember the game years ago where there was chicken wire coming up under the sod too? I seem to remember Montana was playing and it may have been at Chatty...

I thought there was NO WAY the NCAA would let that happen again...man was I wrong. What a POS field.

That kind of thing is easily preventable. Its almost as if the NCAA is snubbing their noses at the game and letting people know that they don't think its really big-time, D1 football by doing things like this.

Thank God the Compass and Little Caesars bowls came off without a hitch.

[guinpen]

I cant believe that anyone was interested in watching the game

[ysubigred]

I cant believe that anyone was interested in watching the game

When did they play? and who won? 

[rayI09]

happy, I think you and I are talking about the same game years ago. I never even saw a high school game played on turf that bad.

Why does YSU make football their number one sport? if YSU was in the fbs I could understand. But at the fcs level no one cares except for a small number of local fans. Much better off making basketball number one sport and put the bulk of their resources there. at least in basketball they have a chance to compete with everyone on the biggest stage.

[Wick250]

Ray,

You are certainly correct that 95% of people who identify themselves as college football fans ignore the FCS.  But those same 95% also ignore non-big time FBS football.  They could not distinguish between Northern Illinois and North Dakota State.  Everybody that is not big time is under their radars.  So since YSU can never be big time in football and since the costs in FCS are about half of what they are in non-big time FBS, staying in FCS makes sense for YSU.

Your suggestion about making basketball the number one sport would have had merit three decades ago.  Indeed, it was our number one sport.  We routinely drew over 3,000 fans for weekday games and often passed the 5,000 mark on Saturdays.  Those days are a distant memory.  If we draw about 1,500 against CSU on Monday, some media and fans will call that crowd "good."  If we attract about 2,500, those same individuals will call it "fantastic."  They are uninformed about our basketball history.

More importantly, the sports culture of the Mahoning Valley has changed radically over that span.  Football and basketball used to be about equal in emphasis and in esteem.  Look at the high school level now.  Although the volume of college prospects cranked out by the football programs has declined in recent years, the successful high school football teams are well-coached and play the game properly.  But if you are local, I urge you to watch a high school basketball game, replayed at 10:00 on Fridays on the same station that does YSU football.  You will quickly learn about the lack of emphasis placed on basketball today in the Mahoning Valley. 

[Lets_Talk]

I agree with Wick250 about there really being no benefit to YSU moving up to FBS. The exception would be if YSU were able to join the MAC for all sports, but that is unlikely to happen. I now live in Las Vegas, so I was excited by UNLV going to their first bowl game since 2000 this season. They played North Texas at Noon Eastern time on ESPNU on New Year's Day. Had I not been a fan of UNLV, I wouldn't have watched the game. I do have a new found appreciation though for the lesser bowls, now that I am a fan of a team from a non BCS Conference. It was exciting to see UNLV not only have their first winning season since either 2000 or 2001, but also make the push to get into a bowl game.

UNLV lost about $200,000 according to early reports from playing in the bowl game. The loss came in failure to get anywhere close to selling the required number of tickets, at $75 per ticket. Guess the point is, making the bowl was great for the players, fun for fans, will help with recruiting, but it ended up costing UNLV money. And, I'm guessing not many people watched other than fans of UNLV, North Texas and people who bet on the game. At UNLV, it is the reveres of YSU. Basketball is king, and football has to find a way to scrape by. I'd love to see UNLV drop to FCS for football only, if they could stay in the MWC for all other sports. But, I do not think that is an option.

As for FCS, most people here think when UNLV plays their annual game against an FCS team, they are playing a D2 school. Then again, even though UNLV has been pathetic in football for many years, most people here saw the home game against CMU as a game UNLV should win, even though CMU went to a bowl game last season.

I do no think the mindset in the Ytown area and the limited budget YSU has makes bumping basketball to the #1 sport possible. The scholarship loges fund most of the athletic scholarships provided by the Athletic Department. There is nothing basketball could do on a CONSISTENT basis to bring in that kind of money. And, until such time as YSU is willing to move to the top 1-3 in the HL as far as coaching salaries, recruiting budget, paying for quality OOC home games, YSU is not going to be able to consistently make the NCAA Tournament, or even the NIT.

Also, as Wick noted, a crowd of 2,000 or more is seen as a very good crowd. I'm old enough to remember the Mike Rice era that Wick referred to, when weekday games drew about 3,000-3,500, and weekend games 4,000+. For CSU and Akron, it was a guaranteed 5,500 - 6,000, which was as much as the football team drew at the time for some of their games. I still think basketball can be elevated, but I do not see it ever getting the amount of commitment from the University, the community and even local media. Scalzo writes a weekly column about YSU football, but The Vindicator has no such thing for basketball(at least not on-line).

It's also a bit comical to see all the talk about moving to FBS, given that YSU has made the FCS playoffs 1 time in the last 13 years. Back when Tress was coach(and not until about 94 or 95 I might add), the talk was still a bit far-fetched, but had much more validity.

[JP21]

For everyone that is talking about attendance for football and basketball games not being what it used to be.  It's very simple actually.  The basketball and football teams have been awful year in and year out. People in the Youngstown area are not going to support a losing team whether it be football or basketball. Two years ago when YSU basketball started decent the Cleveland State game was sold out. Three years ago the game that was at Beeghly that was ESPN U was sold out. The same goes for football if you put a decent team on the field people will show up plain and simple, nothing has changed except chronically losing teams.  People in Youngstown are smart fans when it comes to football especially and they can see early on if they are going to be good. Defensively we have guys that can't tackle, this is the 4th year in a row our defense has been awful, you don't need to be a rocket scientist to figure it out.

[lakesbison]

The 3rd time was the charm NDSU fans had a blast and the game wasnt bad either. Haha.  Lost our coach and some seniors but we are confident in our returning players especially on defense   plus NDSU just got a RB TRANSFER from Nebraska King Frazier. He good!