Coach Wick -- heres the thing..... YSU hadn't played badly leading a bad BCS school 9-7, second half and faced a 2nd and short at mid-field. If you had an average QB its perfect time for play action pass and throw for two yds. and look to hit a home run play and bust the game wide open. Your QB might even have an opportunity to fake the pass and run for 2 or more yds. But , you are an underdog FCS team, on the road playing a B1G team, awful as they are, and get conservative trying to make 2 yds on 2 runs. Doable. Why gamble ? You have controlled time of possession, even with a less than average QB. But they fail at gaining 2 yds on 2 run plays. Still in position for an upset. Then, he shouldn't have gambled on the option run/punt. Punt, put them in long field and try to let your D hold them. At that point, its almost the 4th qtr and all Illinois had was one TD so far. YSU's D, whjile not great, was getting the job done.
He didn't gamble when he should have and gambled when he shouldn't. Up to that point, an upset was in the making. That's what a young and inexperienced team with lesser players playing on the road as an underdog will do to a coach's judgment.
And , yes, I've tried to warn everyone it s a rebuilding year. Young, inexperienced at QB and the OL and some questions on D. But, that's why you play the game.