Messages

106

YSU Penguin Athletics / Re: Valpo Game Thread

« on: September 01, 2023, 02:42:10 PM »

Good God. Can we please bury the “where’s the crowd” comments and replies already? That dead horse has been beaten so many times already it’s physically, mentally and emotionally exhausting.

Well said. ESPN+ is the causal fan's best friend. The crowds are not coming back. Enjoy the games!

Those penalties are unacceptable. Targeting, taunting, ripping a helmet off, all in the same night. Ridiculous and it has to stop.

If the o-line does the job, our stable of running backs will be fine.

I suspect that we saw very little of the offensive playbook last night. No reason to be creative until Northern Iowa.

Brungard threw an excellent medium distance pass that set up the last touchdown. He has potential if we don't expect him to operate inside a pocket.

Kickers looked like they will be fine. Excellent coverage on our numerous kickoffs.

107

YSU Penguin Athletics / Re: Valpo Week

« on: August 27, 2023, 06:38:04 PM »

Of course I will be there on Thursday, but it is difficult to get excited about the non-conference slate when you know that the results will be three blow-outs. The season really begins at UNI on the last day of September.

108

YSU Penguin Athletics / Re: Jaleel McLaughlin in Denver training camp

« on: August 20, 2023, 05:08:39 PM »

I'm being selfish. I hope that Denver can't squeeze Jaleel on their opening day roster. I hope that they try to sneak him through waivers before they place him on their taxi squad. Then I hope that a certain team in NE Ohio, who has no depth whatsoever behind their star running back, grabs Jaleel. Of course, given the legendary incompetence of the Browns' front office, they would surely pass on McLaughlin even if they got the opportunity.

109

YSU Penguin Athletics / Re: tickets

« on: August 15, 2023, 12:21:59 PM »

No.

110

YSU Penguin Athletics / Re: Maybe it’s time to realign FCS Conferences and set up playoffs in a BCS format?

« on: August 09, 2023, 02:02:08 PM »

Go,

With your plan, junk like St. Francis, or Sacred Heart, or Samford will be in the tournament often while the third place team in the MVFC sits home. I agree that the current system is hopelessly corrupt, but it can be salvaged if the NCAA just did two simple things.

First, remove all FCS athletic directors from the selection committee. Staff that committee with five retired football people, preferably from FBS schools with no connections whatsoever to any FCS program.  And pay these five people well.  That committee would select all at-large teams and seed all the participants.

Second, after games of the first week of November, the five-member committee would issue a power rating for all FCS teams with a record of .500 or above.  Everybody would know exactly where they stood. According to the new by-laws, the committee would automatically choose at-large teams for the tournament by going right down that list of power rankings.

These two simple changes would remove ALL corruption and place the best 24 teams in the field (except for the weaklings who attain an automatic bid.)

111

YSU Penguin Athletics / Re: Crazy thought or is it

« on: August 05, 2023, 05:45:27 PM »

NDSU Stadium is too small for D1 standards rt?

After doing a bit of quick research, it is now apparent to me that we are stuck with the Dakotas forever. As you suggest, their stadiums are a joke by the standards of the Mountain West, their only possible FBS landing spot. Here are some examples of Mountain West stadium capacities.

34k at Colorado State
30k at San Jose State
32k at Wyoming
36k at UNLV
41K at Fresno State
46K at Air Force

The NDSU gym seats only 19K. The brand new stadium at SDSU is also listed at 19K. There is no way that Mountain West schools would admit the Dakotas with small stadiums, poor tv market size, and strong teams that might take over their conference.

112

YSU Penguin Athletics / Re: Crazy thought or is it

« on: August 05, 2023, 01:47:18 PM »

The FBS hopes of the Dakotas probably depend upon whether the PAC 12 reorganizes or becomes extinct. If the four PAC survivors raid the Mountain West and invite the stronger programs into their league, it would create openings in the Mountain West that the Dakotas could fill.  But if the PAC 12 dies then the Mountain West would take the survivors and effectively shut the door on the Dakotas. For the good of FCS football, it would be best if the Dakotas moved on.

113

YSU Penguin Athletics / Re: Ysu Football 2023

« on: August 02, 2023, 07:07:38 PM »

Phillips' comments about the availability of superior athletes coming out of high school rings true. Each scholarship that a G5 school spends on a P5 transfer pushes a high school kid down to FCS or even D2.

It is obvious that the high school kids that Phillips recruits are vastly superior to those that Pelini brought to campus. How much of that was the impact of the portal and how much of that was Pelini's lack of effort? I don't know but am very happy with the direction that Phillips has taken our program.

114

YSU Penguin Athletics / Re: TBT basketball tournament &YSU nugget.

« on: July 11, 2023, 10:59:35 PM »

In the old world of college basketball, the best coaches were masters at the Xs and Os and recruited very well from high schools. In this new world, coaches must dominate the portal and then, just as importantly, shape the transfers into a cohesive unit.  Calhoun did a wonderful job with both tasks last season, and we all hope that he can do it again.  But there are no guarantees. Just look at what happened to John Barnes. The first year he performed both tasks very well and was rewarded with a share of the regular season title.  He hit the portal again for a second year only to see his team collapse down the stretch. He is now staring at the second division. The only thing you can be sure of in this new world is uncertainty and chaos.

115

YSU Penguin Athletics / Re: YUS Penguins themed bar to open

« on: July 11, 2023, 09:17:41 AM »

More good news.  For those old enough to remember the "ghost town" after the steel mills closed, the rebirth of downtown has been unbelievable: Covelli, Wean Park, the hotel, numerous establishments.

116

YSU Penguin Athletics / Re: Track

« on: July 06, 2023, 04:48:06 PM »

I agree that money might well have been involved, as well as the lure of the so-called big time. She is not the first elite athlete that we have lost in this new age of college sports. We lost a softball pitcher to the Big Ten recently. The best volleyball player in the conference just left us (I don't know her destination.)  So as our coaches raid other schools for talent, so competitors will do the same to us. Welcome to the Wild West of modern NCAA sports.

117

YSU Penguin Athletics / Re: Interesting article on FCS athletic budgets Bisons are self sufficient

« on: June 17, 2023, 04:01:27 PM »

The biggest problem with having the Dakota schools within the MVFC is that they are the flagship universities within their states.  On a smaller scale, they gobble up all the resources in their states the way that OSU dominates Ohio. Quite frankly, it is getting to be a bad joke that NDSU and SDSU have not advanced to FBS. But we are stuck with them forever because no reputable big time conference has any interest in them.

118

YSU Penguin Athletics / Re: Huggins slur clouds future. Will Calhoun be next coach? If Huggins gets fired?

« on: June 17, 2023, 03:51:19 PM »

Calhoun's only chance to become the WVU head coach was to have Huggins retire in good graces with his administration.  Then he could have "hand-picked" his successor (like Tressel picked Heacock.)  If Huggins gets fired for bad behavior, the WVU administration will have little interest in a "Huggins man."

119

YSU Penguin Athletics / Re: Woman’s basketball gets another Recruit from Salem High

« on: May 26, 2023, 05:14:24 PM »

Wick makes you wonder I know we need local recruits but to build depth is this the way to go.  My guess she was not even offered a D1 scholly.

Counting the incoming freshmen, we now have five point guards. The problem is we have only three big girls on the roster, and none of them can really play at this level. And yes I include the transfer from Tennessee who backed up Ritz last season.

120

YSU Penguin Athletics / Re: Woman’s basketball gets another Recruit from Salem High

« on: May 26, 2023, 08:23:07 AM »

Actually, when you are signing a high school player in late May in women's DI basketball, it is an indication that your program is in trouble.