YSU vs ILS Post-Game Thread

[guinpen]

Man that was fun, good weather, good crowd and a great game. O looked very good and the D got the job done.

Now I get to sit in my chair and watch it again.

[paladin]

Pretty hard to complain about this one. Very good all around game. Simply a blowout win.

[guinpen]

Did I see that SIU beat uni? If so icing on the cake for the day.

[ysufan0505]

Beat down. Played well in all 3 phases of the game. This team just keeps getting better and better. Fun to watch.

[ysufan0505]

Big difference from last years team to this year.... Turnovers. We are not turning the ball over and we are FINALLY getting a bunch of turnovers on defense. Awesome

[penguinpower]

That was the best perfromance of the year thus far. Let's hope it is not the last.

A few takaways for me:

ISU-red is not very good. That is reflected in their record and in their losses. They have only beaten the morehead states of the world and their resume is not very good. For those on here that think I'm a hater, well I'm not but I want objective analysis not rah-rah analysis. For those Lou Holtz fans-"nothing is as good as it seems and nothing is bad as it seems, it is somewhere in between"

Hess was on last night. He was hitting long balls with complete accuracy. That is a real improvment because I have never seen him hit those long pazzes like he was last night. He was even making excellent throws while on the run across the field and he was putting the ball only where the receiver could get it. Hopefully it is sustainable. That was the first time since the NDSU beatdown last year I have seen Hess look that confident.  The OL had a lot to do with Hess's success as well. They are coming together well. The backs were also making their blocks a little better. Each week this area seems to improve a little. Ruiz is going to be outstanding. He needs another 2 years in the weight room and the sky is the limit. This guy has a high ceiling IMOP.

Nick Liste deserves a gameball. Almost every put went out of the back of the endzone and his kicks were getting back there even while going into the wind. The special teams had a huge impact in the game. There was only 1 mistake when #2 caught the ball on the 2 yrd line and tried to run it back. I was always taught to let the ball go if it was inside the 10.  Doesn't that still apply today?

The defense, okay how to word this....they made big plays. The 2 picks were excellent and the the hit that caused the fumble on the 3rd down conversion was excellent. Those big plays changed the game and gave the ball back to the offense and our best teams had big plays. It also appears that the DB's are gaining confidence and they are going after balls that they didn't previously contest. I like what I see there.

But our 3rd down defense needs to improve. How can we give up so many 3rd and long conversions?  Had we not had those turnovers this could have been a different game. I don't understand how we can have such a stout run defense but lack pazz ruching skills. Can anyone explain this?  I watched the DL and they just did not get off their blocks. The only time we get pressure in the pazzing game is when we blitz.  We also bite on reverses and screens and counters like an agressive defense does, but we don't get pressure.  I do not understand our defensive strategy.  How many times did they convert a 3rd and long last night?  It just drives me absolutley nuts.  And we cannot give up that openeing drive like we do each game. One day we are going to need that 7 points   

For as much as I have been hard on#8, he had some big plays. He made the run stip on 4th and 1 and he had a pick.  And #1 had some big plays when he sacked the QB, but they were picking on him because they probably saw the same thing I saw last week.

 
 
Good team win but we cannot have a let down like we did last year. The team is going to get a lot of attention but they cannot let it get to their heads like last year. We need to improve in many areas. Would also be nice to see Stubbs break one of those kick returns. He is so close so many times

[IAA Fan]

I wonder why we do not see Webb on returns? Endurance maybe? He is very fast.

[DavedS]

Big difference from last years team to this year.... Turnovers. We are not turning the ball over and we are FINALLY getting a bunch of turnovers on defense. Awesome

Also much,much better on special teams--too many times last year we gave everyone the short field.

[DavedS]

I wonder why we do not see Webb on returns? Endurance maybe? He is very fast.

Me either--he seems to be faster and more elusive than the ones we put back there.

[Wick250]

Here are my impressions:

We have had really good skilled athletes (qb, rb, wr) in the past, but have we ever had so many of them at the same time?

As has been noted, the defense is provoking turnovers and hitting harder than at any time in Wolford's tenure.  They are not capable of playing at the old, traditional level that veteran fans expect, but if they can force two turnovers for every three touchdowns that they yield we will be ok.

For the third consecutive conference game, the defense shut out the opponent in the second half until garbage time (which arrived very early last night.)  Even better, they seemed to make the adjustments on the fly after Illinois State's very easy first drive.  Except for the long td pass (inexcusable of course) there was little to complain about.

Power, to respond to your point about the lack of a pass rush, is it not common to have defensive linemen that are run stuffers but inadequate pass rushers?  We would like our guys to do both well, but stopping the run is imperative. 

[Penguin Nation]

 Massey predicts a thumping of WIU next week, and now a season ending win vs. SDSU.


Go Penguins!     Way to rock the Ice Castle !!



http://masseyratings.com/team.php?t=9217&s=199231

[Dmorton]

What some people fail to realize is how young this team actually is! After glancing at the roster, this team is stacked with alot of freshman and sophs getting playing time!  That doesn't mention the amount of red- shirts that are also seeing some action.  In short!  Wolfie's program may be turning the corner to what he envisioned when he first got here!
Granted they're not all starters, but I see a lot of familiar names popping up when listening on the computer out here in Colorado.

[ysuindy]

Here are my impressions:

Power, to respond to your point about the lack of a pazz rush, is it not common to have defensive linemen that are run stuffers but inadequate pazz rushers?  We would like our guys to do both well, but stopping the run is imperative.

It would seem that guys who can do both don't usually play for FCS schools. 

[Spiderlegs]

Outstanding performance. Pass defense and OL are still matters of concern, but this team keeps getting better every week and I hope this trend continues. On pass defense, the linebackers appear to be an issue in that they are not picking up people coming out of the backfield and people who come through the middle.  Some of the effective slants occur because wideouts run deep and take the YSU secondary with them, then another person slips into the hole that should be covered by a LB. DBs getting better and making big plays--they would be helped a lot by a legit pass rush. Hess said OL did a good job, but it seems to me that the pocket is collapsing too quickly and the team does not pick up blitz well.

[Penguin Nation]

Hess said OL did a good job, but it seems to me that the pocket is collapsing too quickly and the team does not pick up blitz well.

I heard Hess say that too, and had the same reaction.  The pocket collapsed all night, and defenses like NDSU and UNI will know that and exploit that.  Doubt they'll let us get away with running the option all night.