Messages

46

YSU Penguin Athletics / Re: NCAA Playoffs Week 2: YSU at Villanova Saturday 12/2 at 12pm

« on: December 16, 2023, 12:17:31 PM »

I just looked up the Albany-Villanova game. Villanova had five turnovers; Albany had none.

As others have noted, Villanova is the only CAA team that has the size and strength up front to compete in the MVFC. With James Madison and Delaware now gone, the CAA has become Villanova and the (fill-in the blank) dwarfs.

The CAA joins the Southern Conference, once the home of multiple championship teams Georgia Southern, Marshall, and Appalachian State, as a second rate FCS conference.

47

YSU Penguin Athletics / Re: NCAA Playoffs Week 2: YSU at Villanova Saturday 12/2 at 12pm

« on: December 15, 2023, 04:13:37 PM »

This topic deserves its own thread. Potesta is an embarrassment to the university every time he gets behind a microphone. One cliche after another, and no insight whatsoever into the game of basketball. I wonder if WKBN imposed this character on us. If you need a second person on the broadcast, which is debatable, use a kid from our sports broadcasting program.

48

YSU Penguin Athletics / Re: Now that you know the final 4 teams where are we in the top 25?

« on: December 11, 2023, 10:23:57 AM »

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.

49

YSU Penguin Athletics / Re: Now that you know the final 4 teams where are we in the top 25?

« on: December 10, 2023, 11:41:03 PM »

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.

50

YSU Penguin Athletics / Re: YSU and the Portal

« on: December 10, 2023, 11:42:18 AM »

We shall see if Brady Shannon is rusty.   Not a bad get but we will need more transfers a that position

Any quality quarterback who enters the portal will want two things: money and a guarantee that he will be the starter. We can't provide the former and we won't provide the latter. The acquisition of Shannon means that there will be no quarterback transfer.

I watched Shannon on tv several times. I remember him as a punishing runner. Ignore his passing stats as very few high schools can play pass defense (ah, just like us.) It will be an interesting battle during spring ball.

51

YSU Penguin Athletics / The Separation of the P4 from everybody else

« on: December 06, 2023, 11:09:06 AM »

We are naturally focused on the portal, but another big story broke yesterday. The new NCAA president is proposing a new tier within D1 for the big time powers. They would pay at least half of their scholarship athletes a MINIMUM of 30k per year. It is estimated that it would cost high revenue schools about 6 million additionally each year.

Should this proposal pass, it would effectively push all G5 schools out of the top tier. Many of us have been amazed for decades that conferences like the MAC would overspend millions on sports just for the "prestige" of being, technically, in the same division as Ohio State. Why would MAC presidents continue to overspend if booted out of the top tier? For Tuesday night football games? For access to some stupid bowl that their alumni don't care about? For a one bid basketball conference, just like the Horizon League? If this becomes NCAA policy, the possibility of an FCS MAC Ohio-driven conference, our fantasy for decades, might just happen.

52

YSU Penguin Athletics / Re: YSU and the Portal

« on: December 06, 2023, 10:52:36 AM »

We know that Howard is good, based on the offers that he is receiving. Let's see where the others end up. G5 or D2/3. That will give us a strong indication whether our bad defense was due to coaching or a lack of talent. Either way we have a defensive crisis: bad recruiting or bad coaching.

53

YSU Penguin Athletics / Re: Football: 2024 and Beyond

« on: December 04, 2023, 09:21:57 AM »

SDSU and Villanova were the only FCS teams that we could not compete with in 2023. Both programs were saturated with 5th and 6th year seniors and will look substantially different in 2024.

That extra Covid year should be in play for one more season, so I am not sure about this. But I think that MVFC playoff teams SDSU, South Dakota, North Dakota, and SIU will need new quarterbacks. So will UNI. We will not be the only team with quarterback uncertainty.

Since Brungard was used entirely as a specialist, none of us really know if he can run the offense. His lack of height is a definite liability, but his threat as a runner somewhat compensates for that. In the worse case scenario he has tremendous value as a wildcat quarterback.

And now for the elephant in the room. What caused our bad defense: players or coaches? (or both?) For those of you who are old enough, when did a Jon Heacock defense ever have linebackers trapped in the middle while opponents reached the perimeter with ridiculous ease? When did receivers get so open that the defensive backs were not even in the television screen? Retaining or dumping the dc is the decision that will define Phillips' tenure as YSU coach.

54

YSU Penguin Athletics / Re: NCAA Playoffs Week 2: YSU at Villanova Saturday 12/2 at 12pm

« on: December 03, 2023, 11:32:27 PM »

With unlimited transferring, is getting someone from the portal even going to be a viable option for teams at this level going forward? I saw that JMUs QB is transferring to his 3rd team. Unlike years ago he can stay in FBS and not sit out. I don’t see the portal being a resource much for FCS teams in the future.

The portal can still be our friend, but we should concentrate on successful D2 talent rather than unhappy FBS players. YSU under Phillips placed a tight end with the Colts and a running back with the Broncos. Both transferred up from the D2 ranks.

55

YSU Penguin Athletics / Re: NCAA Playoffs Week 2: YSU at Villanova Saturday 12/2 at 12pm

« on: December 02, 2023, 04:22:53 PM »

The sad thing is there are alot of very good D2 and D3 coaches in Ohio and Pennsylvania.  Unfortunately our vetting process is who know not what you know.

Our oc lacks creativity and our dc is incompetent. I agree that there are a sufficient number of talented x and o coaches in the midwest that are making less than we pay our assistants today.  Find them and hire them. These defensive MISTAKES and BREAKDOWNS cannot continue!

56

YSU Penguin Athletics / Re: NCAA Playoffs Week 2: YSU at Villanova Saturday 12/2 at 12pm

« on: December 01, 2023, 10:27:42 AM »

I think it is difficult to decide who might be a favorite in this game. No games played as of late between a MVFC team and the conference that Villanova plays in. We always hear about how superior the MVFC is, so this game will be a big test between their conference winner and us, the 3rd place team in the MVFC. The few clips I saw of Villanova shows them to be a big team which would seem to fit in the MVFC. Also we need to see if our pass defense has improved late in the year or still has the significant weakness shown much of the year. In the Tressel years we always peaked at the end of the year in the playoffs. It will be interesting to see if Phillip's team has done the same.

The next step to the evolution of Phillips' team must be the ability to play well on the road. I would love to see evidence of that happening tomorrow, but I fear that we are not there yet. I also think that our young defensive coaches will not be up to the task, and that Villanova will capitalize on blown assignments. I sure hope that I am wrong.

57

YSU Penguin Athletics / Re: NCAA football

« on: November 28, 2023, 01:20:09 PM »

The only reason that the P5 powers put up with the NCAA is their desire to also dominate the basketball tournament money. I wonder when the NCAA basketball contract with the networks runs out. Also I wonder what kind of language is contained in that contract. If the P5 powers secede from the NCAA, they would start their own basketball tournament and the networks would follow. If that happens, the NCAA is completely out of business.

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YSU Penguin Athletics / Re: NCAA Playoffs Week 1: Duquesne at YSU Saturday 11/25 at 5pm

« on: November 27, 2023, 05:50:46 PM »

Perhaps the bidding in the 90s was the Wild West, but the NCAA now posts the bid that a school must offer to host a FCS playoff game in each round. For the opening round, the bid was just 40K. We covered that easily.

59

YSU Penguin Athletics / Re: NCAA Playoffs Week 2: YSU at Villanova Saturday 12/2 at 12pm

« on: November 26, 2023, 12:07:56 PM »

For fans like us the CAA is largely a mystery. That conference does not use ESPN+ but rather some backwater streaming outfit.

One thing for sure: the CAA forfeited their status as an elite FCS conference. Over the past five years or so they admitted nonentities like Elon, Campbell, North Carolina AT, Hampton, Monmouth, and Stony Brook. Then they lost James Madison. For even their stronger teams the quality of play, week in and week out, is decidedly inferior to the MVFC.

None of that means that Villanova is not an excellent team. They get the chance to prove that against us next Saturday and, if successful, against the monster in Brookings in two weeks.

60

YSU Penguin Athletics / Re: NCAA Playoffs Week 1: Duquesne at YSU Saturday 11/25 at 5pm

« on: November 26, 2023, 11:59:32 AM »

The band and the student section were moved due to NCAA rules.