I disagree with any negative comments on here. Bottom line this was a very good team. We played well to come back. Made too many mistakes down the stretch. Those things we can fix. We have more talent now than we did in the 90's unfortunately in our conference there is a ton of talent. Tressel could not even win the Gateway. It is hard to win on the road. That being said, we need to learn to do it. Also, did anyone think a few of the big calls that hurt us were the wrong call. The targeting that was reversed was textbook targeting. The facemask on offense I didn't see. The league / refs already sent us an apology for allowing Northern Iowa to win on 2 illegal shifts that caused us to jump offsides on critical downs.
Great points!
WOW typical dumbassery on this board.. Last time I checked Tressel coached 4 years in the "Gateway" Won the national championship 97, National runner up 99 and got bounced in the 1st round in 2000. Who gives a sh** if you win a conference when you make the playoffs SMFH ! Heacock is the only coach to win the Gateway/MVFC crown and did it 2x's
YSU is a shell of itself, shame crap different year. The diehard fans that have followed YSU forever are even sick of this display of football.
Even the exciting roundball team sh** the bed when it counted last year LOL!!
Other than that GoooGuins and "leave no doubt"!
YSU is a shell of itself because the program was bled to death by bad coaching.
I happen to think Phillips is the best hire since Tressel. However, we no longer have the winning level revenue to support the best assistant coaches. We are definitely in a better spot that we were when Phillips arrived. Look at the current roster. His plan makes sense. We have to develop these kids, meaning we get kids that we have to build up in the weight room. He's trying to recruit 2 sport athletes with size. That's a great combination for the MVFC.
We need to stick to the plan. And the AD needs to stay out of placing any requirements on recruiting local kids (if that rumor is true). We need only local athletes that can add to the team so there won't be many of them with the population decline over the years.
Unless we were in the MAC in FBS, you have to stay in the MVFC. If you win the conference your chances at winning the title are >90%. The best of the MVFC is the measuring stick. If you want to be the best, you have to beat the best. There's no trophy for making the playoffs only to not be good enough to win it all. We have a built-in reference point playing in this conference. We need to stick with this. You may not see the results immediately in wins and losses but we are still building depth. And we have some inexperienced coaches that also need time to develop. If you want the best assistant coaches and you don't have to develop them, then donate money to the program (which we once had due to success) to speed up the process.
Sometimes I don't know what people are seeing. We've got a a competitive team that would destroy 90% of the FCS but it's not yet good enough to win a title. We need a few more pieces and more depth and have to stop this local focus nonsense to get the best we can get and not placate to the locals.
The FCS selection process is unfair. It's been unfair for long time and we aren't the team that gets the benefit of the doubt. Ask USD if they would like a rematch. Ask UNI if they want to play us again. Nobody wants to deal with us because we hand out injuries and bloody noses from our physicality and our "will" to win. We make a lot of mistakes. We have coaching blinders from time to time (and sometimes in critical situations). That can be corrected. It's far more difficult to get talent and develop that talent. Jaleel McLaughlin helped us win games we shouldn't have won last year. Probably 2-3 late in games where he broke free. We are missing him this year, but our games are far more competitive on a play to play basis this year. People just don't see it because they have to have playoffs NOW damnit!. Realize that last year we started the season with Crenshaw. We could barely complete a pass. We are winning with some of Pelini's recruits that were decent players. Last year we got blown out at NDSU and had low scoring games where we had to come from behind to win. Last year Indiana State scored 42 points on YSU.
Do you think that would reasonably happen this year? I do not. ALL of our games this year have been competitive. There IS improvement. Are we where we want to be? No. But look at the freshman and sophomores in the roster that are coming up in the next couple of years.
Impatience can cause people to do foolish things. Who are you going to replace Phillips with? Who's going to do a better job? Are you willing to take that risk when weve seen so much improvement? Are players a problem in the community? Do they represent the university well? How about the fight they show for 4 quarters vs the way the kids gave up when under Pelini? There's a lot more there than meets the eye. Player and staff development are some of the most fundamental aspects of coaching. He's making progress with limited resources. You only see the top of the iceberg.
Tressel's early record at YSU.
1986: 2-9
1987: 8-4
1988: 4-7
1989: 9-4 playoff loss in second round.
1990: 11-1 playoff loss in first round.
Then we went on a run.
Phillips didn't really have the same opportunities because of COVID bullsh**.
Phillips record thus far (and he started with nothing because Pelini depleted the entire cupboard).
2020: 1-6 (actually played in spring of 2021 recruiting impacted due to stoppage of normal recruiting practices)
2021: 3-7 note short turnaround played in the fall 2021)
2022: 7-4
Are you willing to pull the plug this fast?
People are ridiculous.
Heacock's situation is far different. He started with a successful program and got a contract extension when Marcus Mason showed up. But as Paladin has been saying for years, and got censored from this site for expressing his opinions, he was correct. Heacock wàs not recruiting well enough to keep up with a changing FCS landscape in terms of talent.
Wolford reversed that. But Wolford was not mature enough to develop coaches at the time he arrived here. He was a great recruiter. Pelini took his recruits and won with Wolford's recruits. Phillips started with NOTHING and Phillis is competing in the MVFC when it's clearly the best conference in the FCS. It wasn't that way when Heacock was here and the MVFC had a rising power in NDSU when Wolford came in the scene. Pelini's record for worse because once Wolford's recruits left, his recruiting level was not good enough to keep up.
We are on an upward trajectory in the most difficult conference and that perspective cannot be overlooked.