Youngstown State 10/3/15 (D-Days)

[Yote 53]

Saturday was just a disaster in so many ways. First of all, I think our fan base lost some focus. The game became all about Bo coming to the Dome rather than what it should have been, D-Days and a big game against a highly ranked team. All the talk about Bo was humorous around here leading up to the game but as I was out tailgating before the game it started to get real old, real fast. Bo did his job, he took the focus off of his team and the game became all about him. His team was able to come out calm and confident and in the end they walked out with an easy victory.

Secondly, how do we keep making these mistakes? When I give this team the eye test, meaning I look at their athletes lining up against ours, size on the field, speed of the game, etc, the Coyotes belong on the same field. But mistake after mistake, we just aren't going to win many games if we shoot ourselves in the foot like that. We have to make big plays when we have the opportunity. Catching a catchable ball for a TD the first drive would have changed the entire momentum of that game. Yes, our QB's arm was going forward on that called fumble. and the refs blew the call but, you know what, I didn't hear a whistle. Pick up the dang ball and run with it, don't just assume.

Finally, if things continue to go this way then there needs to be a change after the season. That game Saturday was just a microcosm of last year. Nothing has changed. I just can't continue to watch this go on game after game, year after year. I just don't have much hope for this program right now. Different day, same results.

[Yotes]

Oct 5, 2015 8:22:29 GMT -6 Yote 53 said:

Saturday was just a disaster in so many ways. First of all, I think our fan base lost some focus. The game became all about Bo coming to the Dome rather than what it should have been, D-Days and a big game against a highly ranked team. All the talk about Bo was humorous around here leading up to the game but as I was out tailgating before the game it started to get real old, real fast. Bo did his job, he took the focus off of his team and the game became all about him. His team was able to come out calm and confident and in the end they walked out with an easy victory.

Secondly, how do we keep making these mistakes? When I give this team the eye test, meaning I look at their athletes lining up against ours, size on the field, speed of the game, etc, the Coyotes belong on the same field. But mistake after mistake, we just aren't going to win many games if we shoot ourselves in the foot like that. We have to make big plays when we have the opportunity. Catching a catchable ball for a TD the first drive would have changed the entire momentum of that game. Yes, our QB's arm was going forward on that called fumble. and the refs blew the call but, you know what, I didn't hear a whistle. Pick up the dang ball and run with it, don't just assume.

Finally, if things continue to go this way then there needs to be a change after the season. That game Saturday was just a microcosm of last year. Nothing has changed. I just can't continue to watch this go on game after game, year after year. I just don't have much hope for this program right now. Different day, same results.

I'm inclined to agree with you about our talent appearing to be on par with these teams that have been blowing us out. Yes we are bottom third on some important items, but I'm really not sure that talent is one of them. I love Joe but if we can't find at least three conference wins I'll be in the camp calling for a new head coach. It's year 4, can't be in this situation still.

[fightsd]

Well, I let myself digest this one yesterday. It's never as good or as bad as it seems on Saturday. It's one game out of many.

Yes, we struggled against YSU. I'll be the first to admit that I was wrong to question their ranking/hype. That was a very good ball team we played this weekend. Were there mistakes by the coaches? Yes. Could we have opened up the playbook more? Sure, probably. Were there more than a few questionable calls by the officials? Absolutely. But was that team just flat out better than us? Yes, yes they were.

Now, I am not a fan of Wesley, let that be known. Yes, I think we should have went another direction with the offense after the regime change. But I really don't blame Wes for what happened on Saturday. I was at the game and also had it taping. After watching it again, we were one block away from moving the ball on a lot of plays. That shouldn't make you feel better about anything, but we weren't as far away as I thought. I;m not defending Wesley by any means, but I can understand what he was trying to do. When sh** hits the fan, go with what you know. He was trying to get something going on the ground, that's the strength of our offense. I can't confirm it, but I would guess that's what we work on the most at practice. He was sticking with the scheme that he and the team have had the most success with. I'm all for adaptability, but when you have a hard time getting the run going you can't just go 5 wide and act like you're playing Madden. We just got out played on that side of the ball, nothing more to it than that. We tried to control the tempo of the game and play the game we wanted to and it just didn't work out. That scoreboard could've gotten real ugly real quick if we went into panic mode and started slinging the ball around the field. I thought Saegar played a pretty smart game, but if we relied on his arm to get us out of a hole, I think we'd have seen some INTs. Plus becoming pass happy could have really lengthened the game and given the YSU offense a lot more time on the field.

Other thing I wanted to discuss. What is the deal with booth review at this level? Somebody else mentioned it earlier, but I was sitting there watching an incomplete pass bounce 10 yds downfield then get run back. I'm thinking "Well, I guess we don't have replay review this week." Then they review a play later on that was a coyote first down either way. If anyone knows what the situation is with the booth review, I'd be very interested to hear what happened there.

Sorry, one more thing. I was pretty disappointed with the fans this weekend. As far as I know the game never did sell out, and the fans that were there were pretty tame. I expected better out of a DDays crowd. Lots of early departures from the main grand stands, and the student section was pretty well empty in the second half (but we've come to expect that). But perhaps what bothered me the most was how quiet the student section was on Saturday. It's DDays and you're standing 10 ft away from the other team and you can't get on em a little? Not calling out individuals but the group wasn't the xfactor I'd hoped they'd be.

Anyway, we've got a lot of season left to get some things done in the valley, and I'm still optimistic that we will. Keep your heads up coyote fans. Go Yotes.

[yote14]

I stayed for the whole game but do not blame the students or fans for leaving early. It's not being a fair weather fan after four seasons of this. And just because people on this board have a negative opinion of what is happening does not make them not a coyote fan. As soon as someone has an opinion that is not positive we call them out as not knowing anything about football or not truly being a fan. I do not see this tactic on any other fan board.
Coyotefan and others have every reason to say what they say. I've never seen him cross the line. People have every right to call out Wes. It was the 42nd straight game of horrible play calling. We can say all day that you have to establish the run to win games. problem is we have never established the run game in a conference game. need to do something else. I have always defended Joe and the situation he stepped into. But a change is needed no matter what happens at the end of the year. Our playbook has 4 plays in it none of which work in the Valley. Fans have every right to say we are outcoached every week. We never make any adjustments. Stick to the same plan of running it up the middle. I cant think of one area we outcoached YSU. I will still show up to all the rest of the games and stay for every minute. But I do not blame others for not doing the same. We cant always spin everything as a positive. I still hope Saturday was YSU being significantly better than everyone expected and we just played really bad. hopefully we can still pull out a 4-4 conference record.

[fightsd]

Two weeks ago we were all very pleased with how the team looked and how well they played. One game later, we're back to the fire Joe Glenn conversation. I get it was a tough loss. I took it as hard as anyone, but we're one game into the valley schedule. There's 7 weeks of football left. Keep moving forward and supporting this team. Let what happens after the season happen. We can't all stick our heads in the sand and say "Let me know who they hire in December".

[formeryote]

About all you ask for out of the defense. Played on a short field all day long.

Saturday’s offense can summed up with one word, anemic. When a QB draw is your most productive play, you know you have problems.

At least SDSU lost.

[nccyote]

I am not calling anyone out for not being a fan, but i can't stand blanket statements about coaching and play calling. Statements like "Our play book has 4 plays in it and none of them work in the Valley" are idiotic. NDSU runs power every other play, they seem to do OK. It has nothing to do with scheme, it does have to do with recruiting better players and getting them to make plays in crunch time, which we have clearly struggled with lately. Recruiting is the lifeblood of college football, if you don't have the horses you won't be in the race. This is where budget and facilities play a major role. Yes, our football budget and State's are not that far apart, but look at their facilities compared to ours right now. New indoor facility, new stadium, new players center, new weight room and locker rooms. We have the Dome, circa 1978 with some lipstick smeared on it every couple of years (i love the place, just needs some serious renovation). We need improvements in these areas to compete in the Valley. We need some momentum in facilities to get the best players in our area. Being unbiased, if one of us took our kid on a recruiting trip to State or Fargo for football and then came to Vermillion, its not even in the same galaxy as far as facilities. Until we improve our facilities and attract better players, it doesn't matter who is coaching them, because the coaches are in a lose-lose battle. Its like the American Indians vs. the US cavalry. Right now our coaches can fight as hard they can but we don't have the weapons to win the battles.

Has this coaching staff done the best job, no not at all. Does change need to happen in some form, probably. But the USD football situation has way bigger foundational issues then coaching. We can't just keep repainting the house and expect it to be fixed when the foundation is cracked.

And........its week 5, we're 2-2. Lets let the season play out before we start the whole hire and fire game again. Maybe Joe & co. pull off some stunners in the next 7 weeks and we play some good ole fashioned SD football and we can have something to celebrate on this board. Its not out of the realm of possibility.

[golfingyote]

Fightsd I am about where you are at. I did not say much on here after the Drake game because I didnt want to be "that guy" being the debbie downer, but I think the Drake game put alot of peoples expectations out of whack unfortunately. I also do not think we should be in the position of calling too many conference games at this point a must win, which was another thing floating around on here. Unfortunately for the Yotes, when you look at the schedule, this was one of the games some of us thought we could maybe get or at least be competitive in. I can handle the better team winning, but losing in that fashion can't be deemed acceptable. YSU is not 28 points better than the Yotes. I love Joe Glenn as a person, and I admire his loayalty to his staff, but in any other program in this conference, a change at OC would have been made by now. We made changes on defense in the scheme and thats an area you can point to and see positive reults. Why are we still seeing the same crap offense, hold people accountable like any job. The schedule from here out is absolutely brutal. I just hope we are reasonably healthy when Missouri State rolls in to town.

[yote14]

I agree with a lot of what you say above. In fact it's only a matter of time before someone replys to your post with a "lets quit talking about the facilities and budget and play football". We have a serious problem with never letting anyone voice a negative opinion on here even if its a legit one. The heat coyotefan takes is a good example. I can be extremely patient but when we keep doing the same thing game after game with no success and no adjustments you cant blame people for leaving at half or not coming to games after this much time. Certainly cant blame them for having a negative attitude on this blog.

If Wes has more than 4 plays I havent seen them. NDSU runs the power every other play because it works for them. They have the players to do it. We obviously dont so lets try something different. I cannot think of one conference game where we overpowered someone with our run game the past 4 years. It's great if it works not if you stick with it and have a 2-22 conference record the past 3 years because that is how you win games.

What do we have to lose by trying to be a throw first run second team for the rest of the year. We dont practice any pass plays in practice Only run plays. Seager had some time in the pocket Saturday so its frustrating to see the only passes he makes are behind the line or a 60 yard bomb. I know YSU as great DB's We never throw to the middle of the field either. when we throw its always a tip toe on the sidelines pass.

I'll still be at every game for the rest of the year. even if we are 0-8 in the conference again. I havnt missed a game the past 3 years.

[Yotes]

I'll be supporting the Yotes until the end and hate to be so critical when there are 7 games left, but it's hard not to be critical when that game would have fit right in with last year's debacle - a situation that basically any other coach would not have kept his job after. Maybe Youngstown is on their way to a title and we aren't quite as bad as we seemed Saturday, time will tell but call me skeptical.

Western Illinois is the most winnable of our remaining road games. A win there would go a very long way. Our guys need to come out prepared and find that dang end zone a few times. Learn what you can from your loss and try to win the rest.

[GoYotes]

Our budget and coaching salaries are at the bottom of the Valley. Better facilities and increased coaches salaries would obviously a big help. The facilities issue will be partially addressed with the new arena addition as it includes a new weight room with all the amenities and new meeting rooms. At this point we are also one of only two teams in the Valley to offer football FCOA starting next year. I would be surprised if some others don't follow suit, but if not it will give us a huge recruiting advantage.

[nccyote]

Yote14, this is what I am talking about...good stuff. These are the specific examples I am looking for, not just the blanket "We suck on offense, lets fire Wesley". I agree, I would like to see some more 3 step passing game and intermediate routes rather than deep sideline routes all of the time. As far as adjustments, I saw some things that we tried to do that just didn't work. I liked flexing #88 Van Roekel out to match him up with smaller DBs, we just couldn't connect with him when we had opportunities. Someone else mentioned that we had nobody open downfield all day, NOBODY! Not even Shufford could get any space, except on the dropped TD, all day. I know it was against a lot of back ups, but the only time that we had any consistency on offense is when we got old school and went into the I-formation at the end of the game and ran the ball. You guys might think that I'm crazy, but I think Wesley tries to do too much. We have no identity on offense. When we need 1 or 2 yards, can anybody say with confidence what we might run. It could be zone read, bubble screen, jet sweep, play action, pistol inside zone....etc. We have no identity. This is where NDSU is the best. I've had the chance to sit in on some of there meetings and watch film with their coaches and they know what they are going to run in these situations. They WILL run power. They know it, the other team knows, the fans know it. Its up to the coaches to be creative with formations, motions, shifts, play action packages, so they are successful, but thats their identity. We don't have that. It helps that NDSU is bigger and better than their opponent most times, but its also a mindset, an attitude that this is what we do and we are going to out execute you even when you know the play. So....I believe the other extreme, not that we don't have enough plays, but that we try to do too much instead of creating an identity and getting very good at what we run.

[yote14]

I would agree with a lot of what you said nccyote. Its funny because one of the guys I go to the games with always says we have no identity on offense. We are just too predictable. When everyone in my group calls our plays right 75% of the time before we snap the ball I know a good coach like Pelini is doing it at a higher percentage.

Petrino or whoever does seem to make some adjustments on defense this year which is nice to see. We played really good defense for the first 4 poss of the 3rd quarter.

[penguinpower]

Oct 5, 2015 8:22:29 GMT -6 Yote 53 said:

Saturday was just a disaster in so many ways. First of all, I think our fan base lost some focus. The game became all about Bo coming to the Dome rather than what it should have been, D-Days and a big game against a highly ranked team. All the talk about Bo was humorous around here leading up to the game but as I was out tailgating before the game it started to get real old, real fast. Bo did his job, he took the focus off of his team and the game became all about him. His team was able to come out calm and confident and in the end they walked out with an easy victory.

Secondly, how do we keep making these mistakes? When I give this team the eye test, meaning I look at their athletes lining up against ours, size on the field, speed of the game, etc, the Coyotes belong on the same field. But mistake after mistake, we just aren't going to win many games if we shoot ourselves in the foot like that. We have to make big plays when we have the opportunity. Catching a catchable ball for a TD the first drive would have changed the entire momentum of that game. Yes, our QB's arm was going forward on that called fumble. and the refs blew the call but, you know what, I didn't hear a whistle. Pick up the dang ball and run with it, don't just assume.

Finally, if things continue to go this way then there needs to be a change after the season. That game Saturday was just a microcosm of last year. Nothing has changed. I just can't continue to watch this go on game after game, year after year. I just don't have much hope for this program right now. Different day, same results.

Not to get nosey, but I happen to like your coach and team. I enjoy watching them play. They are always fundamentally sound. What I took away was that you guys have the size, but team speed is not quite there yet. Primarily ipn the db's and skill positions on offense. Get a little faster and you are there.

[Coyote Fan]

This is some of the most honest discussion I have read in quite some time so kudos to everyone contributing and allowing everyone to have their opinion. Saturday's game made a pretty big statement and one that hurts to the core of the Coyote Fan base. Things started well this year with the wins over UC Davis and Drake but it's apparent that the MVFC is a different beast week in and week out. We will find out in time just how good this Youngstown State team ends up being that the Yotes played. When it really comes down to it this Coyote team is going to live and die by how well they run the football. A team like UC Davis is just not as big or quick upfront than the programs in the Valley. MVFC teams are built to stop the run since the conference as a whole leans on running the football or at least that has been much the path to success for the elite teams in the Valley. So if there is maybe one thing to analyse it's how do the Coyotes stack up against the other Valley teams when it comes to running and stopping the run. The Coyotes are deep at runningback it would seem but there is not one back on the roster that stands above the rest or has seperated hiself from the rest of the pack. There isn't a Jamel White or Stefan Logan to carry the rock. Someone that you just know is a stud. Bouma is a nice back but he is a little too plodding and not quick enough to really make alot happen on his own. The Youngstown running back is a little jitter bug something the Coyotes just can't match from their corr.

When it comes to the overall talent of the Coyotes I think they are ok on the lines but when it comes to the skill positions there was an apparent difference in what Youngstown brought vs what the Coyotes brought. Youngstown is plain and simply quicker than the Coyotes at alot of positions. Back to running and stopping the run. When the run is not working it's imperative that the passing game can step up if needed. The Coyote receivers are not top notch, solid but not spectacular. They do not create separation which doesn't make Saeger's job very easy. Saeger is an average quarterback but he isn't going to thread the needle to a receiver that has a half step on a defender. He can probably work the field ok with receivers that are definately open but he isn't the kind of talent that is going to win a game by himself and isn't going to use his legs to win games either.

Ok now back to the state of Coyote Football. After thinking about this for a little while I have come to this conclusion. Joe Glenn is too "nice" and too "loyal" and that is why he isn't having success at this particular time. That may sound a little off the wall but I will explain. When thinking about what is going or went wrong with the program I look at it like a murder investigation. When putting the parts together piece by piece things begin to make a little more sense. Joe Glenn did not seek out the Coyotes, the Coyote seeked after Joe Glenn. The first thing is motivation. Glenn did not have the motive to coach Coyote Football without having administration go down to Arizona to try to convince him. He was in retirement mode and his sights were set on enjoying the rest of his life after a successful career in coaching. Since Joe Glenn is loyal he didn't want to let down his alma mater and decided to give coaching another shot and what better place to do so than where he graduated college. He was doing USD a favor by coming out of retirement in his Universities time of need. What he didn't likely have was extreme motivation to get back to coaching and I don't think he had a vision of what he wanted to do with the program. Many coaches that take new jobs are chomping at the bit for a new and better opportunity and have a vision and plan of what they want to do. I think USD administration probably over looked his true motivation to want to coach again. I really wonder when the hire was made if there was even really an interview process that was fair to all candidates. If the Glenn era ends without any real success I wonder if this notion will ultimately end up being the reason why the hire didn't end up working out.

So Glenn came to Vermillion with no real vision or plan of what he wanted to do but instead relied on his past experiences thinking that alone would bring success. Afterall who in Vermillion was really going to question him anyway. His way couldn't possibly be flawed in anyway since he is a USD alum and had a successful past although getting to be quite a ways in the past when the hire was made. Things didn't go quite so well in Wyoming at his last stop. Even with all that said they majority opinion was that this was a good hire. I mean who could really argue a whole lot. I think when he came on board he didn't really want to ruffle any feathers or do anything to create an uproar with the football program. I don't think he probably did a real big analysis of the program when he took over. I think he just kind of left alot of things in place as they were and I think that is really where the mistakes began. There was alot of things left over from the Meierkort era that probably needed to be cleaned up and he failed to truly do things the way he would have done them in the past such as when he was with Northern Colorado. I wonder how much of the current staff he kept when he took over their reeling program in the 90's.

To this day Glenn has remained too loyal to a fault. Someone even posted that he refused to fire anyone on the staff while he was here. That alone shows that he is probably not going to be very flexible when it comes to his coaching. He probably is very reluctant to try new things even if the status quo is not working. Afterall he is a veteran well into his 60's so his likelihood to adapt is going to be much less than it likely would be for a coach that is in his 40's. He is basically going to allow Wes plenty of rope and just simply allow him to do his thing without enough intervention. He will allow other coaches much the same without real accountability.

Joe Glenn is a great guy but it appears the game has passed him by and he isn't real likely to use modern thinking to catch back up to his peers.