Western Illinois

[Cousin Eddie]

Crowd is not good outside the dome. Get in your cars and get down here!

[coyotecrazie5]

Yotes playing well. Up 31-14 at half

[golfingyote]

Man...here we go again

[golfingyote]

That was awful

[sd4ever]

I am just about losing my mind. How the heck did Bouma lose that ball? Crap!

[94grad]

Oct 29, 2016 16:42:45 GMT -6 sd4ever said:

I am just about losing my mind. How the heck did Bouma lose that ball? Crap!

I think it's going to be awhile before people are going to be able to post about this game.

[Yotes]

What a pathetic second half. 31 points in the first half, 3 in the second. Chance to ice things at your opponent's 2 yard line, fumble for a touchback. Opponent has to go 80 yards in order to take the lead? You bet your ass they get in the endzone. 30 seconds left and two TOs left with a shot to win the game? Sure we drove to midfield, but then a wide open catch to make the game winner a 30-35 yarder is botched. Just pathetic. Probably the biggest game for this team at the D1 level and they absolutely blew it.

[Yotes]

Oh, and holding onto that lead would have resulted in us being in a tie for first in the conference with state being run out of Normal by Illinois State. Fantastic. Just fantastic. Opportunity staring us right in the face and we snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

[Charlie]

Can someone please explain to me why the offensive gets so conservative in the 2nd half? It's been the same all season they can move the ball up and down the field the entire 1st half and then when they come out from halftime the offense gets predictable and doesn't really take the shots it did in the first half. A team can't rely on the defense to make a stand like they have the last few games especially with how beat up the defense is.

[usdtator]

I was just sick to my stomach watching that lead evaporate throughout the 2nd half. I said to those around me that the lead at halftime would not be enough. We really could've used that pick 6 that was dropped right before half as well. I have to keep reminding myself these are just kids, but damn that one hurts.

Anyone hear how bad our injuries were today? Looked like we had a few go down and not return.

[88grad]

Three plays really stand out that I wish had gone differently. The most obvious is the fumble into the endzone, next is the pass that was dropped with 11sec left, lastly is the 4th and one that was stopped instead of us kicking a FG. Any one of these could have changed things into a Win.

[94grad]

Oct 29, 2016 19:36:56 GMT -6 88grad said:

Three plays really stand out that I wish had gone differently. The most obvious is the fumble into the endzone, next is the pass that was dropped with 11sec left, lastly is the 4th and one that was stopped instead of us kicking a FG. Any one of these could have changed things into a Win.

I will add the fourth and 10 for them on the last drive. Otherwise I agree with your list. Stop fourth and 10, at home, to win the game. Gotta like those odds. Bah.

[yotebewithyou]

We're 2 plays away from being 6-2. That's the worst part.

[Coyote Fan]

First of all congratulations to Western Illinois as they came to Vermillion getting exactly what they were looking for and that was to enact a little revenge on their former coach and that is precisely what they did. Today for awhile the Coyotes played Western Illinois and did very well but after awhile they stopped playing the Leathernecks and instead tried playing the clock and the clock won with a little help from the Necks.

Many people will point to the Bouma fumble but I will not blame that play as the reason that Yotes lost. It wasn't convenient to have that happen but for the Coyotes to even be in that situation in the first place could have been avoided. You absolutely cannot let a 17 point lead evaporate on your home field with all that was on the line.

Coach Nielson has done some good things so far but for whatever reason he stops doing what works. The Coyotes are simply not built to be a smash mouth football team that is meant to have success running right up the gut at least when it comes to facing Valley defenses. With the Coyotes up 31-21 in the third quarter their first two play calls were run and run right up the middle with absolutely nothing to show for it. As soon as I saw those two play calls I was like "Western Illinois could very well end up winning this game, as the Coyotes are giving them life when they should be taking it away from them". I can understand a team like NDSU doing that as they are meant to maul you at the line and have an advantage with that kind of philosophy. The Coyotes are not the kind of a team and those types of play calls have not worked and will not work in a situation where the defense is playing for it. I would much rather see Steveler roll out and have the option to run or pass. It is going to lead to better results much more often then running up the middle. The success of this offense runs through Steveler and when he hands off he takes himself right out of the offense. Of course when it is third and long the Necks will play the pass. Eventhough the Coyotes fall in love with those short bubble screens to the wide receivers at least those have a chance of working and are relatively safe play calls.

When things are running how they should be the team is up to the line in the hurry up offense and they are snapping the ball quickly not allowing the D time to adjust. That is one of the biggest reason the offense works in the first place. In the second half even though the Yotes would line up in a no huddle offense it just wasn't working the same. Streveler would often look to the side line for a play and the entire thing would slow down and just become kind of a mess. I kept saying in my recent posts how the Coyotes lack of a killer instinct was going to hurt them and cost them at the worst moment and that was absolutely the case today. This was not luck today because the Coyotes reached into their own pocket and pulled out a big letter "L" out of absolutely no where. Western Illinois was doing nothing to stop the Yotes. The best way to protect a lead is to add to it and the Coyotes just don't seem to have that philosophy eventhough they aren't built to be a running team in the traditional sense of handing the ball off to a running back. When the Necks were down 31-14 that is the best time to increase that lead to 45-14. They are on their heels not doing much of anything. They are basically a dog waiting to be put out of it's misery. The Coyotes could have finished them and should have done it through the air. Part of sports is mentality. The easiest way to defeat an opponent is to strike when they are down and ensure the win. The Coyotes for whatever reason just do not do this.

There were obvious things to point to at the end, but as I said we should have not be in a position in the first place allow a strange turn of events decide a game when it should have all been irrelevant. I agree with how the Coyotes handled the possession that ended in the fumble in the end zone. First of all instead of running they passed on first down. People may not remember this much but when Van Roeckle caught that long pass he couldn't quite shake the defender. He was trying to stiff arm him but couldn't quite break free to score. If he does that probably ends the game. That was a bad break. With only a field goal needed to basically salt away the game I totally agree in running it on all three downs. What I don't understand is why Simmons was in for Steveler. Chris is more powerful for those draw plays that I could see coming a mile away. He probably breaks a tackle and scores where Simmons doesn't quite get it done. Ya can't really argue with Bouma getting the ball on third down because as far as I know he is reliable with ball security. One should never ever trust the kicking game even with a reliable guy like Bergner so I agree with trying to punch it in and not trying to pass doing it.

When the Coyotes were up 31-28 about half way through the fourth quarter I turned to the guy next to me and said that the Coyotes should run a fake field goal and go for the touchdown because I knew getting up by 6 was setting up a 1 point loss. Sure enough that is exactly what happened. Even if it didn't work the Yotes would have still been up by 3 and Western Illinois would have probably been more conservative and played for a field goal instead of knowing they needed a touchdown. It's almost like baiting the other team being up by 3. It causes them to settle for field goal attempts often and often times in the crunch the kicker will miss. Even if not at least the game is still tied.

So what is the deal with Bergner today. He was only kicking off to the 5 yard line today and I have never noticed that from him before but maybe I haven't been playing close enough attention. Is he nursing a leg injury or is it common for him to only kick to the 5 yard line. That fact had me nervous when he attempted the game winning field goal thinking he may not have the distant. He probably over kicked it because it looked like it was not only short but wide left.

So the Coyotes played with fire one too many times and finally got burned. What is interesting is this same philosophy of shutting down the offense cost them games against the very teams that are competing with for a playoff spot in UND and Western Illinois. With UND's win today they are getting pretty close to being a shoe in anyway. Western has now got the spot over USD barring a train wreck for them down the stretch. I haven't checked the final but if Youngstown won they probably get in over the Yotes as well. That is Youngstown, NDSU, SDSU and WIU all in over the Coyotes. For the Coyotes to get in I think they now have to run the table. I don't see that happening and a 0-3 or 1-2 finish is what I see more likely. Not cause they aren't capable but moreso because the teams they are playing are just good except for Southern Illinois and they have been close to winning every week so far but just haven't pulled it off yet. It would not surprise me if next week for them they just might pick up their first conference win and kill the fading playoff hopes for the Coyotes.

A lot of good has happened this year but a lot of good fortune has happened as well. Some definite bad fortune has also occurred. Most of what has created these close games is self inflicted by not being able to play with a lead. Going forward it seems like things are building in a good direction and progression is likely but not gauranteed. We do have to keep in mind that as far as the conference schedule is concerned it seems to setup better this year then next. The Yotes will have to go to NDSU, UNI and Western and all of those are going to be very difficult to pick up a win in.

[Coyote Fan]

Oct 29, 2016 20:04:00 GMT -6 yotebewithyou said:

We're 2 plays away from being 6-2. That's the worst part.

The Coyotes are also about 3 to 5 plays away from being 2-6, 1-7 or even 0-8. They could have very easily lost to Weber, Indiana State and Illinois State. the largest margin of victory this year is 3 points. It's not bad luck with the record being at 4-4, it's more so to do with self inflicted wounds why they don't have 1 or 2 more wins. With the way this team has played so well at times during games it is amazing that they still do not really have a convincing win yet.