Football vs. Youngstown State

[Coyote Fan]

Youngstown State is by far better than any of the three teams that have come to the dome this year. I have to imagine if any team in the MVFC were nipping at NDSU's heels this would be that team. There could potentially be a tie for the conference title by two undefeated MVFC teams.

I am not saying Montana or SDSU is going to be a sure win or a sure loss but I doubt either team will be better than the Penguins. I thought the Yotes played well, they just ran into a juggernaut today. There isn't really anything that I can definitively point a finger at as to why the Yotes lost. Sure there were a few too many penalties but when does the losing team ever say they didn't commit too many. If this years Youngstown team would play last years Coyote team at Howard Wood field I would pick a 42-7 Penguin win. That is how much and how far this team has come in a relatively short span of time. That is also how impressed I was with YSU's play today.

Having Earl step in is all it took for Joe Glenn to appear that he is a heck or a coach. I am going from really being close to the wrong side of the fence with him to now kind of hoping he decides to stay around for a few years.

[obc]

I will have more thoughts on this game tomorrow after watching the replay. Wow that loss hurts!

Really proud of the intensity and effort of the Yotes today. They ran into a powerful offense today lead by a senior QB that was extremely good. Think the Yotes played a solid game.

This is one tough conference and seeing how USD matched up today against one of the best teams in FCS shows some progress. If the Yotes can improve this off-season as much as they did during the past off season, I see USD in the hunt for the playoffs.

I really hope that the sting from this game and officially being knocked from the playoffs won't cause our guys to lose focus on next weeks game against the Griz. If the Yotes bring the same effort they did today in two weeks - I expect them to beat sdsu.

Three tough games left.

Fans - good cheering at the game today. Thought it helped. We have to get more than 6600 to our games though. That is pathetic.

[88grad]

Overall a very good game for the Yotes but not quite good enough. There were several just killer penalties again today that might have been the difference. The holding call that negated a huge run by Roberts and the 15yd PF on Youngstown's last drive for instance. It was great to see JVM really getting some quality plays in today.

[daveds]

The Yotes are for real and definitely a force to be reckoned with and no doubt will only be a greater force in the future--Good luck.

[Iceman]

Well that was a hard faught game today. It really stung when they scored that last touchdown, knowing we were so close. Offense played pretty well today. Our runningbacks are some tough SOBs. Both hurting like crazy, yet sucking it up and playing anyway. Do we not have any other runningbacks out there at all? The play calling was good most of the game, although there were some times that we went back to the run, run, screen, punt offense. When the OC decides to open it up, we look so much better on offense. Then we do well and the next series, we let off the gas pedal on offense. We NEED to keep the foot on the gas on offense. When we do, we are really dangerous.

Defensively, we had some huge takeaways that helped the defense keep us in the game. We also gave up 517 yards, which isn't going to win you many games at any level. We gave up way too many big plays. Their QB was very good, but we made him look like an All-American at times with some broken coverages. Those things can't happen.

Special teams looked better, or should I say the kicking game. I know I was really upset the last few weeks with the kicker/punter, but today he looked good. Kick coverage was not very good. Should have kicked it one the ground every kickoff I guess. Good snaps on punts all day by O'Neil. It was kind of nice to see another team have some special teams trouble today.

One last thing. I know I wasn't the only one who saw these few blown calls today, judging by the yelling coming from the stands. How about the block in the back right in front of the ref on the opening kickoff? Where was the flag?

The last really bad call I will bring up was on Youngstowns last drive. The catch they had on a third down, the guy was clearly tackled a good two yards before the first down marker, and the refs immediately started waving for the chains to move even before the whistle had blown. They set the ball and the chains and where the ball was spotted still wasn't a first down compared to where the sticks should have been? What the hell happened there?

Anyway, you can't give up over 500 yards and still win a game like that. The team played hard, just aren't quite there yet. For those who doubt Joe Glenn, look at all of his recruits that are out there. Many of them are redshirt freshman, some true freshman. They are doing well.

[sdyotefan]

Proud of the Yotes for giving the #10 team in the nation far more than what they bargained for!! Their offense is very diversified and difficult to defend. Miles did a great job making his FGs and had very good punts. Great long snaps by Cody too. Great hard running by the O, some amazing throws by Earl under pressure and Josh had a very good game. Several sacks of their QB and in the previous 8 games he'd only been sacked 8 times. Coyotes are definitely headed in the right direction and the future looks very bright!!!

[obc]

YSUPenguins.com

This is a link to the YSU fan forum regarding this game. Certainly a lot of posts that feel like YSU "gave" USD the ball by fumbling. There are different types of turnovers - forced and unforced. The three today were forced turnovers caused by deliberate defensive play.

The reason I provided a link however is a comment one of the posters made about the DakotaDome and the environment there. I agree with his comments pertaining to Yesterday. With 6600 it is loud. We need 10 k and make it even more of a factor every week.

Here is a portion of one of the posts:

"Want to talk about atmosphere. What I witnessed in person in South Dakota today was a great atmosphere for football. We get 20-30 fans on our feet making mediocre noise on third down, while they get 70% of their fans on their feet on EVERY SINGLE THIRD DOWN. That noise, coupled with the band playing nauseating "noise", in the poorly acoustic dome, is intimidating for the opposition.

We pride ourselves on having a great environment. I challenge everyone at the next home game to match what I saw in Vermillion today. A fan base that doesn't look back to see if they are blocking anyone's view on third down, but a fan base that truly wants to make it difficult to get a first down on third down by getting on their feet and making noise!"
-post by ValleyTalk on ysupenguins.com


The final three games and the next two years will be fun to watch. This team is transforming before our eyes and we need to make the DakotaDome one of the toughest road trips in the league.
Good job to all the fans there yesterday.

[Yote 53]

I thought the team played well yesterday, certainly good enough to win. Games like this are won/lost on about 4 different plays throughout the game. You can look back on them after the game and pick out which ones they are. I could look back and show you plays were we took penalties that absolutely killed the momentum we had. I could show you a play where a YSU defensive player was "injured" two feet from his sideline and, while he was being attended to for what seemed like forever, YSU had the opportunity to make personnel changes to their exhausted D and gave them a chance to rest up. It absolutely killed the momentum we had going on offense. Yeah, I'm calling it out and saying it was a faked injury.

The play I really want to focus on is with the Yotes driving the bal1 1st down from the 11 or 12 with a little over 2 minutes on the clock. Obviously 4 down territory to get the win, heck maybe even 8 down territory since we can pick up a first down without scoring. The first down play call was truly mind-boggling, a fade pass to the corner of the endzone. Not only is that at high risk of getting picked if that ball is underthrown, but an incompletion stops the clock. Run the ball on that down and it burns 30 seconds off the clock. YSU has 1 timeout left, maybe it forces them to use it. As it was we scored on a second down run and left YSU 2+ minutes for the game winning drive. That game could have been ended on that offensive possession by running the ball and milking the clock down to the point YSU had no time left to come back on us.

Oh, and that game winning play for YSU from the 3. First question, after the completion of the pass to put them at 1st and goal from the 3. Why did the refs allow the coach to come out on to the field and stop the game? Secondly, why was the coach allowed to stand on the sideline on the 10 yard line? He should have been told to go back to the coaches/players box and if he didn't they should have been flagged. As it stands there should have been a penalty called on their game winning play.

[yoteforever]

Nov 2, 2013 22:46:20 GMT -6 Iceman said:

Well that was a hard faught game today. It really stung when they scored that last touchdown, knowing we were so close. Offense played pretty well today. Our runningbacks are some tough SOBs. Both hurting like crazy, yet sucking it up and playing anyway. Do we not have any other runningbacks out there at all? The play calling was good most of the game, although there were some times that we went back to the run, run, screen, punt offense. When the OC decides to open it up, we look so much better on offense. Then we do well and the next series, we let off the gas pedal on offense. We NEED to keep the foot on the gas on offense. When we do, we are really dangerous.

Defensively, we had some huge takeaways that helped the defense keep us in the game. We also gave up 517 yards, which isn't going to win you many games at any level. We gave up way too many big plays. Their QB was very good, but we made him look like an All-American at times with some broken coverages. Those things can't happen.

Special teams looked better, or should I say the kicking game. I know I was really upset the last few weeks with the kicker/punter, but today he looked good. Kick coverage was not very good. Should have kicked it one the ground every kickoff I guess. Good snaps on punts all day by O'Neil. It was kind of nice to see another team have some special teams trouble today.

One last thing. I know I wasn't the only one who saw these few blown calls today, judging by the yelling coming from the stands. How about the block in the back right in front of the ref on the opening kickoff? Where was the flag?

The last really bad call I will bring up was on Youngstowns last drive. The catch they had on a third down, the guy was clearly tackled a good two yards before the first down marker, and the refs immediately started waving for the chains to move even before the whistle had blown. They set the ball and the chains and where the ball was spotted still wasn't a first down compared to where the sticks should have been? What the hell happened there?

Anyway, you can't give up over 500 yards and still win a game like that. The team played hard, just aren't quite there yet. For those who doubt Joe Glenn, look at all of his recruits that are out there. Many of them are redshirt freshman, some true freshman. They are doing well.

We got beat, but Iceman, I couldn't agree with you more. The officiating stinks in this league. The very first series of downs yesterday when YSU had the ball, they moved the chains and I would bet they were a full one yard short. Then the late game call of moving the chains was beyond belief. He was at minimum 2 yards short, and I would say 2 1/2 yards was closer. That did two things at a critical time. It stopped the clock to move the chains, plus they got a new set of downs. It is maybe the most unbelievable thing I have seen an officiating crew do. I told the coaching staff after the game to watch those two series I pointed out and turn into the Valley if I was right. You confirmed my thinking. The other gripe I had with the officials yesterday was YSU would put 14-15 players on the field when USD was taking over on offense, then they would call off certain players based on what the Coyotes presented themselves. That is illegal substitution. I officiated college ball 20 years ago, and I thought it was illegal but I wasn't sure, so last night when I got home, I googled it. And the rule specifically says you can't do that. These guys don't know the rules, and think about this. Have you ever been to a college game where there WASN'T ONE TIME OUT TO MEASURE? I've never heard of such a thing. These guys had an agenda to finish this out as quickly as possible. Maybe since we are the new guys on the block so to speak, we just aren't going to get those calls, but that's wrong.

It was a hell of a game. Swifts late call was unnecessary and given the fact he is a senior, he should know better. Now that I have calmed down I can honestly say I am really proud of these guys for battling. Sure I wished we hadn't given up the last possession, but that's football. Our kids are tough. Plain and simple. They have a lunch pail mentality and bring it to the game. The last three are winnable. Yes Bison, even you can get beat. I can't think of a better BAND OF BROTHERS that I would like to see do it.

[bopelini]

I was driving down the highway on the critical final series, and JVG's call on the radio noted that they were 2 yards shy of a first down. Within seconds, he corrected the call and seemed confused as to why the refs signaled first down when it appeared they weren't even close. What the heck happened on that play? I assume it was an obvious error since it has been called out in multiple posts.

[daveds]

There was definitely bad officiating on BOTH sides of the ball and heart-breaking losses are the toughest to take.Turnovers were an important factor in keeping this one a nail-biter and to me they all looked to be caused by the aggressive Yotes defense.Hopefully the real Bo Pelini roots for YSU--(he is from Youngstown and graduated from the high school I attended.)

[GoYotes]

My takes on the game:

A very entertaining game with a great atmosphere. Would have been even better with a full house. What a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon.

Youngstown offensive line was the difference in the game. Our blitzes were well timed are led to some poor decisions by their QB, but overall QB had to much time to pass. When we overplayed the pass, they would gash us with the run.

Should have utilized Riley Donovan more on offense. He has that "it" factor. On a related note, sure would be nice to have had Will around for one more year.

Glad to see the kicking game improvements. However, our kick coverage team kept leaving the left side wide open.

I thought the offense for the most part had pretty good play calling. But like someone else pointed our earlier, I didn't like the fade route to JVM at the 2 minute mark. Almost looked like YSU let Roberts score on the following play. Ended up leaving too much time on the clock for YSU's game winning drive.

I agree with some of the earlier comments about some questionable moving of the chains by the officials. The skeptical part of me wonders with ESPN3 broadcasting the game, did they pressure the officials to keep the game moving.

The Penguins offense was very good. About the only thing that stopped them in the second half was their conservative play calling after they got the lead.

Pros needed to be updated, but damn, Howlers sure ruined the place.

Based on the fans I saw at the game and most comments on the Penquins' message board, a good and knowledgeable fan base.

[jackit]

Nov 3, 2013 11:37:03 GMT -6 GoYotes said:

My takes on the game:

A very entertaining game with a great atmosphere. Would have been even better with a full house. What a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon.

Youngstown offensive line was the difference in the game. Our blitzes were well timed are led to some poor decisions by their QB, but overall QB had to much time to pass. When we overplayed the pass, they would gash us with the run.

Should have utilized Riley Donovan more on offense. He has that "it" factor. On a related note, sure would be nice to have had Will around for one more year.

Glad to see the kicking game improvements. However, our kick coverage team kept leaving the left side wide open.

I thought the offense for the most part had pretty good play calling. But like someone else pointed our earlier, I didn't like the fade route to JVM at the 2 minute mark. Almost looked like YSU let Roberts score on the following play. Ended up leaving too much time on the clock for YSU's game winning drive.

I agree with some of the earlier comments about some questionable moving of the chains by the officials. The skeptical part of me wonders with ESPN3 broadcasting the game, did they pressure the officials to keep the game moving.

The Penguins offense was very good. About the only thing that stopped them in the second half was their conservative play calling after they got the lead.

Pros needed to be updated, but damn, Howlers sure ruined the place.

Based on the fans I saw at the game and most comments on the Penquins' message board, a good and knowledgeable fan base.

lol

[notkiotees]

The Coyotes lost and that sucks.

I agree with  Mick Garry when he wrote "The entertainment value was as high as the level of disappointment"

The Coyotes lost and that sucks.

I am excited for the future of this program!

[coyote70]

I'm kind of an "in the moment" person when it comes to sporting events. In other words the future extends only as far as the next (Montana) game. Too many teams in this league have talent at the Freshmen/Redshirt Freshmen level.

One of the keys in the game that hasn't been mentioned directly is Time of Possession. I think our defense was on the field far too long a time. Given the players we have, the best way to correct this is to run more often, especially late in games. I sure would like to get more yards on the ground against Montana than the 159 we got against YSU.

This is as much an offensive line issue as it is a RB concern. I'm trying not to be too critical but hope we can do better next time.