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YSU news & Notes
Playoff situation: North Dakota State (10-1, 6-1 Missouri Valley) and Illinois State (9-1, 6-1) both won on Saturday and will cruise into the playoffs regardless of what happens next week. Northern Iowa (7-4, 5-2) will also advance if it beats Missouri State next week. There’s a three-way tie for fourth place in the MVFC between YSU, Indiana State and South Dakota State, who are all 7-4 overall and 4-3 in the conference. YSU beat SDSU, which beat Indiana State in this year’s head-to-head matchups. The Jackrabbits host last-place South Dakota (2-9, 0-7) next week, while the Sycamores play at Western Illinois (4-7, 2-5). If all three teams win, the Penguins will need the playoff committee to choose at least three at-large MVFC teams (which has only happened once before, in 2004) and hope their resume impresses the committee. There are 13 at-large spots in the 24-team FCS playoffs, with the other 11 going to league champions. YSU won’t get any help from its weak non-conference schedule, but upsetting the three-time champs on the road in the finale might be enough to earn a spot. “Our conference is like no other in the country,” senior TE Nate Adams said. “I definitely think if we go out to Fargo next week and pull out a win, we definitely deserve a spot. So that’s just what we’ve got to focus on. We can’t worry about what just happened. We’ve got to move on.”
Senior sendoff: Adams was one of 11 seniors who played their final home game on Saturday. The others are: WR Jelani Berassa (who is in his sixth year with the program and is the only player left from the Jon Heacock era), DT Octavius Brown, WR Christian Bryan, K Joey Cejudo, CB Julius Childs, S Donald D’Alesio (Cardinal Mooney), LS Nathan Gibbs, C Stephen Page (Newton Falls), LB Desmond Williams and LB Travis Williams.
Big day on defense: Junior DE Terrell Williams had a career-best four sacks, tying the YSU single-game record held by sophomore DE Derek Rivers (who had four against South Dakota on Nov. 1), Pat Danko (Morgan State in 1991) and Chris Stec (Morehead State in 1984). Rivers also had a sack on Saturday, giving him 14 for the season. Only Harry Deligianis (17 in 1997) and Jermaine Hopkins (15 in 1994) have had more in one year for YSU and both those seasons ended in national championships.