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YSU looks to reverse November woes
By Joe Scalzo
YOUNGSTOWN
Youngstown State senior wide receiver Christian Bryan isn’t trying to hide from the Penguins’ late-season struggles over the past few years.
But he also knows the Penguins have a chance to change things on Saturday at North Dakota State.
“We’ve put ourselves in this position in years past and we understand we’ve made it difficult on ourselves,” Bryan said. “I haven’t really heard anyone talking about it. Of course, I’ve heard people saying, ‘We’re in this position again,’ but we haven’t really said anything about it. We’re not worried about that. Because that’s last year. Last year is in the past.
“It’s definitely a similar situation but we understand we can erase it with a win on Saturday. That’s all that matters.”
Thanks to a two-game losing streak, the Penguins (7-4, 4-3 Missouri Valley) are in the unenviable position of having to beat the three-time defending national champions — in Fargo, no less — in order to make the playoffs.
YSU has actually won two of the last three games at NDSU, including a shocking upset in 2011, but the Penguins were drubbed in their last meeting at the FargoDome, falling 48-7 in 2012.
“We have a couple kids on this team and the coaching staff who have gone in this place and won before,” Bryan said. “So we know we can. We just have to make sure everyone believes and I know they do, so we’ll be fine.”
Playoff-wise, the Penguins may have actually been better off winning last week’s game against Indiana State, since it would have given them wins over the two teams (ISU and South Dakota State) that are tied with them for fourth in the MVFC standings.
The top three teams (NDSU, Illinois State and Northern Iowa) seem headed for playoff berths. While a season-ending win over the Bison would look good on YSU’s playoff resume, the Sycamores (who beat YSU and have a win over Ball State) and the Jackrabbits (who beat Indiana State and UNI) also have compelling cases.
No conference has ever had six playoff teams in the same year. The Colonial Athletic Association is the only FCS conference to have five in the same year — it happened in 2007, 2008 and 2011 — but the MVFC’s dominance this year, combined with last year’s playoff expansion to 24 teams, could open the door for the MVFC to make history.
Not surprisingly, the Penguins are taking a “win and we’re in” approach.
“I said last week that five wins in our league should get you in [the playoffs], YSU coach Eric Wolford said. “It sets up well if we take care of business.”
Added Bryan, “Of course I [agree], but we’re not the ones picking. I do understand that we play in the best conference in America at the FCS level. Definitely, if we beat North Dakota State, the three-time defending national champs, it would help us a lot.”
YSU is 6-9 in November under Wolford, but the Penguins have lost five of their last six games. Wolford’s reputation for struggling in big games began in 2011, when YSU followed up the win at NDSU with a loss to Missouri State in the finale.
Bryan was a freshman on that team. As disappointed as he was that day, he said he never imagined he’d eventually be one game away from going playoff-less in his career.
“It was so disappointing after that game, but I couldn’t help but think about all the talent we had coming back and what our future could be,” Bryan said. “I’m really hoping that we go up there and we take care of business on Saturday. It’s only right that we [do]. We’ve been through so much together as a team, we only owe it to ourselves to go up there and win. For our university and our community, we really need to go up there and win.”