Counting reasons to smile on YSU’s incredible season

From many Penguins’ perspectives, disappointment dominated much of Saturday’s 3.5 hour Football Championship Subdivision national championship game between Youngstown State University and James Madison University of Harrisonburg, Va.

Sure, a few clearly understandable reasons easily explain why frowns eclipsed smiles among the hearty contingent of die-hard Penguin fans who trekked to Toyota Stadium in Frisco, Texas, and the 4,500 supporters who gathered at Covelli Centre to view the nationally televised game.

In short, the Penguins couldn’t overcome a series of on-the-field miscues and mistakes. Punting problems early in the first quarter put them in a two-touchdown hole, and turnovers on their only two possessions in the third quarter took away any logical chance of a triumphant comeback.

But in the immediate aftermath of the heartbreaking loss, it is both consoling and uplifting to look at the bigger picture behind that championship game, the 2016 team’s incredible season and the broader legacy of the university’s football program. In so doing, many reasons for exuberance and pride dart to the forefront.

In the game itself, the final score was not too dissimilar to the 27-17 the JMU Dukes handed the Bison of North Dakota State, which ranked as defending five-time FCS national champions and were long thought to be shoo-in for a sixth straight title.

And as Vindicator Sports Editor Ed Puskas pointed out in his post-game commentary Sunday, the final stats from Saturday’s game actually proved a tad misleading. “YSU outgained JMU 292-253 in total yardage and had 23 first downs to the Dukes’ 15,” Puskas wrote.

In the grueling record-long 16-game 2016 season itself, the Penguin squad beat the odds some had stacked against it and surprised many with exemplary championship-caliber play. In games against such Missouri Valley Conference strongholds as Indiana State, Illinois State and Northern Iowa, the Penguins managed to rally from deficits to pull out final-quarter victories. In its long playoff season, unseeded YSU upset third-seeded Jacksonville (Ala.) State.

YSU then proved its resilience by outlasting Wofford College in double overtime at the Ice Castle on Dec. 10. Then on Dec. 17, they did what many thought to be unthinkable: defeat the No. 2 seed Eastern Washington University Eagles whose players include some of the most honored in FCS history.

LEGACY RE-ENERGIZED

In an even broader perspective, the success of head coach Bo Pelini and his dynamite squad renewed, refreshed and re-energized the YSU football program’s legacy as a perennial powerhouse among the 125 football programs in the FCS. Only Georgia Southern with six and North Dakota State with five have more FCS titles in history than Youngstown State.

One disappointing day on the field does not diminish that long and proud tradition of talent, teamwork and tenacity of the Penguins or their potential to regroup with fiery determination toward repeating their march to a national championship game and completing its mission of acquiring a fifth national ring for the thumb.

As the 2017 team recruits and regroups for its opener against Pittsburgh come Sept. 2, we hope the YSU community and broader Mahoning Valley community recognize the honor and prestige the team’s resilience and success bring to Greater Youngstown.

Frankly, one disappointing footnote to the incredible 2016 season lies in the far less than robust level of fan support, visible in the many deep gaps in the stands of many home games at Stambaugh Stadium last fall.

It’s not too early for YSU sports program officials to begin planning promotional campaigns to fill to the gills the Ice Castle at every home game this fall.

Clearly, second-year head coach Pelini and his squad have more than earned more sizable displays of support.

As star senior tailback Jody Webb said after Saturday’s game. “There’s a lot of disappointment, but with how far we’ve come, we have to hang our heads high. We’ve come a long way, and that’s something to smile about.”

Indeed that’s something the team and its legions of rooters can smile ear to ear about from here through the team’s dogged pursuit of a return date in Frisco next Jan. 6.