Hannon: YSU a longshot for the playoffs

October 31, 2017 at 12:05a.m.

Broadcaster sees rare winless month

BEAVER TOWNSHIP

In 29 seasons as Youngstown State’s football play-by-play broadcaster, Bob Hannon has witnessed just four winless Octobers.

Each time before (2008, 2010 and 2012) the Penguins failed to make the postseason. Only one of those teams produced a winning record — the 2012 team finished 7-4 despite being 0-4 in October.

Saturday’s disappointing 35-0 Homecoming loss to Illinois State sealed the Penguins’ fourth winless October with Hannon behind the microphone. YSU (3-5) is scrambling to get back to .500.

Hannon said a 6-5 record might just keep their slim playoff chances alive.

“We have three very winnable games and remember, Illinois State was a long shot last year at 6-5 and they got in,” Hannon told the Curbstone Coaches on Monday at Avion Banquet Center.

“With the Redbirds though, they had a really big win over Northwestern and that weighed heavily with the selection committee.

“While [YSU] took Pitt to overtime before eventually falling, the downside is that [YSU] just [does] not have that type of win on our resume this year,” Hannon said. “By winning out ... the upside is that it should give head coach Bo Pelini and staff some momentum when they hit the recruiting trail.”

Despite losing at South Dakota and at home to North Dakota State, Hannon felt YSU could salvage the month.

“When we lost those first two games by a field goal, I was still optimistic heading to Northern Iowa,” Hannon said. “Being sacked 10 times though at UNI, coupled with our inability to run the ball, it just sent up a red flag.

“Against Illinois State, a team that gave South Dakota its first loss of the year two weeks ago but lost by 35 points to Southern Illinois, we made a 4-4 team look like North Dakota State,” Hannon said. “It was really the first time in two-and-a-half seasons with Bo Pelini at the helm that I felt like we weren’t competitive.”

Injuries that have kept quarterback Hunter Wells sidelined reiterate the importance of the senior signal-caller and the impact that he has had when healthy and under center, Hannon said.

“There’s no question that Hunter Wells has been a big loss,” Hannon said. “We’ve found out how underrated he was and while we thought that we could just plug in whomever, we simply couldn’t.

“Sophomore Nathan Mays will be ready the next two years, but this year it was just too much to expect of him.”

According to Hannon, the one constant until recently has been the offensive line.

“Until our last two games our offensive line wasn’t dominated,” he said. “The last two games however, have been a different story.

“Since we played so well early, I think we felt as though we could replace the leadership of guys like Avery Moss and Derek Rivers, who are now in the NFL and running back Jody Webb,” Hannon said. “That senior leadership has been missed and right now, I’m not so sure we have the necessary leadership to fight through this challenging time.”

As president of United Way of the Mahoning Valley, Hannon said the Holiday Basketball Classic at Poland High School on Dec. 9 will showcase seven local high school teams as well as boys power Mentor.

“We always try to feature Mahoning and Trumbull County matchups with an established outside program that has a local connection,” Hannon said. “Bob Krizancic is the former Girard High School and YSU standout who coached Girard to a state title and has been the head boys coach at Mentor.”

Mentor will play Boardman. Salem will play Girard and Niles will play Poland in boys and girls games.