youngstown st game last year

[Dr.Bird]

Anyone remember youngstown state game last year when we decided to differ the ball in the second half and in the beginning of the game? Just curious to why we would ever do that lol. Pretty sure it was the youngstown st game, if not it was a different game.

 

[fourthandshort]

Anyone remember youngstown state game last year when we decided to differ the ball in the second half and in the beginning of the game? Just curious to why we would ever do that lol. Pretty sure it was the youngstown st game, if not it was a different game.

vaguely recall this ... and confirmed YSU did receive first drive each half. It might have been to get wind advantage in Q4 since game was close at half .. up 4 ?

Checked ... so on last drive, they went 8 plays for 80 yards in 56 seconds .. had no timeouts, but spiked the ball twice and had a penalty on top of big play to stop clock 3rd time. So the wind didn't hurt them much if that was reasoning. I know our defense was much better than our offense at that point with Annexstad out. But it had to be that combined with wind.

DATE: 11/05/2022 SITE: Normal, Illinois STADIUM: Hancock ATTENDANCE: 4989 KICKOFF TIME: 02:06 PM END OF GAME: 05:32 PM DURATION: 03:26 TEMPERATURE: 48 WIND: SE 25mph WEATHER: Cloudy

 

[Dr.Bird]

vaguely recall this ... and confirmed YSU did receive first drive each half. It might have been to get wind advantage in Q4 since game was close at half .. up 4 ?

Checked ... so on last drive, they went 8 plays for 80 yards in 56 seconds .. had no timeouts, but spiked the ball twice and had a penalty on top of big play to stop clock 3rd time. So the wind didn't hurt them much if that was reasoning. I know our defense was much better than our offense at that point with Annexstad out. But it had to be that combined with wind.

DATE: 11/05/2022 SITE: Normal, Illinois STADIUM: Hancock ATTENDANCE: 4989 KICKOFF TIME: 02:06 PM END OF GAME: 05:32 PM DURATION: 03:26 TEMPERATURE: 48 WIND: SE 25mph WEATHER: Cloudy

makes sense kind of, but still i dont think losing a possesion where you can score is smart. just thought id bring it up to see other thoughts

 

[fourthandshort]

makes sense kind of, but still i dont think losing a possession where you can score is smart. just thought id bring it up to see other thoughts

I get the logic at halftime, if it was building to much worse winds in Q4. But with just a 4 pt lead, giving up an offensive series is highly questionable .. but not surprising that Spack played it conservatively IMO..

But not so typical this year. I posted this on 2 other threads and didn't get much reaction. So I'll do again here. Obviously, we had an easier schedule this year .. SOS was 19th in 2022, and dropped to 43rd in 2023.

Notice 3 things in these numbers year over year:

1. Score almost twice as many points, while giving up same amount of points.
2. Look at the Q3 margin improvement year over year
3. Look at the 2nd half offensive improvement, not to mention Q4, year over year.

Hard to imagine, we were 6-5 both seasons .. but this is what 4 of 5 losses by 8 combined poiints can look like, I guess. Bottom line, we were so much more aggressive/productive in 2nd half this year.

Here is 2022 points by quarter



Here is 2023

 

[fourthandshort]

I get the logic at halftime, if it was building to much worse winds in Q4. But with just a 4 pt lead, giving up an offensive series is highly questionable .. but not surprising that Spack played it conservatively IMO..

But not so typical this year. I posted this on 2 other threads and didn't get much reaction. So I'll do again here. Obviously, we had an easier schedule this year .. SOS was 19th in 2022, and dropped to 43rd in 2023.

Notice 3 things in these numbers year over year:

1. Score almost twice as many points, while giving up same amount of points.
2. Look at the Q3 margin improvement year over year
3. Look at the 2nd half offensive improvement, not to mention Q4, year over year.

Hard to imagine, we were 6-5 both seasons .. but this is what 4 of 5 losses by 8 combined poiints can look like, I guess. Bottom line, we were so much more aggressive/productive in 2nd half this year.

Here is 2022 points by quarter

View attachment 1273

Here is 2023

View attachment 1274

Another way to look at this

Quarterly score margin ... 2022 to 2023:

Q1: +36 to +27 .. -11 is slower start. We all noticed this in a few games.
Q2: -32 to +11 .. 43 pt improvement. Gave it all back in 2022, held it in 2023.
Q3: -12 to +60 .. 72 pt improvement after halftime in Q3. Adjustments ? Hard to ignore this swing.
Q4: -33 to +38 .. 71 pt improvement in Q4, down the stretch .. thinking SDSU, YSU, UNI, UND .. not EIU ... cough cough !!!

In the end, we were still 6-5 ... yet it was significant progress. I interpret this as THE difference between playing not to lose versus playing to win. Others may just see this as better execution and players. Others still may see it as reason to jump off cliff or fire Spack.

I see it as at least 50/50 .. and give credit to Annexstad, Peterson, and Spack. Something changed, even if records didn't.

Regardless, we have a lot coming back .. as of now. This roster is ready for a playoff run. I hope the players see this and stay.