Northern Iowa rallies past Youngstown State 21-17

[IAA Fan]

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa (AP)—David Johnson scored on a 1-yard run with 1:59 to play to give Northern Iowa a 21-17 victory over Youngstown State on Saturday.

Johnson carried the ball eight times on the winning drive, and caught a 32-yard pass from Jared Lanpher. A pass-interference penalty also helped Northern Iowa.

Lanpher connected twice with Terrell Sinkfield for touchdowns for the Panthers (7-2, 6-1), who kept their hopes alive for a Missouri Valley title.

Kurt Hess threw a 38-yard touchdown pass to Will Shaw early in the fourth quarter to put the Penguins (5-4, 3-3) ahead 17-14. Jamaine Cook ran for 90 yards and a touchdown for Youngstown State.


YOUNGSTOWN ST-FG, D Brown 28 YD 5:20 1st Qtr
NORTHERN IOWA-TD, T Sinkfield 32 YD PASS FROM J Lanpher (T
Sievertsen KICK) 9:23 1st Qtr
YOUNGSTOWN ST-TD, J Cook 1 YD RUN (D Brown KICK) 14:33 2nd
Qtr
NORTHERN IOWA-TD, T Sinkfield 31 YD PASS FROM J Lanpher (T
Sievertsen KICK) 14:54 2nd Qtr
YOUNGSTOWN ST-TD, W Shaw 38 YD PASS FROM K Hess (D Brown
KICK) 1:18 4th Qtr
NORTHERN IOWA-TD, D Johnson 1 YD RUN (T Sievertsen KICK)
13:01 4th Qtr


                       YOUNGSTOWN ST    NORTHERN IOWA
First downs                       19               11
Rushed-yards                  40-118            27-30
Passing yards                    175              238
Sacked-yards lost                1-1             3-23
Return yards                       8               54
Passes                       17-35-2          16-28-0
Punts                         6-45.7           9-38.4
Fumbles-lost                     1-0              1-0
Penalties-yards                 3-25             9-81
Time of possession             34:30            25:30


Individual Statistics

RUSHING: YOUNGSTOWN ST-Jamaine Cook 30-90, Adaris Bellamy 4-28, Kevin
Watts 1-5, Team 1-MINUS 1, Kurt Hess 4-MINUS 4. NORTHERN IOWA-David
Johnson 18-47, Carlos Anderson 2-3, Team 1-MINUS 2, Jared Lanpher
6-MINUS 18.

PASSING: YOUNGSTOWN ST-Kurt Hess 17-34-175- 2, Andre Barboza 0-1-0- 0.
NORTHERN IOWA-Jared Lanpher 16-28-238- 0.

RECEIVING: YOUNGSTOWN ST-Will Shaw 2-48, Jamaine Cook 5-39, Christian
Bryan 3-29, Jelani Berassa 3-27, Kevin Watts 3-20, Andre Barboza 1-12.
NORTHERN IOWA-Jarred Herring 6-84, Terrell Sinkfield 3-69, David
Johnson 2-31, Brett LeMaster 1-30, Austin Wells 2-17, Darion Howard
1-10, Chad Owens 1-MINUS 3.


Att: 11,523

[YSUfan21]

the last 25 seconds of the 1st half is the reason we lost
that simple

[penguinpower]

We played well enough to win but we gave up 4 big plays that hurt us. The first TD pass where we let the receiver get behind the safety, the two pass plays at the end of the 1st half where they scored in 11 seconds and the 4th down play at the end of the game. The defense is much improved. This game turned into a defensive battle. UNI defense was fast and athletic and matched up well with the offense.

Mistakes like a bad snap on the first drive may have cost us a TD. I figured that our high powered offense would have been able to put up some more points against them. I thought the coaches were on to something when they started running Bellamy up the middle on that 15 play 7 minute drive in the second qtr. Bellamy seemed to excel in those inside lanes and it didn't look like they had an answer for it.

The young defense is much improved, and they cut the number of lapses down to 4 against a good team. Hopefully they learned that 11 seconds is too long to have a mental lapse.

The coaches did a great job putting us in position to win. We matched up with them athletically. It was nice to see that aspect. How many times did they just wear us down over the last 10 years?  UNI was happy to get out of there and they were lucky they won. Next year their luck runs out. We get all of our young kids back and maybe with a few more JUCO's to add some depth we will surely be in the top 4 teams in the country

We are playing some good football right now and I would hate to have to face us in any game as a coach. We continue to improve. Hopefully we remain mathematically eligible to make the playoffs if we win out. NDSU is going to have their hands full with us.

Really I'm not upset with the loss because I know where we're headed.

[IAA Fan]

Great points. The common thread between your posts is the secondary. Again I nominate Sentner as MVP. He was the only guy back there that knew where the ball was ...and he was not playing his natural position. I mean that pass to the corner (by UNI) needed a calendar & a protractor to measure how long it took to get there and arc; yet we still did not see it because we did not even know the receiver was back there. Two passes for a score in the closing seconds? I have been a fan a very long time & this is the only team I have ever seen give this up ...just no excuse. Then we put Obiwan in finally, and use his size to open a lane.

On offense I completely agree that we missed the boat with Bellamy. UNI was trying to bring pressure on Hess from the sides and giving us the middle, because they knew it was for short yardage, but with a power back in there, those 2-3 yard runs would have turned into 4-6 yard runs. Montgomery outfoxed himself this time. Too many looks, especially in the first half. We wound up playing a true "gateway conference" football game and we not prepared ...nor did we have the roster. UNI knew we could not move the ball against them ...so they stayed with drives that ate up the clock ...caring less whether or not they scored. If the score was 14-10 at the start of the second half, this would not have happened.

[YSUfan21]

but i think its starting to get close to say YSU is working its way to being back to a powerhouse in FCS

we are just experiance away on D from being a NC contender, too much youth has killed us this year
we have 2 big games left, we win both we could make the playoffs and that much more practice time and another game or 2 will only make us stronger for next year

how many starters do we return next year? i know on D we should only lose 1, not sure on how many on offense

[penguinpower]

but i think its starting to get close to say YSU is working its way to being back to a powerhouse in FCS

we are just experiance away on D from being a NC contender, too much youth has killed us this year
we have 2 big games left, we win both we could make the playoffs and that much more practice time and another game or 2 will only make us stronger for next year

how many starters do we return next year? i know on D we should only lose 1, not sure on how many on offense

You are correct that we need the experience.  We also need another excellent recruiting class, and few more JUCO's to give immediate depth.  I would like to see us get more guys on the DL with a set of book ends that can't be beat.  Kravitz had some bad azz DE's when he was at South Florida.  I could never get over how outstanding they were.  Those guys were two men wrecking crews on every play. 

[YSUGO]

NI attacked our weakness the secondary time and time again vertically.  They took a shot down field almost every series and got 2 scores out of it.  Kravitz made a major gaffe not once but twice.  He should have brought the heat on the first series to set the tempo and keep the young qb uncomfortable.  Instead he played a base D and let the kid find hiis rhythm and he hit for a score.  Same thing happened on their last drive.  Not having a Kicker to make a 35-45 yd fg hurt us in the first part of the game. If we would have got 3 instead of nothing when we went for on 4th down changed what we would have had to do on our last drive.  Hess had to get 6 instead of 3.  A FG would have won it and that is what wins the close games.  we would have been down 1 instead of 4.  Hess would have had a short field for the win instead of having to do a game winning td drive.

We are were we should be a 6 or 7 win team..

[penguinpower]

I have been periodically corresponding with Sean Shapiro from the TSN.  I don't normally publish this kind of stuff, because it is more personal that I would normally like to share, but it is important enough that I have the desire to post this just in case the kids read this stuff.  I know that they are into Twitter and stuff like that, which means they could be reading some of the crap that ends up on this board. 

Anyhow,  I have been trying to convince Sean and others to consider YSU in the Top 25 TSN poll.  Not doing this to be an annoying Rah Rah fan, but more to the issue that earlier in the year Richmond, Eastern Washington, and South Dakota were stinking up the Top 25 and taking valuable spots from more deserving teams.  The TSN Poll counts for at large playoff bids, so does the Gridiron Pwer Index (Denny Leibert called it the Grid Power index and left the 'iron' out during the broadcast)  This morning I emailed Sean with my thoughts on the UNI game and pointed to the statistical advantage that YSU had in the box score, as well as the lead changes and the fact that the game came down to a 4th and 1 at the goal with 1:59 in the 4th.  I also mentioned to him that I felt YSU matched up much better than we have in years past. 

He is a pretty nice guy, and he emailed me back this morning stating "It's win or go home for Youngstown State next week against NDSU".  I had to think about it for a few moments and rehash the schedule.....Sean is correct, next week is the big week although that loss didn't help much Saturday.  We still have a mathematical chance to make it in as an at large.  The fact that we are improving each week and the fact that we are extremely competitive in the games we've lost this year helps place us in the discussion.  If we are able to knock off the #1 team in the country next week and beat Missouri State, we would be at the mercy of others, but we could get in the playoffs.

We have to keep in mind that we could end up with 7 division 1 wins and have beaten a ranked Illinois State team.  Knocking out the #1 team in the country who beat a B1G team would cause national attention.  The players have to embrace this opportunity.  They need to play the game of their lives next Saturday.  We have a chance, the playoffs are not out of the question.  Champions get back up when they are knocked down.  They need to show everyone what they are made of the last 2 games of the year.

[IAA Fan]

I agree with you power, but this is a place for people to vent as well. Right now, no one would deny that we are further ahead than we thought we would be by season's end. Cheers and jeers ...have to take them both.

Go Guins!!

[penguinpower]

I agree with you power, but this is a place for people to vent as well. Right now, no one would deny that we are further ahead than we thought we would be by season's end. Cheers and jeers ...have to take them both.

Go Guins!!

For some reason I feel that there are many people that are being overly critical of the coaching staff at this point.  Jon Heacock was a pretty good coach from the standpoint that we were able to reach the playoffs in 2006 (with the arrival of Mason of course) and we played so many teams and had less talent and kept many of the game close and went 8-3 on a few occasions where we missed the playoffs.  An yes he was very good at getting the defense to come around quickly and play above their abilities. 

We now have a new staff and whatever we saw from Tressel and Heacock is not coming back anytime soon.  Some people here need to deal with it.  We are not going to change the philosophy of the new coaching staff.  At the end of the day, the coaching staff sees what we see;  football is not so complex that educated viewers can't see what is going on in a game.  They know that execution in all 3 phases is needed.  I comes down to recruiting and we have some of the best in CFB.  Wolford is still a relatively new head coach from an experience level and he has been improving just as the team has been improving.  I have met him on a few occasions and he is critical of himself and his team and this translates improvement.  What I"m saying is that he learns from his mistakes.  If you had to pick the most improved team in the FCS from the beginning of the year who would it be? I say YSU is in the top 3.  Finally, if you were a coach how would you view playing this YSU team right now at this point in the year?  We are very dangerous and getting better every week. 


Some of the stuff stated is nonsense. 

[penguinpower]

And by the way, I am not saying that the fans can't be critical of the coaching staff, i am just saying that the progress has been very noticeable and and that we need to back off for now and simply support the team and coaches.

[ysubigred]

the last 25 seconds of the 1st half is the reason we lost
that simple

You're full of crap.  A pressure buckling QB "Passes 17-35-2 int's" and an ineffective "O" that can't catch a pass lost this game.  The D held them to 30 yards rushing!  DEFENSE always beats OFFENSE.

[YTOWNALUM]

We can all sit here and talk how good we will be.  It's the same thing every year.  "We should be a 7 win team right now", "Defense killed us", and "We will be a powerhouse next year".  The fact of the matter is nothing has changed in these past 2 years.  We are still losing games and will not make the playoffs. We need to stop making excuses and just get it done.  Losing to Indiana State and SDSU should not be accepted here any longer.   

[IAA Fan]

the last 25 seconds of the 1st half is the reason we lost
that simple

You're full of crap.  A pressure buckling QB "Passes 17-35-2 int's" and an ineffective "O" that can't catch a pass lost this game.  The D held them to 30 yards rushing!  DEFENSE always beats OFFENSE.

I think you guys are both saying the same thing here. The D let that score happen AND Hess was certainly less effective the second half; with an additional two drops that killed us. On the other had, we should have tried the bomb very early in the first half ...before they stepped up pressure ...this would have kept them back.

The one thing I noticed about Hess. SDSU and UNI both gave the look of pressure from the outside, then pushed through the middle as Hess was stepping up out of the pocket. So Kurt was afraid to scramble to the outside & they knew where he was going to go each time. I would not mind seeing some "REAL" no-huddle. Come out in the second half and not give the opposing defense a chance to set their feet. Two-back set. Hit them with a continuous doses of Bellamy, followed by dropping Cooke in there to bust a big one. Maybe a coupel of pattern passes (but I am always afraid of the INT with those). This running  would take NDSU out of blitzing, or surrender too many yards per carry. I will take either one. If they back off, Hess has time to call his offense. If they do not back off, our O line has proven very enduring this season, we will just shove it at them. That was our biggest asset the MSU game. Both the announcer for the Big-10 network liked how we varied the tempo & kept possession.

[penguinpower]

We can all sit here and talk how good we will be.  It's the same thing every year.  "We should be a 7 win team right now", "Defense killed us", and "We will be a powerhouse next year".  The fact of the matter is nothing has changed in these past 2 years.  We are still losing games and will not make the playoffs. We need to stop making excuses and just get it done.  Losing to Indiana State and SDSU should not be accepted here any longer.   

What would you say if we beat NDSU and Missouri State and make it into the playoffs?  We beat #14 Illinois State and if we beat #1 NDSU we would have wins over two ranked teams and 7 Divison 1 wins.