Youngstown State’s regular season just ended in the most gut-wrenching way possible, a brutal 34-33 loss to Illinois State on Saturday night. Can you believe it? Illinois State quarterback Beckham Pellant lowered his shoulder and dove over the goal line with a mere nine seconds left, stealing a victory that would have made a massive difference for our Penguins. With no game next weekend, that’s it for the regular season. This means Beau Brungard and the crew are now left in limbo, anxiously waiting for Selection Sunday.
The Brutal Finish and the Playoff Question Mark
What a finish, and not in a good way. That 34-33 defeat stings, especially knowing it was the last chance to boost the resume. Our 8-3 Penguins will absolutely be in the playoffs when the bracket drops next Sunday, there’s no doubt about that. But the big question looming over Doug Phillips’ team is “where and when will they play next?” There’s a real argument that they did enough to dodge playing on Thanksgiving weekend, snagging a bye, but that late-game Redbirds score might have just thrown a wrench into those plans. A bye week could easily be off the table now. This loss just made everything so much harder.
Rooting Interests and Seeding Scenarios
Our Penguins are sitting at 8-3, and every single one of those victories came against DI teams. We’re talking ranked wins over South Dakota, Southern Illinois, Northern Iowa, and North Dakota. Two of those were Top 10 victories at the time! With that kind of record, it’s pretty safe to say we haven’t played our last home game. The real fight is for that first or second-round home game, and whether we get one of those coveted top-eight seeds for a bye week. That largely depends on what some other teams do this upcoming Saturday. YSU needs some help, hoping for some squads in a similar position to take a loss.
So, who are we all rooting for this weekend? Keep an eye on these games: Montana State (vs. Montana), South Dakota (@ Illinois State), Northern Colorado (@ Northern Arizona), ETSU (@ Mercer), Central Arkansas (vs. Austin Peay), and McNeese (vs. Lamar). If those listed teams win, it keeps the 5-8 seed range wide open for the Penguins to grab one of those spots. That would give us two weeks off before our first playoff game, which could be a huge advantage or a rust-builder, depending on who you ask.
If we end up in the 9-12 seed range, we’d still likely get a home game in the opening round, probably against a lower conference champion from somewhere like the Ohio Valley or Pioneer League. Nobody wants a repeat of last year’s first-round game against Ivy League winner Yale. That was a game our fans would probably rather forget, and a position like that would set up a potential second-round road trip against a team like Lamar, Montana, Austin Peay, or Mercer if we advanced.
Closing it out against Illinois State would have saved us all this stress and speculation. As it stands, Youngstown State has left much of its postseason fate in the hands of others and the committee. We won’t have to sweat it out as a bubble team, but the seeding, man, the seeding is still a huge question mark.
The Penguins, and everyone else, will learn their playoff future next Sunday, November 22nd, at 12:00 PM ET on ESPNU when the 24-team bracket is finally released. It’s going to be a long week of waiting!
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Yahoo Sports.
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