Getting to your respective title game is tough. Not making it for seventeen years is even tougher.
Enter the Youngstown State Penguins, an FCS school who has not made it to the FCS National Title Game since 1999. As a team that plays in a conference ruled by North Dakota State, the Penguins have been struggling to make the playoffs for over ten years. That is until this year, when the Penguins made a huge jump in terms of progress. When Kevin Rader made an incredible catch to lift the Penguins over Eastern Washington 41-38, Youngstown State found themselves in a position they haven’t been in for quite some time: The National Championship game.
Rader laughs when talking about the improbable catch, still unsure of how he did it. “Just a moment thing. Don’t really have an explanation of how I did it. Just focusing in and made the play there at the end of the game.”
It seems like that quote can describe the journey that the boys from Youngstown have been on this year. The team started off 1-1, as they split the first two games between Duquesne and West Virginia. Though falling by seventeen points, Youngstown State seemed to benefit from that game against the Mountaineers. They went on a tear, winning five games in a row against notable teams such as Illinois State and Northern Iowa. The team would finish at 8-3 and lock up a playoff berth for the first time since 2006.
If you’re trying to figure out how a team that was 5-6 last year finished 8-3 this year, look no further than Head Coach Bo Pelini. Pelini took over the job last season after previous head coach Eric Wolford departed for the NFL to be an offensive line coach for the San Francisco 49ers. Though the underachieving year last season might have been hard, many players put faith that Coach Bo would turn the program around.
“He puts the team first in every single thing that we do. He’s a good person, so that makes him a good coach. When you see that someone will stand behind you and give his last to make sure you’re okay, you gotta stand behind somebody else like that. When somebody will fight for you, you gotta fight for them” says Wide Receiver Alvin Bailey in regards to Pelini.
Defensive Tackle Savon Smith adds this about Pelini.
“The passion and the intensity. The little things that he does that lets us know that he cares about us and that we have to go win this game. he always gives us some life wisdom to go along with why we’re playing this game of football.”
Coach Pelini makes it short and sweet when talking about the emotions of winning the National Championship for his hometown of Youngstown, making it clear to everyone how he feels about the situation. “That’s why I came back.”
There were a few setbacks in the season for YSU, with tough losses to South Dakota State and North Dakota State along the way. But the team didn’t let those losses tally up like last season. “I think the biggest thing is how much the whole team and the whole defense have bought into Bo’s (Pelini) system” says Smith when talking about the team’s mindset from last season to this season.
One move that was made midway through the season the quarterback change from Ricky Davis to Hunter Wells, who had started the entire season last year. Wells sat for half of the year and saw his first start against Indiana State, the eighth game of the season. Since the switch, Wells has thrown for 1, 453 yards and nine touchdowns throughout the nine games he has started and has led YSU to a 7-1 record while at the helm.
Pelini talks about what differences he sees in his Junior Quarterback. “I think he’s a lot more comfortable in the pocket. I think he’s really made some strides, as far as sitting in there and making some difficult throws. He’s played at a high-level.”
Youngstown State would ride the hot hand of Wells into the FCS tournament, as they were selected as one of the 24 teams in the field. They would be ranked outside the top eight, meaning they would have to go through four teams to get to the championship game.
YSU cruised to a 38-24 win over Samford in the opening round. In round two, they were able to keep a Jacksonville State offense that went to the FCS Title game last year in check with a 40-24 win. After playing an overtime thriller against Wofford which resulted in a 30-23 victory, the team headed to Eastern Washington to play the number two-ranked team in the tournament.
The game was played in extremely cold weather, with the temperature reaching single digits and snow blowing across the field. Smith expressed how cold it truly was:
“By far, that was the coldest game I’ve ever played in. In the first half, it was like maybe zero, maybe three degrees. But second half, the temperature had definitely dropped below zero. It was actually a little bit hard to breathe in that high climate, in that cold weather also.
They won that game with the last-second touchdown caught by Kevin Rader on a play that was nothing short of spectacular. The tight end talks about how surreal the moment was for him:
“After the kickoff and we tackled that guy and the game actually ended, I think it sunk in what I actually did and what it meant. That we were actually going to Frisco.”
Most people are shocked by the run the Penguins have been on. But Savon Smith sums up how the team approaches games that are assumably unwinnable to most. “We don’t take anything away from any of these teams, they’re all great teams. But we just don’t believe that they can’t be beat.”
The remarkable touchdown play was shown over and over on Sportscenter’s Top Ten Plays that night. Rader has had the opportunity to watch it multiple times thanks to some insider help. “My sister works for ESPN, she’s a graphic designer. The interview I had the next morning after the game, I talked about her and then they actually put up a photo of us whenever I was at ESPN headquarters visiting her. She has all the clips saved on a file she’s gonna bring home to me and my parents.”
The Penguins will be taking on James Madison in Frisco, Texas on Saturday. JMU is known to most as the team who dethroned North Dakota State in the semifinals. But Youngstown State is not overlooking JMU at all. “They went through a lot of adversity to get there, just like we did. Any team that makes it to the next level is a good team, so you cant count nobody out….you can’t take a nap on anybody. They’re gonna be prepared to come play just like we’re ready to play” states Bailey.
On January 7th, two teams that have shocked the FCS will play for a title, with one team able to end their title drought. It’s been since 1997 since YSU’s last title, JMU last winning it all in 2004. Bo Pelini said it best when asked about the opportunity at hand for Youngstown State, stating that “they’ve (YSU) earned the right to play for a title”. That can be said for both teams.
For Smith and many others, the dream can be fulfilled Saturday.
“We’re gonna win a national championship. That’s what I came to Youngstown State for. That’s what I’m playing college football for. To win a national championship.”
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