YOUNGSTOWN — Reflecting back on a 4-8 season, Youngstown State head coach Doug Phillips didn’t mince words during his final press conferences of the season last week.

“I don’t live with what ifs. There’s no excuses,” Phillips said. “We’re in an outcome-based profession, and the only thing, the bottom line is you gotta win football games, and we fell short in those football games.

“That’s the thing we gotta figure out over the next nine months before we get back into next season. We want to win them all, and we didn’t do that this year. I’m disappointed for the seniors, but I’m glad we’re able to send those guys out as winners. But our fans deserve better, deserve more, our community, our university — it’s my job to find out how we can get back to winning a lot more games than what we did this past year.”

But still, it’s hard to not think about, “what if?”

Of YSU’s 12 games this season, eight were decided by one score. The Penguins won three of those, but lost the other five. However, that goes both ways. YSU could have won more games, but it could also have lost more.

The Penguins were right on the cusp all season long, but they were plagued by an inability to consistently finish.

“Besides two games that we really got our butts kicked, I thought every game we went in with the thought we were going to win a football game,” Phillips said. “Unfortunately we lost many of them. That’s the thing we gotta overcome, and that’s what we gotta learn. … There’s something missing that we gotta figure out, and whether that’s attention to detail, whether that something that we’re doing because you either coach it or allow it, so that’s something we gotta do a deep dive into. Because I truly believe we got players, we got the players to win in this league.”

WHAT WENT WRONG

It’s hard to ignore the issues on defense that hurt the Penguins all year.

The most glaring were the fact that YSU was the third-worst team in the FCS in yards allowed per play (7.58), ranked 112th in scoring defense (35.8 ppg) and was 106th in rush defense (198.2 ypg).

YSU also gave up double-digit leads in three games. However, on the flip side, the Penguins were able to rally back from deficits in two games.

“It’s a pattern. There’s been games where we come back, where we don’t have the lead and we fell short. Then I look at the games where you have the lead, but didn’t hold on,” Phillips said. “We’ll take time in the offseason to study all those things.”

Despite YSU’s issues, Phillips believes the Penguins can overcome it during the offseason.

“I always believe adversity makes you stronger, adversity makes you better,” Phillips said. “We’re going through this adversity, and it is my hope and my belief my whole life that this is the adversity that makes you who you are, makes you tougher, makes you a little bit more resilient.”

POSITIVE TAKEAWAYS

Even with YSU’s shortcomings this year, there were several things that the Penguins can continue to build on this offseason.

The first of which is the growth and production of sophomore quarterback Beau Brungard.

In his first season as YSU’s starter, Brungard made some of the mistakes that would be expected from a young, inexperienced quarterback, such as throwing 11 interceptions, but he also demonstrated growth and improvement from games one through 12.

Brungard’s dynamic playmaking ability as a runner was one of the focal points of YSU’s offense all season. He was fourth in the conference in rushing yards per game and finished with 998 yards and 16 touchdowns on the ground.

The lack of a true deep, downfield passing threat hurt YSU’s passing attack at times, but Brungard’s growth as a passer was put on display in the season finale against Northern Iowa when he completed 31-of-36 of his passes for 256 yards and two touchdowns. He finished the season with a completion percentage of 66.6%, while throwing for 2,141 yards and 12 touchdowns.

“There’s so many things quarterbacks got to know, not just the play,” Phillips said. “He’s gotta know protections, he’s gotta know coverages, he’s gotta know where to go if it’s a zero blitz, he’s gotta know 2-high shell, what safeties I’m reading, where’s my 1-2-3 based on what coverage they give. That just takes time working at it. He’ll be the first to tell you he’s not there yet, but he’ll tell you he’s a lot better than he was at the beginning of the season.”

While the offense as a whole struggled with consistency at times, it still led the FCS in time of possession and had a top-15 rushing attack.

Of the 11 players that started on offense against the Panthers, just four are seniors that have used up their eligibility — running back Tyshon King, tight end Brandan Serrano and offensive linemen Jaison Williams and Aidan Parker. The other seven starters, plus other depth pieces, are able to return, should they choose to do so, which gives YSU’s offensive coaching staff plenty to work with.

The other positive for YSU was its special teams. The Penguins were No. 1 in net punting in the FCS with junior punter Brandon Kilpatrick and kicker Andrew Lastovka continued to grow in his sophomore season, making 12 of his 17 field-goal attempts with a season-long of 51 yards.

WHAT’S NEXT

YSU now has nine months until its 2025 season opener against Mercyhurst on Aug. 28.

After hosting 15 prospective recruits for official visits this past weekend, the Penguins are trying to finalize their 2025 signing class over the next couple weeks, starting with the Early Signing Period from Dec. 4-6.

Then of course, the transfer portal will open, and YSU will need to work to retain current players on the roster, while also adding transfers to fill positions of need. All of which are critical for building for next season.

“Recruiting plays a huge role in making sure that when we replenish our roster, we bring players in here that can compete in this league and win more football games,” Phillips said. “Close isn’t good enough. We gotta win football games, and that’s going to be the focus going into December.

“It goes right into trying to get guys signed for the first week in December. Then you meet with your seniors, you do exit interviews, then you bring in the players that are on your roster. You see where we need to get better as a team. It’s constant improvement, and that’s an exciting piece because we gotta get a lot better, and that process starts immediately.”