YOUNGSTOWN — More than a week has passed since Youngstown State’s improbable second-half meltdown against Yale in the first round of the FCS playoffs.

While the eight remaining teams in the playoffs are preparing for the quarterfinals this upcoming weekend, the Penguins have entered the offseason and the work to prepare for next season has begun.

Despite finishing the 2025 season with an 8-5 record, YSU has a lot of self-reflection to do.

While the offense reached new heights with a new offensive coordinator and quarterback Beau Brungard’s emergence as one of the best, most dynamic players in the country, the defense struggled throughout most of Missouri Valley Football Conference play, exhibiting many of the same issues that plagued the unit in 2024.

“We gotta find answers to compete for a league championship in the Missouri Valley and compete to get into the playoffs and win once you get to the playoffs,” head coach Doug Phillips said after YSU’s loss to Yale. “We earned to get there, but you gotta earn it each week to continue to play. We didn’t do that in the last 30 minutes of (that) football game, and that falls on my shoulders. So I gotta take a deep look at myself, deep reflection, to figure it out and see what we need to do to get this program where it needs to be.”

Even though the season had ended sooner than YSU had hoped, in the big picture, the Penguins turned things around significantly from their 2024 campaign.

“I couldn’t be more proud to know where we came from,” Phillips said. “This group last year, sitting here at this time, was a 4-8 football team. I hope people can just remember the fight, the toughness and the resilience that this group made this year to flip that.”

OFFENSIVE SUCCESS

YSU made a change at offensive coordinator after the 2024 season — parting ways with Troy Rothenbuhler to bring in Mike Yurcich.

The change ended up paying dividends for the Penguins, as YSU had one of the best offenses in the FCS this season.

The Penguins are 10th in scoring offense at 36.6 points per game and eighth in total offense, averaging 459.6 yards per game. In the MVFC, YSU was first in total offense and second in scoring offense behind North Dakota State.

“It’s made me a better head coach and made our offense better,” Phillips said of bringing Yurcich on board. “It’s kind of what we needed. Sometimes you look and say, ‘Gosh, you found it. You hit the jackpot.'”

The most notable beneficiary of Yurcich’s addition was Brungard, who ended the season being named MVFC Offensive Player of the Year, while also being one of three players invited to Nashville for the Walter Payton Award ceremony.

Yurcich aided in Brungard’s development, as he made history and set all kinds of new program records this season.

“He’s a phenomenal coach,” Brungard said of Yurcich. “He knows so much football, it’s almost scary. He just knows so much, and he’s poured all that into me and into this offense. Every single day he comes in, he gives it his all. He takes no off days. He’s fiery, and he expects and demands the most out of us. He has raised my level of play so much, and I’m so thankful for what he’s done for this offense and for me personally as a player.”

WHAT TO DO ABOUT THE DEFENSE?

This feels like “deja vu” after the struggles that YSU had on the defensive side of the ball in 2024.

Last season, the Penguins were ranked near the bottom of the FCS and the MVFC in several statistical categories. This year, YSU’s defense improved, but only marginally.

The Penguins finished the year tied for 93rd in scoring defense, giving up 31 points per game, and were 80th in total defense, allowing 393.2 yards per game.

YSU’s two main improvements defensively were in yards allowed per play, which decreased from 7.6 to 6.1, and takeaways, which increased from seven to 19, its highest total since forcing 19 in 2022.

Now heading into the offseason, YSU’s biggest questions are on the defensive side of the ball.

The Penguins have already seen several defensive players announce plans to enter the transfer portal, which officially opens on Jan. 2. Some of those names include defensive backs Makai Shahid, Justin Wimpye and Isaiah Hackett and defensive lineman Dashawn Carter, but of course, more could be on the way since the portal doesn’t close until Jan. 16.

However, it remains to be seen how the Penguins intend to address their defensive shortcomings. YSU could change its scheme and philosophy defensively, it could adjust the kinds of players it targets in the transfer portal or it could make changes to the coaching staff.

“We gotta look at everything. We gotta see how we can compete,” Phillips said. “We did not do a good job with scoring defense. We gave up way too many points this year. So when you go into the offseason, just like we went into the offseason last year, we have to reflect, what can we do better?”