GVSU has zero margin for error after couple costly plays come up short vs Ferris State | D'Addona

ALLENDALE – Grand Valley State football coach Scott Wooster knows the margin for error is zero the rest of the season.

It is that way every year in the GLIAC for a team aiming for title contention.

After losing back-to-back weeks to Michigan Tech and No. 1 Ferris State, the No. 13 Lakers can’t afford another loss this season if they want to make the playoffs.

Three losses didn’t get GVSU in last year and it likely won’t this season after a 41-34 loss to the rival Bulldogs on Saturday, Oct. 17.

That is the charm and the curse of the GLIAC and the Anchor Bone Classic. The losing team of the rivalry game has very little margin for error.

With Ferris State winning multiple NCAA titles in the past five years, GVSU’s reign over the GLIAC seems just a little bit further back in history, and it has been 20 years since the Lakers won an NCAA championship.

No. 1 Ferris State football overcomes early deficit to beat No. 13 GVSU

“Our whole mentality and what I have been trying to get out of this building is that light work can be (the difference) in college football,” Wooster said. “We had some guys think Michigan Tech would be light work and it got exposed. If we are the same every day regardless of the circumstances, we are going to win the football game.

“That is what has to get out of this building for us to return to championship ball. It has been 20 years, and that is what has to get out of this building. I have not been able to get it out of this building yet – YET, but it is going to and we are going to be the same team every week. We are going to figure that out.”

It looked like the Lakers had it figured out in the first quarter.

The Lakers grabbed two early turnovers (fumble recoveries by Tyus Jackson and Ryder Gravenhof) and had a big sack (Jackson) that put GVSU up 17-0 over rival Ferris State.

“We got off to a great, great start. We had that belief right away,” Wooster said. “This game has that momentum that comes in waves.”

The wave changed quickly in the second quarter.

After playing elite defense in the first quarter and establishing a running game, everything screeched to a halt.

The Lakers, which had 126 yards of offense in the first quarter managed just 2 in the second quarter. Two total yards of offense.

And it wasn’t like they had just one possession and the Bulldogs had the ball the entire time. GVSU had four possessions in the second quarter: Interception, three-and-out, fumble, three-and-out.

After the interception, GVSU had plenty of chances to get things going but couldn’t move the ball 2 yards the next three possessions.

“(Ferris) did what we thought they were going to do the whole game, we just didn’t execute,” Schuster said. “We started hot and the defense played well the whole game. We didn’t have their back in the middle (of the game).”

But Ferris State converted both turnovers and the first punt into 17 points to tie the game, the second TD and a field goal coming just 1:14 apart.

“We have only turned the ball over twice all season (before the second quarter) and we let them get the momentum,” Wooster said. “It was just (lack of) execution, pure and simple. We have to get the execution fixed. That is 100% on us.”

On the other side of the ball, GVSU’s defense couldn’t contain the running game, led by quarterback Wyatt Bower.

Missed tackles and wide-open holes in the line that weren’t there early in the game were all of a sudden a regular occurrence.

It moved into the second half as Ferris State took the second-half kickoff and marched right down the field and scored twice to push the lead to 34-17.

That made it 34 unanswered points before the Lakers finally struck again on a 61-yard Kellen Reed touchdown catch.

But the Bulldogs turned right around less than a minute and a half later and answered with a quarterback run by Wyatt Bower that went 53 yards for a score.

The Lakers didn’t give up, scoring a field goal and a Schuster pass to Kellen Russell-Dixon for a touchdown that pulled them stunningly back within one score.

But the Lakers ran out of time and now have to be nearly flawless to get to the next step of being a championship team again.

Contact sports editor Dan D’Addona at Dan.D’Addona@hollandsentinel.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as  Twitter @DanDAddona or Facebook @HollandSentinelSports.   

This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: GVSU has zero margin for error after couple costly plays come up short vs Ferris State | D’Addona