When McMaster missed the football playoffs two years ago, it was seen by some as a COVID-related oddity. When it missed again last year, it was still widely seen as a fluke.
But in the wake of a 23-9 loss to Ottawa on Saturday to finish the season 2-6 and out of the post-season for a third-straight season, some tough questions are warranted. Because the fall from the heights of winning the Yates Cup in 2019 to joining York as the only team in Ontario to miss the playoffs every season since has been fast and jarring.
“We expected to be in a very, very different spot this year,” says head coach Stef Ptaszek.
The problem wasn’t the defence. That was pretty good. Middle of the pack statistically with a couple of really good performances mixed in. It sure wasn’t special teams. The kicking game with Michael Horvat and the kick returners was excellent. Probably the best in the province.
The offence, though?
“It’s a bit more of a dumpster fire and we disintegrated to contributing to the other teams’ points on a consistent basis,” he says.
Take away the blowout win over York (which lost big again this weekend and has now been outscored 491-42 this year making a big victory over them hardly worth celebrating) and Mac averaged just 17 points a game. That’s the opposite of the lethal attack that made the program the most feared offence in the province for many years.
“I’m the play caller, I’m the offensive co-ordinator and that went very, very sideways,” he explains. “So I do have to do more listening than talking as we try to unwind how to improve our offensive performance.”
Some things are already pretty clear.
He understands that you’re only as good as your players, which puts enormous emphasis on recruiting. The class that came in this year was strong and will be excellent, he says. But …
“I don’t think that’s where we’ve been in the last three to five years,” he says. “I think there’s been some disjointed recruiting efforts and some disjointed classes.”
That, too, is his to own, he says. There simply must be more victories in the battle to acquire top talent.
The offensive line has been a particular problem. Last year it was porous and had the quarterback running for his life. This year, Mac couldn’t establish a running game. If you can’t win in the trenches, you can’t win. To fix this, he’s brought in a coach specifically to work with — and recruit — offensive linemen.
Since Ptaszek isn’t shying away from taking responsibility for these things, it’s only fair to mention the injuries. Football teams all suffer them. Yet the list of wounded here was unusually long and cut unusually deeply.
He explains that starting quarterback Keagan Hall was dinged up in a week one loss to Windsor and played most of the rest of the way having barely practised. His top three receivers were all lost for the year more than a month ago. Seven running backs reported for training camp. Five — including his starter — ended up unable to play, which created some bizarre scenarios.
“We’re playing Waterloo at the end of the season and my third-string quarterback is handing to one of our backup linebackers,” he says.
Multiple times he insists this isn’t an excuse. But he says he plans a deep examination into whether something systemic or something done in practice contributed to this.
And he’s already begun reflecting on whether he should’ve played his healthy backup QB even if he believed his hurting starter gave them the best chance to win.
“Letting him rest might have been a better plan.”
It won’t just be him contemplating some of these things. With the season over, the school now begins its review of the program. That includes anonymous surveys from student athletes and an evaluation from the associate athletic director. This happens with every team in every sport, no matter how it does.
With a trio of poor years in the books, there will surely be some who will suggest Ptaszek’s time should be up. That it’s time for a change.
It says here, that’s not the answer. The man has a resume that includes way more winning than losing. He’s shown he knows how to build a champion. And he’s still widely respected. Those ingredients should earn him more leeway than might be given to someone else.
But it’s not infinite.
Three years without a playoff game is long enough. If this is the bottom and the pieces and plans really are in place to get the Marauders back to their traditional place closer to the top of the standings, he should get the chance to lead them there.
But if we’re having this discussion again this time next year …
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