FB: Presidents' Athletic Conference

[Dutch12]

Here's my stab at predictions for the week

Thiel 40 - Waynesburg 10 : The Tomcats held Abels to 30 yards rushing last year.  They will take the running game away and make Waynesburg try to beat them through the air.

W&J 45 - Grove City 6 :  Grove City plays hard, but W&J has too many weapons for this one to be close.

Westminster 27 - Bethany 24 : Should be a close game, Westminster will run the ball with Buggey and Bethany will try to get the ball to their athletic wide outs.

Thomas More 20 - Frostburg 7 : TMC Defense will keep Frostburg in check and chip in with a defensive score.

[ThielFan]

With only 32 bids to the playoffs available, and a good portion of those already accounted for due to automatic qualifiers from other conferences, I'm quite confident that there is NO way that the PAC will get three teams into the playoffs.  At this point, the only PAC team that has been strong consistently from year to year is W&J... leading me to believe that it will be very difficult even for TWO teams to get in.

[Bob.Gregg]

Rest assured, with FOUR Pool B berths, and 1 of them going to Linfield (NWC), the PAC gets TWO at most.

Thiel is in at 10-0 or 9-1 (as long as the 1 isn't to Thomas More).

W&J is in if they run the table, regardless of what Thiel does.

Thomas More gets in ONLY if 9-1 (that means beating Thiel and W&J).

[Cleveland Cartel]

I was not aware of the automatic bid not starting until 2007!  That definetly changes my perspective on things.  The PAC will not get three teams in the playoffs, and if Thiel and WJ are fortenate enough to win out they will both go.  But if WJ loses one more their playoff hopes might be fading out, and I believe that Thiel will have to lose a pair to be dethroned out of the top spot in the PAC and from the playoffs.

[Cleveland Cartel]

Predictions:

WJ vs Grove City:  Krepps will have a field day against the Grove city defense with 2 touchdowns and one from a kickoff to the house!  Edwards will throw for over 340 and will have a total of 5 TD's with 2 to Krepps, 1 to Miller, Mendel, and Soeder.  Trimmer will have 13 tackles and an INT to go along with another solid Saturday for that Senior Leader.  Grove City will only manage a 120 yards total and be shut out two weeks in a row.  Well throw in a field goal by Sidebothem also hes an Ohio Native!  Aaron Margo will have one sack on the day for the GCC WOlverines!

Final Score: 52-0

Thiel vs Waynesburg
Great matchup!  Thiel dominates the run game once again and Abels is held to under 80 yards this time with a TD.  The passing game for the Yellow Jackets is hurting with Dumm graduating and they do not do much through the air either as Cobb is sacked 4 times and throws 2 picks to a hungry Thiel D! Hunter and Hawkins each catch 3 passes a piece but are held to limited yardage.  Minton runs for over 140 with two TD's and Satterfield throws for a pair with one being to Chambers and the other to Mark Lascola. 

Final Score  42-10

Westmin vs. Bethany
This will be a great game and Westmin and buggey will come on late to provide the late punch to win the game!  Bethany will come out shootin with Sophmore Sensation Joyner, but it will not be enough as Westmin makes the adjustments at halftime and goes on for the victory.  Wineberg will throw for over 200 and 2 TD's with both being to Joyner, but Buggey will run for over 100 and two TD's.  This kid had a unbelievable game last week and I would not be suprised to see another kickoff return.  Also add a field goal by Castillo.
Final Prediction:  24-13

TMC vs Frostburg St.

Tough Matchup here also and this should be a highly contested matchup that I will be at this weekend!
TMC and the Defense comes out rusty after their bye week and Frostburg takes advantage early putting up 17 in the first half.  Carlisle and West will lead their team back into the game with solid defense the rest of the day, but the offense does not have enough fire power without Berkely and Frostburg does not turn the ball over and grinds on the clock to the victory!
Carlisle will finish the day with 14 tackles while West comes away with 11 solo stops.  UPSET CITY BABY!

Final Prediction:  20-17

[Cleveland Cartel]

Any predetermind thoughts on those predictions?

Also where has our friend PAC4LIfe gone?


I believe you owe some people on this board some money!

And is anyone else going to any games this weekend??

[Riddell]

It was nice to see Thiel display sportsmanship that is mostly dead.  They could have run Grove City into the ground but chose to take the high road instead.  Not only is Thiel athletic, but they are nice.  It will be interesting to see how they handle a team like Waynesburg.  The Yellow Jackets are known for their "beat them any way you can" play.  Will Thiel sink to their level in order to score another win?  If they do, I am sure it will be calculated as the Thiel coaches seem like a classy bunch.  I have to admit, I am also looking forward to watching the "fan show" at this next away game.  If it is anything like it was at W & J, it will be entertainment that will rival the game itself.  There is nothing like an energetic group of fans to spur their team to victory.  And I am predicting another victory, Thiel over Waynesburg, 34-10.  For all the naysayers out there, Thiel is going all the way!  

[PittTBCW]

CC,

I think Pac4life is hiding!!! I bet he will only come out when Thiel faulters now. He owes me some money too!!!

Hey Pac4life keep the money and buy the Thiel corner a ride all day pass at Disney World.

I hate people who hide behind the computer. Just face us Pac4life we won't eat you alive.

[Cleveland Cartel]

Riddell,

Thanks for the those comments!  I loved the Kneeling on the 3 yard line with 30 seconds left to go.  It showed absolute class from the coaching staff and acting as if they have been there before.  What comes around goes around....Grove City will have their day again and I am sure they would do the same. 
Even though Thiel has not been in this position in a long long time it is touching to see them be classy and not run up the score.  I almost forgot about that and thank you for bringing that up.  The tomcats obviously respect everyone they play and their play for 4 quarters was all they needed to talk their game, and not a last second touchdown to make the score look worse than it was.  Goodluck to the PAC this weekend and I hope TMC proves me wrong Saints!!!!!

[Cleveland Cartel]

Who will end up finishing last in the conference this year?

Bethany??

Westminster?

GCC???

I would like to say that bethany is getting better which they clearly are but I still don't think they will get out of being the bottom dwellers of the conference this year, but if I had to rank them it would go in this order....

7. Bethany
6.GCC
5. Westminster
4.Waynesburg
3.TMC
2. WJ
1. Thiel

Lastly this is for Pat and the boys...
How come the PAC does not get  an automatic bid this year??? Is it because of the one year of play they must have first???  TMC did come from div 3 and in the independent league I do believe???

Is that conference decision or a NCAA??

Man that sucks!

[spliskin]

NCAA rules require a "2 year waiting period" for a previously unqualified conference to receive the AQ. I believe it has to do with conference stability. The NCAA doesn't want to deal with a situation where a conference has the minimum number of members (7) one year and then the next year they drop back down to 6 and lose AQ status. The PAC asked the NCAA for an exemption to this rule based on the PAC existing for 50+ years as proof that they were stable. The NCAA did not buy that argument and held the PAC to the 2 year waiting period.

A small price to pay to finally get the AQ in my opinion. 7-8 years ago the PAC only had five members (after Alfred bailed out & before Westminster came in). The PAC champ will get into the playoffs for sure & it is likely that one other school will make it. The most interesting scenerio would be a three way tie for 1st place in the conference.

TC beat W&J, TMC beats TC, & W&J beats TMC & all 3 finish 9-1.  I don't know what the tiebreaker system is in the PAC but one of those teams would surely get left out of the playoffs. I believe the tiebreaker system would determine a champ for playoff purposes (at least it does with AQ conferences)

If the tie breaker system does apply to non-AQ conferences then my guess is that W&J would be the shoe in to the playoffs due to their past playoff history/tradition, while either TMC or TC would get left at home. It's hard to say which one would get the nod in a muddle-huddle like that.

[OldPhart]

I wouldn't lose too much sleep waiting for PAC4LIFE.  I think that Pat requires that everyone has a legit email address in order to post.  My recollection was that PAC4LIFE's email was "suspicious" - fingerhut.com, or some such thing.

Indeed, scanning over the pages of PAC posts, PAC4LIFE's original predication seems to have disappeared.

But on to football:

Thiel 35  Waynesburg 14.  This is a tough one to call.  It could be much closer - but no Dumm, conference leading "penalty yards" given up, coupled with Abels' anemic output in last year's matchup (30 yards - Dumm had 32!) makes it hard to think this will be a close performance.  Still, Thiel hasn't beaten Waynesburg at Waynesburg since ... well, consulting the media guide, Thiel won against Waynesburg in 1933 (6-0), and no I don't remember if it was home or away  .  Seriously, what worries me most about this game is that due to last year's throttling of Abels Thiel might not be taking him as seriously as they should.

WJ 42 GCC 7 - as long as GCC's running game generates enough first downs  to keep WJ's offense from running the score up to ridiculous levels.  WJ gives up more points than I would have expected.  Look for special teams or pressure on Edwards to generate a touchdown.   

Bethany 21 Westminster 14 - Great respect for Jeff Hand, BUT I think Bethany can pull one off IF they manage to hang onto the ball.  Westmin's offensive point production this year is bloated by the from 38 point kicking around the hapless pups of Hiram.  This accounts for HALF of all of their points scored this year!

TMC 17 Frosties 10 - Don't know much about Frostburg - but the stats seem to indicate that their O won't challenge the stingy TMC D overmuch.

Last week, I think the pickers all chose correctly.  How about adding a tiebreaker: Total number of penalty yards assessed against Waynesburg this weekend?

I would be interested in others views about Abels vs Minton - who is the greater threat?


BTW - I believe NCAA says TWO years not one year.  TMC was an independent - not affiliated with any conference.  I think the rush to get a full schedule in FB and BB were in part to help persuade the NCAA to waive the rule.  Perhaps the strategy backfired as lots of last minute scheduling changes raised hackles among non-conference opponents who were bumped off PAC schedules. 

Anyway, not a big deal for football where the PAC has consistently been represented without the AQ, but certainly a concern for other sports - most notably basketball. So not this year, not next year - 2007. 

[Bob.Gregg]

spliskin,

There is no tie-breaker in place for this year.  There is no need.  The teams that make the NCAAs, if any, are there by invitation, not by tie-breaker.

In fact, if Thiel would win the rest of PAC games, and then lose to Buffalo State and Carnegie-Mellon, the Tomcats would likely NOT get in, and W&J would at 9-1, even though the Presidents didn't win the conference.

The PAC will begin crafting tie-breaker rules in the near future for that time in the AQ Promised Land when one is needed.

[spliskin]

Bob,

You're correct. I looked in the PAC "rules & regs" link on the home page & it does list the "tiebreaker rules" but stipulates they are soley to determine AQ status which the PAC does not yet have. So their stated tie-breaker system will not take effect until 2007.

As I said, if all three teams finish out at 9-1, the NCAA has to decide who to invite. I think W&J would go for sure and then either TMC or TC would go, but not both. Do you agree?

[Bob.Gregg]

spliskin, TC, TMC & W&J can't finish in a 3-way tie, all at 9-1.

If TMC beats TC, and W&J beats TMC to create the three-way, TMC is 8-2.

That scenario would DEFINITELY leave TMC out.

W&J would be in as a "B" and Thiel would likely get a "C" (or vice versa).