FB: Presidents' Athletic Conference

[E.115]

With the new Top 25 , http://www.d3football.com/top25/2017/week2

Two thoughts:

1) I had no idea TMC suffered a defeat with the lack of chatter here.  What went down in Crestview Hills??
2) Even as a fan of the arch rival school, I gotta say Carnegie Mellon is completely flying under the radar.  They gotta be the best team remaining in the country who is not getting a single vote in the top 25. 

[SaintsFAN]

With the new Top 25 , http://www.d3football.com/top25/2017/week2

Two thoughts:

1) I had no idea TMC suffered a defeat with the lack of chatter here.  What went down in Crestview Hills??
2) Even as a fan of the arch rival school, I gotta say Carnegie Mellon is completely flying under the radar.  They gotta be the best team remaining in the country who is not getting a single vote in the top 25.

I wasn't present for the game, but did watch.  It looked like Bridgewater showed up and TMC was caught in a week where they weren't completely focused.  Add to that the penalties; 7 personal foul/unsportsmanlike penalties and now an important game has turned into a playoff game.  Like last season, where they played 9 playoff games prior to the actual playoffs, this year they have 8. 

[wally_wabash]

2) Even as a fan of the arch rival school, I gotta say Carnegie Mellon is completely flying under the radar.  They gotta be the best team remaining in the country who is not getting a single vote in the top 25.

Would nominate Denison as well, but your point is good.  CMU has some dudes and the on-the-radar PAC squads all go to Gesling this season.  Pretty good recipe there for the Tartans. 

[jknezek]

With the new Top 25 , http://www.d3football.com/top25/2017/week2

Two thoughts:

1) I had no idea TMC suffered a defeat with the lack of chatter here.  What went down in Crestview Hills??
2) Even as a fan of the arch rival school, I gotta say Carnegie Mellon is completely flying under the radar.  They gotta be the best team remaining in the country who is not getting a single vote in the top 25.

I wasn't present for the game, but did watch.  It looked like Bridgewater showed up and TMC was caught in a week where they weren't completely focused.  Add to that the penalties; 7 personal foul/unsportsmanlike penalties and now an important game has turned into a playoff game.  Like last season, where they played 9 playoff games prior to the actual playoffs, this year they have 8.

This had trap game written all over it and TMC played right down to it. A low profile opponent who they beat the snot out of last year surrounded by a huge OOC revenge game and their hated conference rival. Textbook trap and TMC fell right into it and played awful. Still, the Saints should have been good enough to win. A very poor effort.

[Bob.Gregg]

Everybody around here wishes that the Saints hadn't fallen in the trap.
Both teams undefeated in the final PAC Conference meeting certainly is a stronger lead-in, not that TMC/W&J will be lacking for hype...

[ExTartanPlayer]

Everybody around here wishes that the Saints hadn't fallen in the trap.

Both teams undefeated in the final PAC Conference meeting certainly is a stronger lead-in, not that TMC/W&J will be lacking for hype...

Not only at W&J, but each of the next three opponents, all of whom harbor legitimate PAC title hopes (with varying odds of success, admittedly, but each of those three teams are good enough to think it could be their year).

2) Even as a fan of the arch rival school, I gotta say Carnegie Mellon is completely flying under the radar.  They gotta be the best team remaining in the country who is not getting a single vote in the top 25.

Would nominate Denison as well, but your point is good.  CMU has some dudes and the on-the-radar PAC squads all go to Gesling this season.  Pretty good recipe there for the Tartans. 

This is the PAC board, but as usual, I am in agreement.  Both Denison and CMU have a good look about them, and I am surprised to see zero votes tossed at either team, but those things have a way of correcting themselves over the course of the season.  Just win, baby.

We'll have more data on this in about three weeks, but here's how I would cluster the PAC teams today:

W&J (2-0, best win: 37-27 over St. John Fisher, 8-3 last year)
CMU (2-0, best win: 28-7 over Washington U, 2016 playoff team)
CWRU (1-0, best win: 34-14 over Chicago, 4-6 last year)
Westminster (1-1, best game: 20-14 loss vs. Wittenberg - 2016 playoff team)
Thomas More (1-1, docked due to upset loss, but clearly still has high ceiling given opening week W over perennial playoff contender Franklin)

Again, CWRU benefits from the unbalanced schedule and will not play W&J or Thomas More.  If they don't start 7-0, something has gone very wrong in Cleveland.  They will close against three quality opponents, including the finale at Gesling, which has some serious big-game potential if the Tartans stay upright the next few weeks.

Beyond that...ugh.

Geneva (1-1, best win: 34-13 over Bethany)
St. Vincent (1-1, best win: 25-22 over Thiel)
Waynesburg (0-2, losses 19-0 at Muskingum and 28-7 vs. Westminster)
Bethany (0-2, losses 35-13 at Ursinus and 34-13 vs. Geneva)
Thiel (0-2, losses 38-6 vs. Allegheny and 25-22 at St. Vincent)
Grove City (0-2, losses 42-31 at Juniata and 47-7 vs. W&J)

Geneva stands on top of this pile thanks to three-TD win over Bethany.  SVC is the only other owner of a win, but a three-pointer at home against a Thiel squad that lost 38-6 to Allegheny is not a particularly good sign.  That said, it's hard to rank anyone else until somebody wins a game.  Looks like we have another year with 5 high-quality teams and 6 also-rans (though it's impossible to say this without sounding snarky, I truly don't mean to disrespect the effort put forth by the also-rans; everyone that plays D3 football has a baseline level of respect from me; I say this merely to acknowledge that there is a huge gap between the top five and the rest of the league, to the point where I basically can't imagine anyone from the second list beating someone from the first list).

[DagarmanSpartan]

As Tartan said, CWRU's opening 7 games should be a snap.  Case would have to truly underachieve not to win them.

I'm VERY worried about the last 3 games though.  CWRU didn't beat CMU last year, and CMU appears to be at least as good, possibly better, this year.

I was optimistic that CWRU had a favorable schedule at the start of the season, but it's not looking like such a cakewalk now.

The truth is, Case didn't look much like a Top 25 team in its opener.  I'm now less optimistic than I was about our prospects, but as always, I remain hopeful!!!

[ADL70]

A random CWRU student will have chance to kick 45 yard field goal for $25,000 at halftime Saturday night.  Given the categories that they exclude, I think the $25 grand is safe.

http://athletics.case.edu/sports/fball/2017-18/releases/20170914nl9f6z

Also note new website design.

[Scots13]

So they're looking for Flounder or Bluto to come kick?

[E.115]

A random CWRU student will have chance to kick 45 yard field goal for $25,000 at halftime Saturday night.  Given the categories that they exclude, I think the $25 grand is safe.

http://athletics.case.edu/sports/fball/2017-18/releases/20170914nl9f6z

Also note new website design.

So they're looking for Flounder or Bluto to come kick?

Yeah that money is safe...

Older grad students perhaps?  International students??

[jknezek]

A random CWRU student will have chance to kick 45 yard field goal for $25,000 at halftime Saturday night.  Given the categories that they exclude, I think the $25 grand is safe.

http://athletics.case.edu/sports/fball/2017-18/releases/20170914nl9f6z

Also note new website design.

Those exclusions are hilarious. I'm surprised they didn't add one about the ability to walk and chew gum at the same time.

[Scots13]

The fine print isn't fine enough. Now it's a complete joke. Dangling 25G's in front of college students is trolling to the max.

The money is 99.999% safe.
"Current or former collegiate or junior collegiate football, soccer and rugby players and coaches who have played or coached at that level anywhere in the world within the past five years." Class of '12, RISE UP AND STRETCH THE HAMMIES!

[SaintsFAN]

They ought to give that money away to anyone willing to go down there and take a chance.  Pick someone randomly. 

I believe they can afford it.   

[D3MAFAN]

A random CWRU student will have chance to kick 45 yard field goal for $25,000 at halftime Saturday night.  Given the categories that they exclude, I think the $25 grand is safe.

http://athletics.case.edu/sports/fball/2017-18/releases/20170914nl9f6z

Also note new website design.

Those exclusions are hilarious. I'm surprised they didn't add one about the ability to walk and chew gum at the same time.

No problem with those rules, its more entertaining and worth while when the average Joe wins.

[hasanova]

A random CWRU student will have chance to kick 45 yard field goal for $25,000 at halftime Saturday night.  Given the categories that they exclude, I think the $25 grand is safe.

http://athletics.case.edu/sports/fball/2017-18/releases/20170914nl9f6z

Also note new website design.

They probably got an insurance company to underwrite it "just in case" ... sort of like the home improvement company in Cleveland did against the Indians winning 15 in a row.  They paid $75,000 premium and the insurance company had to pay off $1.8 million last week.  I hope someone makes it!