FB: Presidents' Athletic Conference

[E.115]

The biggest x-factor for me is the Case Western Reserve's defense.  Coach Debeljak is an offensive mind, and knows how to gameplan to move the ball.  There has been no mention W&J has a nation-leading receiver, plus very impressive QB and RB stats:

https://s3.amazonaws.com/sidearm.sites/washjeff.sidearmsports.com/documents/2018/10/4/2018gamenotesCWRU.pdf

Sure CWRU has the size and experience on the defensive line, but how the rest of the young defense responds will decide the game IMO.

[ADL70]

Massey gives CWRU 67% chance of win with 34-28 most likely result.

How about we just make it a 35-28 win for old times sake.

That does have a familiar ring to it!

[ADL70]

Bob Gregg talks about W&J pressuring Saxton.  On of the most impressive things to me about him is how he responds to pressure.  He has completed many passes with rushers bearing down on him and he has the maneuverability to escape pressure and make the big play.

I know W&J has a stud guy in Reo at RG, but those sacks by Bethany make one wonder if the rest of the line is suspect or that Adams might not be that mobile. He doesn't appear to be a running threat.

[Bob.Gregg]

While I didn't see the Bethany game (was on DL with shoulder surgery), it was Bethany.  It is that one game every year that W&J really struggles with.  Almost every team has one--a team that really shouldn't be a threat (talent wise), and yet, there they are.  W&J doesn't play well against the Bison on a regular basis.  I put nothing extra in that W other than a 1 in the W column instead of the L column.

[ADL70]

Not quite every year, more like every other year or so.

Hansen gives W&J a slight edge.  53% chance of win 32-30.7

[jam40jeff]

How does that work?  Case is down 32-30 in the final seconds and they're only able to muster a tenth of a touchdown?

[E.115]

BUMP:

Reposting some interesting history from the preseason discussion:

Somce most tecemt posts have been about CWRU thought I'd add a little W&J perspective.

Here is the wikipedia page for Ray Ride, a legendary coach at Case:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_A._Ride#Head_football_coach

Here are the all time records for the CWRU entities from the W&J web site:


VS CaseCWRU W&J leads 18-17-1 First game in 1901
VS WRU W&J leads 13-7-0 First gane in 1896

That  is 56 meetings.

VS CMU CMU leads 32-30-6 first game in 1906.

Until CMU and CWRU returned to the PAC CWRU had not played W&J since 1985 while CMU had not played W&J since 1989. Wonder what the all time records would look like if CWRU, CMU and W&J had played during those years?

Regardless, it is great to see these long term well contested rivalries renewed.

Cool stuff!  Thanks for sharing. 

Another interesting W & J / CWRU rivalry note was in 1984.  This was the year W & J finally broke back into being a top football team.  The W & J football wiki page states "Led by freshman running back A.J. Pagano, the Presidents qualified for the 1984 NCAA Division III playoffs, the team's first post-season appearance since the 1922 Rose Bowl."  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_%26_Jefferson_Presidents_football#Resurgence_in_Division_III_(1982%E2%80%93present)

If you look back to that 1984 season, the Presidents (8-1) had only one loss to...drumroll...an undefeated Case Western Reserve (9-0) football team (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1984_Case_Western_Reserve_Spartans_football_team)   Due to the regional structuring and only 8 teams in the college football playoff, Case Western Reserve was begrudging left out of the tournament.  Many say Case Western Reserve had as good a chance as anyone to win a national title that year if they were allowed into the tournament (1984 DIII playoffs: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1984_NCAA_Division_III_football_season#Postseason)

Also, I came across along coach from a looooong time ago with mutual W & J and CWRU connections from back in the day of early college football...who won Western Reserve;s first two OAC conference titles:   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_B._Seaman

[ADL70]

How does that work?  Case is down 32-30 in the final seconds and they're only able to muster a tenth of a touchdown?

I think that Hansen would explain that is preciction is an average of likely outcomes.  Not that I can speak for him.

[WashJeff68]

I was a student manager W&J football team for the 1966 and 67 seasons

In 1966 we were 1-5 with the lone win coming versus Thiel. We lost to Carnegie Tech 33-6, did not play Case or WRU.

In 1967 we were 1-6 with the lone win coming versus Western Reserve 13-0. We lost to Carnegie-Mellon (note name change) 66-16 and did not play Case.

So, W&J was 2-11 overall and 1-2 versus Case/WRU/CMU under my "management."

This was right in the middle of the Dark Age of W&J football which lasted almost without interruption from 1945 until that breakout year of 1984 described be E.115. Since then W&J has had nothing but winning seasons and only three head coaches.

One year while at W&J I shared an apartment with an aspiring dental student. I remember watching him "carve the chalk" which was part of the application process. He went on to WRU for dental school, joined the faculty and was eventually Dean of the CWRU School of Dentistry and served as acting Provost during a relatively recent leadership "transition" at the University. Nothing to do with football, but another interesting relationship between the two schools.

I'll be streaming and listening to the melodious play by play of Bob Gregg tomorrow!

Jeff in Knoxville, TN where we have no college football.

[jam40jeff]

Here we go again with the video feed.  It can't just be me, right?  Every time I load the video it starts over at 34:56 left in pregame, and pressing live just pauses the video, when you press play, it starts over again.  This seems to be a problem with any of the videos on the PAC DN.  Am I missing something?

[ADL70]

Playing ok for me so far

[jam40jeff]

I tried on my computer and it seems to work.  It doesn't work on my phone, tablet, or Fire TV.  Guess it's time to pull the laptop out.

[E.115]

Yep.  Working fine for me via a desktop. 

[ADL70]

Weird to hear the announcers calling W&J the J

[jam40jeff]

The J is going to get the W.