FB: Presidents' Athletic Conference

[middlerelief]

PAC pre-season poll

http://www.pacathletics.org/news/2013/8/1/FB_0801132529.aspx

2013 PAC Football Preseason Poll
School (first-place votes) Points 2012 Record (PAC)
1. Washington & Jefferson College (16) 271 8-3 (7-1)
2. Thomas More College (10) 248 7-3 (6-2)
3. Waynesburg University (6) 233 10-1 (7-1)
4. Grove City College 159 6-4 (5-3)
T-5. Bethany College 138 3-7 (3-5)
T-5. Geneva College 138 3-7 (3-5)
7. Westminster College 107 3-6 (2-6)
8. Thiel College 106 3-7 (3-5)
9. Saint Vincent College 40 0-10 (0-8)

Just keeping board alive on life support till next season.

I know that W&J and Thomas More seem to always be in the hunt for the NCAA birth -- what can you say about the PAA generally relative to other conferences or other programs that may challenge?

[ADL70]

Last regular season Waynesburg was 9-1, 7-1 in conf and played Carnegie Mellon (6-4, 1-2 UAA) in an ECAC bowl game and escaped with a 28-24 win.

Last season, no team in the bottom five managed more than three wins.  This season Westminster lost its opener to Hiram, ending an eighteen game Hiram losing streak.

Overall, a middle of the pack conference.

[Upstate]

Any updates on W&J's QB Bliss?

The injury did not look good at all, hoping for the best for him. He's a great QB!

[SaintsFAN]

Is W&J's Bliss still injured? I saw they dropped a close one with Bethany tonight. 

Big game for Thomas More next Saturday night in Washington, PA. TMC held Geneva to 88 total yards today in posting their 3rd shutout of the season, 61-0.  Honestly, it wasn't even that close as the TMC offense, defense and special teams each scored TD's in the 2nd quarter and they led 55-0 at the half.

The offense has been playing well with Hayden back and doing some major damage on the ground. With Gebhardt at QB, defenses have to pick their poison as there are some really good WR/TE's, who make plays.  The story has been defense so far this year, though. They have played fast and tackled well thus far.  Geneva came in averaging 450 yards and 45 points on offense and they were man handled.

Anyone want to talk about TMC falling back out of the top few teams in the PAC?? I think someone said it would be fourth place? They haven't won anything yet- there's a lot of the season to be played, but it's pretty obvious they are pissed off about going 7-3 last year. They've won 10 in a row and will hopefully be ready for a battle next weekend.

[D3MAFAN]

I see it as:
1. Thomas More College
2. Washington & Jefferson College
3. Waynesburg University
4. Grove City College
5. Geneva College
6. Bethany College 
7. Westminster College
8. Thiel College
9. Saint Vincent College


I think Thomas More College rebounds and wins some key games especially that night game in Washington, PA. Also, it is possible that the PAC could have two teams, depending on the teams that is, because of strength of schedule. If W&J and TM both end up 9-1 with W&J only loss is to TM and TM only loss is to a quality opponent, then it may just happen.

See above.

[Dr. Acula]

Is W&J's Bliss still injured? I saw they dropped a close one with Bethany tonight. 

Looks like he played last night.  Also looks like W&J gave up 24 points and 400 yds in the first half.  Credit them for making adjustments and making it a game, but that's not good.

[Bob.Gregg]

Bethany smacked W&J right square in the mouth and knocked the Presidents askew for a half.  W&J ran the ball just 6 times in the first half (okay, not counting a snap fumble, a scramble for 2 and another for 0).  W&J looked over-matched, and somewhat disinterested!

Second half was different story--ran effectively and commitedly.  Defended better.  Could have won the game but Bliss forced pass into double-coverage in endzone with 30+ seconds to play on SECOND down.

Congrats to Bethany on snapping the 30-game losing streak to W&J.  Last time the Bison beat the Presidents (1982) was 2 years before Mark & I started calling the W&J games...

[Ralph Turner]

Congrats to Bethany on snapping the 30-game losing streak to W&J.  Last time the Bison beat the Presidents (1982) was 2 years before Mark & I started calling the W&J games...

...and North Park beats Carthage...

Sign of the end times?   

[Dr. Acula]

Bob, was that box score accurate that the attedance was 900 something??  Is that normal for Bethany?

[ADL70]

Yes, that's greater than their enrollment.

[Bob.Gregg]

That looks like an accurate estimate.  You gotta remember that Bethany, WV is just 28 minutes from Washington and, being a night game, plenty of WashPa folks in attendance.

[SaintsFAN]

Is W&J's Bliss still injured? I saw they dropped a close one with Bethany tonight. 

Looks like he played last night.  Also looks like W&J gave up 24 points and 400 yds in the first half.  Credit them for making adjustments and making it a game, but that's not good.

right -- but is he still hobbled?  Guess we'll see Saturday night.

[boobyhasgameyo]

Is W&J's Bliss still injured? I saw they dropped a close one with Bethany tonight. 

Big game for Thomas More next Saturday night in Washington, PA. TMC held Geneva to 88 total yards today in posting their 3rd shutout of the season, 61-0.  Honestly, it wasn't even that close as the TMC offense, defense and special teams each scored TD's in the 2nd quarter and they led 55-0 at the half.

The offense has been playing well with Hayden back and doing some major damage on the ground. With Gebhardt at QB, defenses have to pick their poison as there are some really good WR/TE's, who make plays.  The story has been defense so far this year, though. They have played fast and tackled well thus far.  Geneva came in averaging 450 yards and 45 points on offense and they were man handled.

Anyone want to talk about TMC falling back out of the top few teams in the PAC?? I think someone said it would be fourth place? They haven't won anything yet- there's a lot of the season to be played, but it's pretty obvious they are pissed off about going 7-3 last year. They've won 10 in a row and will hopefully be ready for a battle next weekend.

I don't think TMC was ready for the battle.

[ExTartanPlayer]

I'm surprised by the W & J upset of TMC.  Really surprised.  After TMC's demolition of Geneva, I expected TMC to beat W & J comfortably.  I know Geneva's not that great but their offense had been racking up a ton of points, and TMC's total shutodwn of Geneva had me pretty convinced that TMC was ready to reclaim the PAC's top spot.  Now who knows what will happen.

Re: the low attendance at Bethany, yeah, that's pretty typical.  Bethany is a tiny school and it's in the middle of nowhere.  Beautiful campus, actually, but the middle of nowhere.  I remember pulling up for the game there and thinking "Wait, we're here?"

[Bob.Gregg]

I don't think TMC was ready for the battle.

That would appear to be an accurate statement.
Don't know, if at 14-7, TMC thought "we got this" or what.  From there, W&J rolled up 38-7 on the Saints.
When Wiegand ran the kickoff back 92 yards, running away from TMC players, it was over.  Done.  Finished.
And you could see it on the TMC sideline.

Oh, well, those things happen.  Still a lot of football left in the very competitive PAC...
Obviously, this year at least, on any given Saturday...
TMC > Waynesburg, W&J > TMC, Bethany>W&J....Certainly, Bethany>Waynesburg not out of the realm of possible, then TMC>Bethany, and Waynesburg>W&J...might need some CMU/CWRU types to figure out how that all shakes down.