FB: Presidents' Athletic Conference

[WashJeff68]

Ex Tartan,

Thanks for the summary. Banger is, indeed, the real deal and I hope he (and the Tartans) have a great run the rest of the year. It's good to see the CMU W&J rivalry resumed.

Looks like the W&J coaching staff may have made some defensive adjustments at halftime. A cursory look at the play by play for CMU in the second half shows no points and 122 yards of total offense. Benger had rushes of 1, 1, 3, 0, 3, 66, 1, 7, 2 for a total of 84 yards.

W&J has next week off giving them two weeks to prepare for Thomas More. I'm hoping for a good game with a W&J win, but who knows. I'll be in Austin, TX for a family gathering, but maybe I can find a quiet place to follow the feed.

Jeff in Tennessee

[SaintsFAN]

W&J has next week off giving them two weeks to prepare for Thomas More. I'm hoping for a good game with a W&J win, but who knows.

You're exactly right with this statement.  Who knows... they are college kids.  The last two years after a close loss in OT at SJF and a 13 point defeat at Wesley in the Openers I thought Thomas More would be ready to play against W&J.. we all know how that went.  Of course, last year's game should've been in Cincinnati but thats another topic for another time.

Hopefully both teams can stay healthy this week and are at their best on October 3rd.  I know its the game of the year in the PAC but hopefully its not really close with the home team again holding serve. 

[ADL70]

Cuda is 5th in d3 in TO/G and 15th in PassEff.

Debs has noted his similarity to Whalen.  Great performance by the D, especially with Sandidge out.  Ninth in rushing D.  Need to get the RBs going though.  I see 6-4 or even 8-2 as possible.

Did anyone see Waynesburg starting 0-2 in PAC?

[SpartanMom_2016]

What a great name for a RB -- Banger.

Reminds me of a local kid.  His name was Gunnar Holcombe and every time he took the field I wondered if his parents knew he would be a QB in high school. 

[ExTartanPlayer]

Looks like the W&J coaching staff may have made some defensive adjustments at halftime. A cursory look at the play by play for CMU in the second half shows no points and 122 yards of total offense. Benger had rushes of 1, 1, 3, 0, 3, 66, 1, 7, 2 for a total of 84 yards.

Oh, they sure did.  Benger found far less running room in the second half; the W & J coaches presumably realized that the CMU passing game was not hurting them at all and decided they would dare CMU to throw.  The Tartans just could not make them pay for this (not entirely through fault of the QB; dropped passes and protection struggles contributed).

Apologies if my post came off as knocking the Prez - obviously they were the far superior side.  Really just trying to find something to say about a lopsided game other than "W & J totally smoked us" as well as providing some discussion fodder for how W & J will match up against TMC and beyond.

If I were a Presidents fan, I really would be worried about that W & J defense against a good offense.  It is fair to point out that perhaps the Prez staff held back some exotic defensive looks knowing that CMU really couldn't hurt them through the air, and that they were likely to win, and that could be true.  No question about it.  But even with that taken in consideration, it would still concern me that Benger just ran away from the defense on two of his TD runs.  The 85-yarder in the second quarter was a straight dive play where he broke the line and just ran away from the defense.

On the flip side, the CMU defense is not very good, but the Prez offense sure is.  Coughlin threw one of the prettiest deep balls I've ever seen a 5'10" Division III quarterback put up on the 75-yard TD to Zubik, and Eric Scott is a darn impressive WR as well - he made two catches where the CMU defensive back was in position with good coverage and Scott just plain outleaped him for the ball, including a nasty back-shoulder catch that left me & my former teammate saying "Dude, not much you can do about that one."  Ruffing is an unspectacular but solid runner - it seemed like he was good for 6 yards on every carry.  They will be a tough task to handle for all but the absolute best Division III defenses.

As for the Thomas More - W & J matchup....SaintsFAN complaining about the road night games aside ( ) this kind of thing always fascinates me.  Sometimes one team just has the other's number even when the two look comparable on paper...the last few years, TMC has shown the ability to obliterate low-middle competition but has not consistently shown up in the biggest games.

2013 was a good example...I watched Geneva lose a 41-34 shootout at Carnegie Mellon.  Even though CMU won the game, I noted that Geneva's offense was extremely impressive, so I watched the next few weeks with interest.  Geneva had scored 47, 51, 49, and 34 points in their first four games...the next week TMC held Geneva to 88 total yards.  Geneva scored 27+ points in eight of their ten games, and scored 14-plus on everyone but Thomas More.  Somehow TMC just pasted them.  88 total yards! 

That same week TMC was curb-stomping a respectable Geneva team 61-0, the Presidents were losing to Bethany 24-19 (for fun: Bethany had lost 51-33 to Geneva two weeks prior).

I saw that TMC was playing W & J next week and fully expected the Saints to blow their doors off, bringing the PAC crown back to TMC after a couple years away.

Nope.  Despite 268 yards from Domonique Hayden...they gave up 45 points.  Where was the defense that had just shut down Geneva to the tune of 88 total yards?

For whatever reason, the Prez have just had the Saints' number the last few seasons (yes, SaintsFAN, I hear you in the back of the classroom grumbling about the road night games).

[ADL70]

What a great name for a RB -- Banger.

Reminds me of a local kid.  His name was Gunnar Holcombe and every time he took the field I wondered if his parents knew he would be a QB in high school.

My bad they were saying it like "Banger," but it's spelled "Benger."

[Pat Coleman]

Cuda is 5th in d3 in TO/G and 15th in PassEff.

Debs has noted his similarity to Whalen.  Great performance by the D, especially with Sandidge out.  Ninth in rushing D.  Need to get the RBs going though.  I see 6-4 or even 8-2 as possible.

Did anyone see Waynesburg starting 0-2 in PAC?

I think Kickoff did. We projected 3-7 overall, 2-6 in the PAC.

[ADL70]

Ahh, well done sirs.

[ExTartanPlayer]

Have not seen W & J post highlights of their own (and there will be many), but for anyone who wants to see what the Sam Benger show looked like on Saturday:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYJuFEFc-vQ

The highlights are not in game chronological order, but:

First play is 85-yard TD run (second quarter)
Second play is 66-yard run (third quarter)
Third play is 51-yard TD run (first quarter)
Fourth play is a 48-yard run

[SaintsFAN]

Looks like the W&J coaching staff may have made some defensive adjustments at halftime. A cursory look at the play by play for CMU in the second half shows no points and 122 yards of total offense. Benger had rushes of 1, 1, 3, 0, 3, 66, 1, 7, 2 for a total of 84 yards.

Oh, they sure did.  Benger found far less running room in the second half; the W & J coaches presumably realized that the CMU passing game was not hurting them at all and decided they would dare CMU to throw.  The Tartans just could not make them pay for this (not entirely through fault of the QB; dropped passes and protection struggles contributed).

Apologies if my post came off as knocking the Prez - obviously they were the far superior side.  Really just trying to find something to say about a lopsided game other than "W & J totally smoked us" as well as providing some discussion fodder for how W & J will match up against TMC and beyond.

If I were a Presidents fan, I really would be worried about that W & J defense against a good offense.  It is fair to point out that perhaps the Prez staff held back some exotic defensive looks knowing that CMU really couldn't hurt them through the air, and that they were likely to win, and that could be true.  No question about it.  But even with that taken in consideration, it would still concern me that Benger just ran away from the defense on two of his TD runs.  The 85-yarder in the second quarter was a straight dive play where he broke the line and just ran away from the defense.

On the flip side, the CMU defense is not very good, but the Prez offense sure is.  Coughlin threw one of the prettiest deep balls I've ever seen a 5'10" Division III quarterback put up on the 75-yard TD to Zubik, and Eric Scott is a darn impressive WR as well - he made two catches where the CMU defensive back was in position with good coverage and Scott just plain outleaped him for the ball, including a nasty back-shoulder catch that left me & my former teammate saying "Dude, not much you can do about that one."  Ruffing is an unspectacular but solid runner - it seemed like he was good for 6 yards on every carry.  They will be a tough task to handle for all but the absolute best Division III defenses.

As for the Thomas More - W & J matchup....SaintsFAN complaining about the road night games aside ( ) this kind of thing always fascinates me.  Sometimes one team just has the other's number even when the two look comparable on paper...the last few years, TMC has shown the ability to obliterate low-middle competition but has not consistently shown up in the biggest games.

2013 was a good example...I watched Geneva lose a 41-34 shootout at Carnegie Mellon.  Even though CMU won the game, I noted that Geneva's offense was extremely impressive, so I watched the next few weeks with interest.  Geneva had scored 47, 51, 49, and 34 points in their first four games...the next week TMC held Geneva to 88 total yards.  Geneva scored 27+ points in eight of their ten games, and scored 14-plus on everyone but Thomas More.  Somehow TMC just pasted them.  88 total yards! 

That same week TMC was curb-stomping a respectable Geneva team 61-0, the Presidents were losing to Bethany 24-19 (for fun: Bethany had lost 51-33 to Geneva two weeks prior).

I saw that TMC was playing W & J next week and fully expected the Saints to blow their doors off, bringing the PAC crown back to TMC after a couple years away.

Nope.  Despite 268 yards from Domonique Hayden...they gave up 45 points.  Where was the defense that had just shut down Geneva to the tune of 88 total yards?

For whatever reason, the Prez have just had the Saints' number the last few seasons (yes, SaintsFAN, I hear you in the back of the classroom grumbling about the road night games).

LOL - I know, right??

[ADL70]

Need a Spartan win today for bragging rights with my best friend who was at Thiel same time I was at CWRU.

I'm looking for Canganelli to bounce back from the hamstring injury to last season's form and add another dimension to the O.

Nice to see that Coach Miller is rotating in as many as six or seven backups keeping the D fresh.

[SpartanMom_2016]

Need a Spartan win today for bragging rights with my best friend who was at Thiel same time I was at CWRU.

I'm looking for Canganelli to bounce back from the hamstring injury to last season's form and add another dimension to the O.

Nice to see that Coach Miller is rotating in as many as six or seven backups keeping the D fresh.

Speaking of D, Gavin should be back today.  I will be watching from Miami Beach.  Go Spartans!

[jam40jeff]

These Thiel announcers are awfully critical of a QB who is ripping their defense to shreds.

[SaintsFAN]

Thomas More has inserted subs at 31-0 at Westminster.  It's now 38-0 in the 3rd.  I think we can look forward to next week's showdown.  I booked my flight on Wednesday.  See everyone in KY.

[ADL70]

These Thiel announcers are awfully critical of a QB who is ripping their defense to shreds.

They were just awful period!  Not that ours are anything to write home about.
Cuda did have a lot of low throws early though.
Great to hear from you Jeff!