FB: Presidents' Athletic Conference

[WashJeff68]

Great comeback by the Presidents last night against Brockport at Franklin Field. The win evens W&J's all time record at FF to 1-1. Only took 99 years!

Here is the write up from the W&J site:

http://gopresidents.com/news/2016/11/19/football-w-j-rallies-late-to-claim-ecac-presidents-bowl-over-brockport-38-31.aspx

Pete Coughlin went 52 of 73 and 473 yards. He finishers #2 ranked QB in career yards at W&J (just short of 10,000) behind Brian Dawson (99-02) and ahead of Bobby Swallow (05-08), Chris Edwards (02-05) and Jason Baer (93-96). He is also in the top 5 in career touchdowns with the same 4 others named above. All five have played in the last 20 seasons. He was also a three time second team PAC selection.

So W&J ends the season (and Coughlin ends his career) on a high note which gives the team momentum going into next year. Obviously, Coughlin will be tough to replace, but based on the last 20 years, I'm sure Sirianni has a plan.

Good luck to CMU, TMC and WC today. Be nice to have a PAC sweep!

Jeff in Tennessee

[SaintsFAN]

Someone needs tell the Saints radio guys they are on air while the radio is at commercial. 

Secondly, the Witt shovel pass that was dropped was, in fact, an incomplete pass.

Witt is up 17-7 at half.  Big break getting the fumble and turning it into points with under 30 seconds left.  Witt has won on both sides of the LOS and worked intermediate routes while TMC tried longer passes.  Penalties have also cost TMC. 

Big possession coming out of halftime is upcoming.

[WashJeff68]

Westminster 33 Utica 6. Way to go!

[SaintsFAN]

33-30 Final 4 OTs in Crestview Hills.  Wittenberg wins.  Story of the OT was defense and both teams had blocked FGs.  Wittenberg threw the ball more efficiently and 297 yards rushing for TMC wasn't enough.

[ExTartanPlayer]

Welp, a split decision for the PAC in post-season play.

Thomas More drops a 4-OT thriller vs. Wittenberg in the Big Dance.

W&J wins a thrilling comeback over Brockport State in ECAC.

Westminster rolls over Utica in ECAC.

Carnegie Mellon gets handled thoroughly by the triple option Salisbury in the ECACs.

I'll write a post with my take on the season as a whole, but basically...the league had some good, some bad this season.  The league still clearly does not produce a bona-fide top-ten caliber team.  With all due respect to the league champion Saints, opening with a loss vs. Franklin and closing with a loss vs. Wittenberg indicates that the PAC champion still resides in that 15-25ish range of the Division; good, solid, strong teams that are no threat to bust into the NCAA semifinals any time soon.

On the more optimistic side, the league goes five-deep with quality teams now.  TMC wins the league and acquits themselves well against other peer league champion-type teams like Franklin and Wittenberg.  Case went 9-1 with a win over SAA champion and playoff participant WashU, only missing out on the playoffs after a hard-fought loss vs. CMU in the finale.  Westminster goes 9-2, beats W&J for the first time since 2000, and caps it off with a bowl win.  W&J caps the season with a thrilling comeback win over Brockport; even in a somewhat frustrating year for the Prez, they finish 9-2.  And finally, Carnegie Mellon goes 7-4, makes their second straight ECAC appearance, and competed well against quality teams (OT loss against WashU, 20-16 against TMC, OT against W&J, wins over Westminster and Case Western).   I think you can stack those five teams against the "top five" from most other leagues (not all, but most) and feel pretty good about our chances to take three-of-five.

[DagarmanSpartan]

OK, so what are the prognostications for next year's PAC football?

Any guesses?

[ExTartanPlayer]

OK, so what are the prognostications for next year's PAC football?

Any guesses?

Way too early for me to start thinking about that.  Will need to think more about who's returning how many starters and what I really saw from each team.  It's a dangerous game to play at this point, but I am excited about the Tartans' collection of offensive skill guys that will be back: QB Cline, RB's Benger and Hubbard, KR/PR Richter, WR's Prather and Mansfield.  We will graduate three starters from the offensive line, but if we have some quality replacements ready up front, the offense should be very productive.  Our defense was a problem all season this year; we have some work to do on that front.

[ADL70]

With Arth's departure would Debeljak think of returning to his alma mater?

[SaintsFAN]

With Arth's departure would Debeljak think of returning to his alma mater?

They are conducting a "national search" at JCU, so who knows what that entails, truly. 

I'm sure there will be a ton of interest.  To me, they need a Coach with HC experience as they have a pretty good core of guys coming back. 

I think Debeljak will be a candidate, he has to throw his hat in the ring...right?  Will he be the best one?  Thats debatable. 

[E.115]

With Arth's departure would Debeljak think of returning to his alma mater?

I think Debeljak will be a candidate, he has to throw his hat in the ring...right?  Will he be the best one?  Thats debatable.

I personally don't see the gain for Debeljak to go to JCU.  He has personally built up CWRU's program during his tenure, has a 2-0 record against JCU, and arguably has the most returning talent since the 2007-2009 seasons. 

[Pat Coleman]

With Arth's departure would Debeljak think of returning to his alma mater?

I think Debeljak will be a candidate, he has to throw his hat in the ring...right?  Will he be the best one?  Thats debatable.

I personally don't see the gain for Debeljak to go to JCU.  He has personally built up CWRU's program during his tenure, has a 2-0 record against JCU, and arguably has the most returning talent since the 2007-2009 seasons.

John Carroll as a program has a much better path to win the national title than Case Western Reserve does. Definitely there's a gain in that area.

[E.115]

With Arth's departure would Debeljak think of returning to his alma mater?

I think Debeljak will be a candidate, he has to throw his hat in the ring...right?  Will he be the best one?  Thats debatable.

I personally don't see the gain for Debeljak to go to JCU.  He has personally built up CWRU's program during his tenure, has a 2-0 record against JCU, and arguably has the most returning talent since the 2007-2009 seasons.

John Carroll as a program has a much better path to win the national title than Case Western Reserve does. Definitely there's a gain in that area.

My view may be skewed by the fact CWRU and JCU are literally 15 minutes apart (4.5 miles according to google maps)...and players from both intuitions regularly interact at the same bordering bars, hangouts, etc.  With this presumable local "Cleveland area bias" (not to mention, I went to CWRU and my brother went to JCU), I view JCU and CWRU as competitive to each other over the past decade.  Of course, JCU's record-breaking season this past year was truly remarkable and an incredibly fun ride to watch, and finally cemented them onto the well-deserved national stage. 

JCU will continue to make noise next year regardless of the coach, but CWRU has a real chance of a "best ever" type season next year.  So much of the team's top talent is returning, including many of those starters/captains who missed last season due injury bug that plagued the team throughout the season http://www.d3football.com/columns/around-the-region/greatlakes/2016/new-look-strong-results-case-western-reserve  Next season for Debeljak, he may finally be able to "enjoy the fruits of his labor."  I could be wrong, but I see Debeljak preferring to see how far he can get with what he has personally built.

It's a shame they can't find a way to play each other every year, especially with Debeljak connection.  It was a fun 2-year span to watching the rivalry rekindled during 2010-2011 seasons. 

[SaintsFAN]

I just don't think "returning players" is as big a factor as one would think. 

If the HC sees an opportunity to better himself, and he's offered the job then he goes. 

Look at Erik Raeburn formerly of Wabash.  He had ALOT of talent coming back, but he didn't look back after being offered the Savannah State job. 

One thing about the CWRU situation; as good a class as those seniors are, they still have a significant road block to the playoffs in their own conference. 

[E.115]

I just don't think "returning players" is as big a factor as one would think. 

If the HC sees an opportunity to better himself, and he's offered the job then he goes. 

Look at Erik Raeburn formerly of Wabash.  He had ALOT of talent coming back, but he didn't look back after being offered the Savannah State job. 

One thing about the CWRU situation; as good a class as those seniors are, they still have a significant road block to the playoffs in their own conference.

OK now you're just messing with me.  Savannah State is DI. 

I'm not saying I'd been surprised if Debeljak left CWRU to coach somewhere else (especially if he had a DI offer); I'm saying I see switching to JCU as more of a lateral move in the long term.   

[jknezek]

Look at Erik Raeburn formerly of Wabash.  He had ALOT of talent coming back, but he didn't look back after being offered the Savannah State job. 

Just a quick note on this, Raeburn went 3-5 in conference with Savannah State this year. That school had never won more than 1 conference game since joining and hadn't won more than 2 games in a season before this year. Credit where it is due, Raeburn made a splash. It will be interesting to see if he can create a trend where they improve by a game or two a year until they become respectable.