FB: Presidents' Athletic Conference

[E.115]

Vote for the PAC in WR Colt Morgan, y'all

https://herosports.com/d3-football/vote-offensive-hero-of-the-week-2018-10-14-rsrs

[E.115]

Four PAC players featured on this week's D3 Team of the Week:

http://www.d3football.com/awards/tow/2018/week7

QB Jacob Adams, Jr., Washington & Jefferson
WR Colt Morgan, So., Case Western Reserve
DE Cameron Brown, Sr., Case Western Reserve
LB Garrett Bishop, Jr., Westminster (Pa.)

[ADL70]

Confusion reigns in the PAC again as Westminster beats W&J 27-20.  Spartans win out they will be co-champs again.  But if W&J wins out they get the AQ.

[Pokerplayer]

Might be time for W&J to re-evaluate some things. Last three games before Westminster, margin of victory was 7 (Bethany); 8 (CRWU); and 7 (Geneva) And then its a road trip to Westminster. W&J defeats Grove City 62-10. Grove  City defeats Westminster, 36-33. and Westminster defeats Presidents 27-20. Is this on "Any given Saturday" crap? If W&J wins out, which they should, they win the AQ in the PAC. But with that one loss, they will probably be on the road in first round playoffs. They better hope NCAA committee doesn't send them to Brockport. Yep, time to re-evaluate.

[The Mole]

Just curious, what do they specifically re-evaluate after 8 games? Rowan beat Wesley today. Mayhem reigns. Barring a total shock they will be 9-1 and get the Pool A. I do not see a need to push the panic button. Maybe the PAC top to bottom has improved? Beinh on the road somewhere like Frostburg is a real possibility.

Might be time for W&J to re-evaluate some things. Lagt three games before Westminster, margin of victory was 7 (Bethany); 8 (CRWU); and 7 (Geneva) And then its a road trip to Westminster. W&J defeats Grove City 62-10. Grove  City defeats Westminster, 36-33. and Westminster defeats Presidents 27-20. Is this on "Any given Saturday" crap? If W&J wins out, which they should, they win the AQ in the PAC. But with that one loss, they will probably be on the road in first round playoffs. They better hope NCAA committee doesn't send them to Brockport. Yep, time to re-evaluate.

[Bob.Gregg]

W&J is the best in the PAC.  And the PAC is slightly improved top-to-bottom than the old days.
Westminster played a great defensive game today, and W&J panicked.
Adams seemed to play more afraid of last year's Westminster's six sacks.

Despite my comment that the W&J defense couldn't get off the field, they actually did a pretty good job today, holding Westminster to about 250 yards.  But long, time-consuming drives, including a 15-play, 8+ minute drive just sucked the life out, and put more pressure on the offense.
Defense wins championships, but sometimes, like last week vs. Geneva, like this week vs. Westminster, the OFFENSE has to win a game.  Last week, they did.  This week, they didn't.

No need to panic, no need to chuck it all and line up in the jumbo package, no need to eschew the run game altogether.
Get better, get tougher, get more exact, and play the game.

[ADL70]

Three weeks ago I would have given W&J a slight edge, but the last two weeks make me believe that CWRU would win a series between the two.  W&J's win over CWRU was because of some big plays.  Take them away and I feel CWRU has the advantage.

Even before today's games Massey agrees with me.

[Bob.Gregg]

ADL, I would agree with you on that, and I would have coming into the meeting between W&J & CWRU.  But this ain't baseball. And "big plays" are a huge part of the game.

Yesterday's game at Westminster was not a surprise to me, not in the least.  In many ways, I think the seeds for it were sown in the bus wreck that was the PAC a couple weeks back, giving W&J basically a two-game lead on the entire field.  Yesterday's game, in the short term (making the playoffs), meant so much more to Westminster than it did to W&J.  Literally, heading into the game, W&J was at the foul line under the old NBA rules:  "three to make two".

Having said that, the Titans' defense won the game for Westminster, and the Presidents' special teams lost the game for W&J.

The special teams issues were many, and they've been around nearly the entire season:

1)  Bad punt snap.  This one went over Sarver's head and there was nothing he could do about it. And the next one skittered back to him.  Last week, a skittering snap led to Sarver running for his life and picking up a first down.

2)  Bad PAT/FG snaps.  I can't tell you how many times Swoope has had to reach up or back to save a bad snap.  The kicker, whichever one it is at the time, simply can not ignore what he sees and carry through.  That has led, in some measure, to the struggles that Napotnik & Garibay have had.  It's not ALL on the snap but that's where it all starts.  And if the first one's bad, and the second one's bad, how much confidence can you have in your run-up routine that that third one's gonna be good?

3)  Bad kickoffs....out of bounds, short, etc.  Yesterday, following an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty after a W&J PAT, the Presidents were kicking off from the 50 yard line.  Napotnik just booms it into the endzone, wasting the 15-yard penalty.  With the new Fair Catch rule this year, you can't just kick it high and cover it, or the FC puts the ball at the 25 anyway.  Why not bounce the KO down the field and go cover it, I might add, much like what Westminster did on a regular KO, pinning the Presidents shy of the 20?  This point at this particular kick, isn't on Napotnik.  This is a coaching decision.  And I don't understand it.

4)  Bad kickoff coverage...far too often, recently, teams had had 35, 40, 50 yard kickoff returns, and not really because the kicks weren't high enough to get down to cover.  They just haven't stayed in lanes, made the tackles.  And it repeatedly gives the other team great field position.

THESE are the items that need immediate and decisive re-evaluation.  THESE are the items that are going to lead the Presidents to either not making the NCAA or making a very early exit if they do.

The offense, particularly the O-line and QB Adams, just need to toughen a bit, and runs the offense.
The defense needs to play like it did yesterday, but turn the level up just a notch--take the penalties out, finish the tackles that you have, intercept the ball when it's there, not just tip it.

The Presidents have two weeks to think about this one.  And that's not typically a good thing for the team on the back end of the break.  W&J travels to St. Vincent on Nov. 3, then visits Waynesburg on Nov. 10.  The PAC title, the conference's AQ, both still firmly within the Presidents' grasp.  Now, they just need to sharpen the sword.

[ADL70]

Big plays/bad plays  both part of the game.

head to head and common opponents not blow outs (Westminster and Geneva)  CWRU  98-72  +26  W&J   114-106   +8

[ADL70]

d3football Top25

W&J    116
CWRU 115

[jam40jeff]

I don't think anyone would argue that any of these second-level results should cause one to say that W&J doesn't "deserve" the PAC championship.  They got done what they needed to do against CWRU.  However, I think we can definitely argue Bob's statement that W&J is the "best team in the PAC".  I actually don't believe that they are.  If CWRU handles Bethany as I expect them to, I would think that the aberration was the WJU/CWRU game, not CWRU/Westminster, CWRU/Geneva, CWRU/Bethany, WJU/Westminster, WJU/Geneva, and WJU/Bethany.

WJU is a good team, and as we saw, clearly has the ability to beat CWRU.  But I still believe on the whole that CWRU is a better team this year and would beat WJU 7 times out of 10.

As ADL70 mentioned, Massey agrees with this assessment.  They give CWRU a 57% chance of winning a game on WJU's field right now, a 78% chance of winning at home, and a 69% chance of winning on a neutral field.

Hopefully CWRU and WJU meet in the playoffs and we get a chance to see how it plays out.

[SaintsFAN]

I don't think anyone would argue that any of these second-level results should cause one to say that W&J doesn't "deserve" the PAC championship.  They got done what they needed to do against CWRU.  However, I think we can definitely argue Bob's statement that W&J is the "best team in the PAC".  I actually don't believe that they are.  If CWRU handles Bethany as I expect them to, I would think that the aberration was the WJU/CWRU game, not CWRU/Westminster, CWRU/Geneva, CWRU/Bethany, WJU/Westminster, WJU/Geneva, and WJU/Bethany.

WJU is a good team, and as we saw, clearly has the ability to beat CWRU.  But I still believe on the whole that CWRU is a better team this year and would beat WJU 7 times out of 10.

As ADL70 mentioned, Massey agrees with this assessment.  They give CWRU a 57% chance of winning a game on WJU's field right now, a 78% chance of winning at home, and a 69% chance of winning on a neutral field.

Hopefully CWRU and WJU meet in the playoffs and we get a chance to see how it plays out.

I have a hard time placing CWRU above W&J on my ballot because we have a H2H result (as long as both remain with 1 loss)... but I will say they are ranked consecutively on my ballot.  It will be very interesting to see if W&J can reverse the trend.. but I agree, it seems like the 2 game lead has lead to some complacency.  Or is it they have a bigger target on their backs?  Whatever it is - they have a little time to sort it out.  I think both are looking at road playoff games to open up the tournament. 

[jam40jeff]

I think both are looking at road playoff games to open up the tournament.

W&J is looking at a road playoff game.  CWRU is a long shot to even make the playoffs.

[Bob.Gregg]

I said this in the car on the way to New Wilmington, I said it on the air pregame Saturday.

The wheels falling off the PAC bus that put W&J up by two games following the CWRU game did not do the Presidents any favors.

W&J knew it needed 3 wins over the final four games.  And it doesn't matter which three games.
And the Presidents have played, at times, like it didn't matter which three games.
Had W&J lost to Geneva, Saturday wouldn't have looked the way it did.
And, I'm pretty sure, Nov. 3 & Nov. 10 won't look anything like Oct. 13 & Oct. 20.

Here's the real bottom line:  W&J beat CWRU when the two played.
That's the only measure/evaluation that really matters.

Would CWRU win 7 of 10?  I doubt it.  I'll give you 6.  But they only play once this year.
And W&J caused/created four takeaways to make sure they won that day...and I think Massey said CWRU was going to win then...

And, likely, because of that, W&J will go to the NCAA's and CWRU will not.
We all know that the "best 32" don't make the playoff field.
But in the AQ conferences, the teams that win the conference do.
And, barring a "wheels off the Presidential limo" event, that will be W&J.

[jam40jeff]

I said this in the car on the way to New Wilmington, I said it on the air pregame Saturday.

The wheels falling off the PAC bus that put W&J up by two games following the CWRU game did not do the Presidents any favors.

W&J knew it needed 3 wins over the final four games.  And it doesn't matter which three games.
And the Presidents have played, at times, like it didn't matter which three games.
Had W&J lost to Geneva, Saturday wouldn't have looked the way it did.
And, I'm pretty sure, Nov. 3 & Nov. 10 won't look anything like Oct. 13 & Oct. 20.

Here's the real bottom line:  W&J beat CWRU when the two played.
That's the only measure/evaluation that really matters.

Would CWRU win 7 of 10?  I doubt it.  I'll give you 6.  But they only play once this year.
And W&J caused/created four takeaways to make sure they won that day...and I think Massey said CWRU was going to win then...

And, likely, because of that, W&J will go to the NCAA's and CWRU will not.
We all know that the "best 32" don't make the playoff field.
But in the AQ conferences, the teams that win the conference do.
And, barring a "wheels off the Presidential limo" event, that will be W&J.

I don't think we're disagreeing here.  Arguing whether CWRU would take 6/10 or 7/10 is splitting hairs.  My point was simply that you can't just say "W&J is the best PAC team".  They will likely be the first place PAC team and they are a good team.  It is at least debatable whether they are the best team.

I also agree that they will probably be the only PAC team to make the playoffs this year.