FB: Presidents' Athletic Conference

[Bob.Gregg]

I don't usually do the "Picks" things (though I have a very old friend who has a high school "picks" contest named after him), but here goes my look at things:

Johns Hopkins at Thiel.  JHU has 17 total offensive touchdowns.  That's not going to be enough against the run/pass combination the Thiel presents. 

The "downside" for the Tomcats is being at home.  There is a lot to be said for being away from home for the first venture into the NCAA's. 

All in all, I think Thiel is the better team on multiple fronts, and the three overtime games will serve them well should things get "iffy" down the stretch of this one.  Thiel wins!

Washington & Jefferson at Bridgewater.  Two common opponents.  Both scored 56 on Hanover (W&J 56-20, BC 56-42).  W&J throttled E&H 50-0, BC won 31-17 in a game not significantly closer than W&J's win. 

W&J has put up better average numbers on both sides of the ball with the exception of rushing offense (BC 277/game, W&J 183/game).  BC may have the best mix of rush/pass offense for the Presidents to deal with.  The offense/defense spread (W&J 516 vs. 270, BC 481 vs. 387) is a significant W&J advantage. 

The Presidents have more returning players with more playoff winning experience (I think) than do the Eagles.  Both teams take a lot of penalties, but the Presidents are used to that (some crazy thing like winning 45 of last 48 games in which they had 50+ yards in penalties, while losing 2 of the other 3 games). 

Speed is an area that it appears BC has the advantage.  But that advantage appears to be limited to the running game.  W&J has three every play receivers with more catches than Awkard, and FIVE regulars with "Long" catches of more yardage than either Awkard or Morin, three of them with "Long"s also longer than Copeland and Oakes.  I think, weather cooperating, the Presidents will look to go vertical to stretch out BC, then run/pass underneath up & down the field.  And, I think the Presidents defense will try to force BC to go vertical.

All in all, I think the Presidents win.

[Darkside90]

My predictions:

Thiel vs JHU
I pick Thiel to win this one because I think they have a better overall game.  To win the game though, Thiel can't start off too slowly on Dfense, like they often do.  If they allow JHU to jump out to a quick lead JHU's Dfense may be good enough to prevent a Thiel comeback.  Thiel's Dfense needs to start the game like they finish games in order to keep JHU in check.  JHU doesn't have the offensive fire power to put up alot of points on Thiel's DARKSIDE DEFENSE, if they come out ready.  JHU's defense is suppose to be pretty good, but they have to play an almost perfect game to stop Thiel's Offense.   JHU's defense will have to pick their poison: focus on the run game and get beat by the passing game or vice versa.  I don't think they can stop both.

As for the W&J v Bridgewater game, I don't really care, but my prediction is W&J wins a shootout because they at least have a defense capable of slowing down offenses.  From what I have read and based on statistics Bridgewater doesn't.


Tomcat 4 Life

[Cleveland Cartel]

Bob,

The "downside" for the Tomcats is being at home

Downside for being in the playoffs for the first time.  Being in the playoffs and being at home (Pennsylvania) for the first time is a hell of a lot better than being in Maryland for the first time.

You serious....

[Cleveland Cartel]

Darkside90,

I like the post and its good to hear from the Dirty South!

Bob,

I do appreciate your predictions though honestly.  Being in the position you are closely associated to your beloved Presidents, and I would tend to agree I like the Presidents chances also this saturday!  But woudln't you rather have that game at home than away in Virginia?  My feeling is no matter how jacked up you are and how nervous we might think players are in playing a big game for the first time in front of your home crowd.  But honeslty, the jitters are gone after the first play or even before that.  Belief in your team and brothers around you and the Presidents and Tomcats will come away with victories on Saturday afternoon. 

[PittTBCW]

Darkside90,

You were the best RA I ever had!!!

You sackmaster

[Bob.Gregg]

... But woudln't you rather have that game at home than away in Virginia?...

Cartel, there's no question I'd rather have W&J playing Bridgewater in Washington.

But that's got NOTHING to do with what I wrote.  This is W&J's 17th year in the playoffs in the past 21 seasons.  This is THIS team's second straight year in the playoffs and third in the past four seasons.  Nearly EVERY contributing player on THIS W&J squad has THREE NCAA playoff games under their belt.  Some have even more!

This is Thiel's FIRST.  And the issues of playing at home are significant.  You have that home crowd that can be wonderful with all things going well.  But that huge, partisan crowd gets antsy pretty quickly, and pretty loudly, if things aren't going so well.

In addition, even with a large staff to deal with the Hosting responsibilities, there are still a good number of things that fall on the coaches' desks.  That's just the way it is.  When you play on the road, not nearly as many things land there.

All things considered, it's great to play at home.  All things considered, playing your FIRST playoff game in the NCAA's ON THE ROAD isn't a bad thing!

Good luck to the Tomcats.

[Bill McCabe]

Bob.Gregg, It has to be a great thing just to be playing, home or away!

[religion_major]

Bob,

Playoff experiance between BC and W&J is a wash.  BC has been to the playoffs every year for the past six years.  Add to that I have seen BC's defense slow down a very good pass happy Hapden-Sydney offense this year.  Honestly, I think it is a pretty even match that BC will win.

[miz]

Bob,

Playoff experiance between BC and W&J is a wash.  BC has been to the playoffs every year for the past six years.  Add to that I have seen BC's defense slow down a very good pass happy Hapden-Sydney offense this year.  Honestly, I think it is a pretty even match that BC will win.

A good number of BC's contributors played on the 2003 team that was South Region Champs. 

[PittTBCW]

Alot of you made very good points about Thiel being in the playoffs and being home for the first time. I honestly think that it will be a better then being away. There are alot of things to do accordingly to the NCAA but there is a staff on campus that will take care of buisness and I am sure Kevin the SID at Thiel is handling a large deal of it. Things will be fine and Liep will be able to concentrate on the task at hand....winning a playoff game vs Johns Hopkins. Liep is to smart and prepared to let outside things interfere with what is going on the field. The other coaches I am sure are also making sure the players are focused. That is the reason why they were able to achieve an undefeted season and comeback 3 times on the road in OT.

Stay Focused Men

DARE!!!

[Hug]

Pitt,

Abbsolutely being home is a huge advantage to a first time playoff team. Luckily, you will be going up against another post-season inexperienced team in UJH.  You guys shouldn't have any trouble this week.

[PittTBCW]

Hug,

I hope your right!

Go Tomcats!!!


There is a very nice article about the PAC today in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette. It highlights Thiel and W&J for making the playoffs. Coach Sirianni also hit the nail on the head talking about the PAC improving and going to be a good conference for years to come.

[spliskin]

There is a very nice article about the PAC today in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette. It highlights Thiel and W&J for making the playoffs. Coach Sirianni also hit the nail on the head talking about the PAC improving and going to be a good conference for years to come.

Thanks for the heads-up.....here's the link to the article:
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05322/608567.stm

[Cleveland Cartel]

Spliskin,

Thanks for the link since Pitt is too lazy to add it in there after giving us the heads up about it!!!
HAHA

Less than 24 hours till Gametime....

[spliskin]

Spliskin,

Thanks for the link since Pitt is too lazy to add it in there after giving us the heads up about it!!!
HAHA

Maybe not too lazy.......but doesn't know how.......Pitt may have slept through all of his computer classes at Thiel when they covered "copy & paste", LOL!