FB: Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference

[FCGrizzliesGrad]

They don't have football so still just 8 teams and now 3 teams without (Berea, Earlham, Transylvania).
I think the bigger question is does the conference add a 12th to get back to an even number. Asbury is still looking for a landing spot and seems to be the obvious choice if the HCAC does add another school in the near future.

[monsoon]

They don't have football so still just 8 teams and now 3 teams without (Berea, Earlham, Transylvania).
I think the bigger question is does the conference add a 12th to get back to an even number. Asbury is still looking for a landing spot and seems to be the obvious choice if the HCAC does add another school in the near future.

Asbury makes a lot of sense... and they don't play football either.

[FCGrizzliesGrad]

Preseason All-Americans
1st Team
RB   Cornell Beachem Jr.   Mount St. Joseph   Sr.   Cincinnati, Ohio
3rd Team
WR   Daniel Huery      Rose-Hulman      Sr.   Katy, Texas
CB   DeShawn Starks   Mount St. Joseph   Sr.   Lexington, Ky.


Preseason Top 25
Mount St Joseph received 32 points to sit in 29th.

[MSJguy]

Rumor has it Asbury was going to join the league but was not accepted..

[GrizFan]

I think that Spalding would be a logical target.

[FCGrizzliesGrad]

https://heartlandconf.org/news/2023/8/22/mount-st-joseph-university-voted-to-bring-home-2023-hcac-football-title.aspx

2023 HCAC FOOTBALL PRESEASON POLL
1.   Mount St. Joseph (7)   49
2.   Rose-Hulman (1)         43
3.   Hanover                      35
4.   Franklin                       33
5.   Defiance                      25
6.   Bluffton                       19
7.   Manchester                 11
8.   Anderson                      9

The only difference between this year's poll and last year's final standings is that Anderson and Manchester have been swapped. The top 6 finished in that exact order last year.

[FCGrizzliesGrad]

As I post every year, here's the HCAC record in non-conference games since last going over .500

Regular season non-conference record
2006: 13-11 (Franklin, Rose 3-0; Defiance, MSJ 2-1; Anderson, Bluffton, Manchester 1-2)
2007: 12-12 (MSJ, Rose 3-0; Franklin, Manchester 2-1; Anderson, Defiance 1-2)
2008: 10-14 (Franklin, Manchester, MSJ, Rose 2-1; Anderson, Bluffton 1-2) Franklin quarterfinals
2009: 7-17 (Franklin, MSJ, Rose 2-1; Defiance 1-2)
Earlham joins HCAC
2010: 6-12 (Bluffton, Franklin, Hanover, Manchester, MSJ, Rose 1-1)
2011: 3-15 (Franklin, Manchester, MSJ 1-1) Franklin 2nd round
2012: 2-16 (Bluffton, MSJ 1-1) Franklin 2nd round
2013: 1-17 (Earlham 1-1) Franklin 2nd round
2014: 4-14 (Rose 2-0; Manchester, MSJ 1-1)
2015: 4-14 (Rose 2-0; Bluffton, MSJ 1-1)
2016: 5-13 (Bluffton 2-0; Defiance, Franklin, Rose 1-1)
2017: 3-15 (Manchester, MSJ, Rose 1-1)
2018: 2-16 (Franklin, MSJ 1-1)
Earlham halts football program
2019: 6-12 (Anderson 2-0; MSJ 1-1; Hanover 2-1; Rose 1-2)
2020/21: 1-2 (Bluffton 1-0)
2021: 6-18 (Franklin 2-1; Bluffton, Hanover, MSJ, Rose 1-2)
2022: 4-20 (MSJ 3-0, Manchester 1-2)

I think it's a coinflip on whether it will be more or fewer wins than last year. I'd say 6 wins is probably the max and 1 win is the minimum.

[HansenRatings]

Playoff projections for the season using my model's preseason ratings:



You can look at other conferences on my website: https://hansenratings.github.io/.

[FCGrizzliesGrad]

The season is finally here. Who has a chance to win today?

Coin flips
Rose-Hulman should be a good game hosting DePauw
Bluffton will be closely matched hosting Kenyon

Underdogs
Franklin hosts Olivet after blowing the lead last year. Winnable but a small underdog.
Hanover is at Centre. Close game last year, small underdog this year.
Mount St Joseph will have a challenge on the road beating Baldwin Wallace like last year
Manchester's lone win last year was North Park, Spartans host this year

No chance
Anderson will have a long day at home against Trine
Defiance will be crushed at home by Mount Union


Best case the conference could pull off a winning record, worst case they go 0fer. My prediction is 2 wins is most likely.

[FCGrizzliesGrad]

Halftime of the three early games...
MSJ leads Baldwin Wallace 19-14. Missed the XP on the first TD, then failed on a 2pt conversion on their 2nd TD. Probably a bit early to go for two.
Franklin trails Olivet 14-13. Franklin had their first XP blocked and unlike MSJ didn't chase the points on the 2nd TD.
Defiance trails Mount Union 21-0. UMU only scored once in their first three drives. I'm sure there will be a few teams that wish they were only down 21 to Mount at halftime.

Honestly, pretty good showing so far.

[dc_has_been]

I am going to give my Jackets a moral victory today. Though the score does not reflect it, they were not steamrolled by the #2 team in the country.

[Dr. Acula]

I am going to give my Jackets a moral victory today. Though the score does not reflect it, they were not steamrolled by the #2 team in the country.

I thought they definitely looked a lot more competitive this year than last year.  Combine that with how they ended last season on a nice run and I think you should be optimistic about their HCAC slate.  I thought the QB did a nice job considering how much pressure he was under.  He didn't panic.  Did a nice job a few times of kind of sliding away from the pressure and finding a safety valve to throw to.  Having a senior who is calm like that at QB is gonna pay off this season. 

[dc_has_been]

I am going to give my Jackets a moral victory today. Though the score does not reflect it, they were not steamrolled by the #2 team in the country.

I thought they definitely looked a lot more competitive this year than last year.  Combine that with how they ended last season on a nice run and I think you should be optimistic about their HCAC slate.  I thought the QB did a nice job considering how much pressure he was under.  He didn't panic.  Did a nice job a few times of kind of sliding away from the pressure and finding a safety valve to throw to.  Having a senior who is calm like that at QB is gonna pay off this season. 

Since Mount wasn't kicking field goals on first down like last year, I am happy with the progress!  Definitely looking forward to this year and years to come as long as they can build on the culture and the commitment.
I feel Ambrose did an exceptional job considering he was under duress for the majority of the game. 

[FCGrizzliesGrad]

I am going to give my Jackets a moral victory today. Though the score does not reflect it, they were not steamrolled by the #2 team in the country.

I thought they definitely looked a lot more competitive this year than last year.  Combine that with how they ended last season on a nice run and I think you should be optimistic about their HCAC slate.  I thought the QB did a nice job considering how much pressure he was under.  He didn't panic.  Did a nice job a few times of kind of sliding away from the pressure and finding a safety valve to throw to.  Having a senior who is calm like that at QB is gonna pay off this season. 

Since Mount wasn't kicking field goals on first down like last year, I am happy with the progress!  Definitely looking forward to this year and years to come as long as they can build on the culture and the commitment.
I feel Ambrose did an exceptional job considering he was under duress for the majority of the game. 

Definitely an improvement over last year. Hopefully not good enough to beat Franklin week 7 though

[FCGrizzliesGrad]

Week 2, what's the forecast looking like? Only 7 games with Hanover off.

Lock
MSJ should have no problem beating Hiram even if have a bit of a letdown.

Coin Flip
Rose-Hulman plays Trine with the past two years being 1 point games. Rose blew a 20 point halftime lead last year after injuries and almost blew a 14 point lead two years ago. I'd say Rose is a slight underdog but can easily win.

Underdog
Defiance is a big underdog at Adrian but I could see this being closer than expected

No chance
Franklin lost to Aurora by 33 last year. Probably going to be similar this year.
Bluffton had a nice win last week but Albion is slightly tougher than Kenyon.
Manchester will have another tough week against Alma
Anderson lost 61-0 last week and it probably won't be much better at DePauw


Not going to be nearly as good a week as week 1. One or two wins likely.