Road to the SAC Title Game

As the regular season heads towards the end – there is a big race in the East and West to represent the SAC in the SAC Title Game.

In the East – RPOsborne has Presbyterian humming on all cylinders gunning towards their match up with fellow undefeated coach Clememp. Current WIS Rankings have Tusculum ranked first while Presbyterian are currently polling at 4.

Whomever wins their ‘Game of the Night’ will get the opportunity to face either Dawgnuts or BigPappaMatt. Dawg has Shepherd trending upwards as they will face WV Tech in the last game of the season. Shepherd is one game back in the loss column.

Could Dessasdad play spoiler against the absentee owner of WV Tech? Will Dawg run the table to the game? Should be an exciting run to wrap up the regular season.

The SAC expects to have 3 playoff teams this season as the race for SAC Offensive Player of the year looks to come down to either the signal caller for Presbo in David McGowan or their stud tailback in Harold Martinez.

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Defensive Player of the Year is too close to call at this point – stay tuned for more handicapping.

Welcome to Conference Play

The South Atlantic Conference would like to welcome Dessasdad to the conference. A long time Rockne stalwart at Midwestern – the Hall of Fame Coach takes on a serious rebuild at Glenville.

The SAC should be a dog fight this season with some talented upperclassmen being showcased with two WIS top ten squads currently with Tusculum having 29 and Presbyterian  26 respectively.

The GUESS Reports were particularly insightful as Presbyterian shows up at 4 while Tusculum checks in at 7 and Shepherd rounds out the top 20. Glenville is in the top half at 66 while West Virginia Tech and West Virginia Wesleyan both have serious roster issues precluding their competitiveness (WVT – 136, WVW – 137).

The top three teams all enter league play undefeated and are expecting to contend for the SAC crown and post-season glory.

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SAC Recruiting Outlook

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Tusculum College run to the final four and the other 3 qualifiers helped to earn SAC Coaches $13K for the upcoming recruiting season.

With West Georgia’s coronation as Rockne Division II National Champion all eyes turn to the job change period – and more importantly recruiting.

Yatzr has put out an amazing 2.0 version of his Recruiting Tool that scrapes out recruiting data and now team analysis.  Check it out here for a download:

http://www.gdreports.com/tools/yatzr/yatzr_game_analyzer_1.9.1.jar

The SAC has a lot of spots open for incoming recruits and some great competition across the vision of DII.  Tusculum is in the lead in the last 3 years with 47 victories, Mars Hill next with 41, Shepherd with 38, West Virginia Tech with 31, followed by the field of newer owners with 18 or fewer.

This effect of vision will have a stratus of competition for recruits – but any Sky is the Limit talents out there certainly will be battled over.

Yatzr’s tool improvement lists team ranking with or without seniors and tells how many are departing.  West Virginia Wesleyan has 22 recruits coming in this off season down to West Virginia Tech only selecting 4 (or 5 if the rumors of impending cuts to SimAi recruits is true).

 

Tusculum Blown Out in Final Four

Tusculum Blown Out in Final Four

Freshman QB Robert Abbott throws 4 picks as Tusculum tried to take advantage of West Georgia’s 4-4 defense.

Michael Schmidt was the lone highlight running back a kick 99 yards for a score in his final game as a Pioneer. The SAC put 4 teams into the playoffs and all the teams got a healthy boost in recruiting from the DII Playoff Payoff.

Recruiting is right around the corner.

SAC TITLE GAME

Tusculum Coach

Tusculum QB Robert Abbott ‘led’ Tusculum back to the title game – albeit while throwing 18 interceptions in his true freshman campaign.

Shepherd returns to the title game albeit on a one game losing streak.

Tusculum won their regular season match-up 19-6 in the first game of SAC Play but Shepherd is favored in this game by +1.5 points.

The SAC has an outside chance at getting 5 teams in to the playoffs – but 4 should definitely get an invite after the Conference Championship.

INSTANT CLASSIC

INSTANT CLASSIC

Tusculum bounces back after a humiliating home loss to stun Mars Hill at home 27 to 26 in a battle between two top ten teams.

Freshman signal caller Robert Abbot bounced back from a horrendous start to throw a pair of touchdowns while senior tailback Michael Schmidt ripped off a 74 yard run while amassing 211 yards on the ground after being shut down in the first half.

“At halftime Coach put us in the trips and with our skill players spreading the field it opened up the run game for all of us,” Schmidt stated after being presented with the game ball. “With our defense shutting down the high powered Mars Hill chuck and duck we getting ready to run the table to the SAC Championship.”

Junior Scott Ramos threw for 321 yards and a pair of scores in the losing effort and still leads DII in passing touchdowns.

The South Atlantic Conference could put 5 teams into the playoffs this year and if Carson-Newman is able to run the table – 6 is not out of reach.

SAC Owner/Coach Interview: Indy_Indians

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The SAC Times caught up with Indy_Indians who is coaching at West Virginia Wesleyan and has his team to an early 5-2 (1-1 SAC) Record in his second year of coaching in WhatifSports.

1) When did you first discover What If Sports?

December 23, 2005

2) What convinced you to join the SAC Conference in the Rockne World?

I’m originally from West Virigina and just wanted a team from my home state and here I am.

3) What is the best advice you would give to a new owner starting up in Gridiron Dynasty?

Take your time in building your team, it’s nice to win, but it may be better in the long run to figure out stuff.

4) Who is your favorite student-athlete you have signed?

Probably WR Mark Cook.

5) What is your coaching philosophy?

Keep it close, hope the defense steps up.

6) Who is your biggest rival in GD?

Have not played enough to gain a rival. Until then I can safely say it’s myself.

7) What would you change in GD if you could?

Fill up an entire division with human players.

8) What is your real world occupation?

Work at McDonald’s

9) What college team is your favorite that you follow?

IU in college basketball, can’t really stand college football on TV. Every game seems offensively lopsided to me. But I try and follow how W.VA. does.

10) What has been your biggest defeat in your coaching career? Biggest victory?

Not enough games yet.  Editor’s Note: The day this interview posted Indy_Indidans knocked off #3 Tusculum 29-24 while picking off 7 passes.  There is little doubt that this is the biggest win in West Virginia Wesleyan history.