Sep 17, 2013 3 min read

Mike Sirianni didn’t think Saturday’s 42-21 loss to St. John Fisher could get any worse.

On Sunday, it did.

That’s when Sirianni learned senior quarterback Matt Bliss will be out for possibly a month with a sprained MCL in his left leg. Bliss injured the knee with just over two minutes left in the game, after getting sacked on third down. Sirianni said he suffered a similar injury that Baltimore Ravens wide receiver Jacoby Jones did when a teammate crashed into him while fielding a punt two weeks ago. Jones is expected to miss four to six weeks.

Bliss’ injury is not considered as severe, but he probably won’t play this week in a Presidents’ Athletic Conference opener at Grove City and could sit out next week’s PAC home game against Thiel.

“We’re probably looking at two to four weeks,” Sirianni said Tuesday. “He’s seen our doctors.”

Bliss’ injury came on one of the worst defensive efforts by W&J since Sirianni arrived at the school in 1999 as offensive coordinator. W&J surrendered 733 total yards and gave up touchdown plays of 87, 44 and 77 yards to St. John Fisher.

Bliss completed 32 of 47 for 339 yards and three touchdowns and ran for 48 yards on eight carries.

“It’s too bad because he’s been playing very well,” Sirianni said.

Sirianni has three options at quarterback: use Kevin Mechas, a sophomore who came in against St. John Fisher and completed ne of three passes for seven yards with an interception. Or he could turn to Pete Coughlin, a freshman from Upper St. Clair, who played briefly in the opener. Or Sirianni could put wide receiver Alex Baroffio at quarterback, a move he made last season when Bliss went down with a concussion in a Week 4 game against Thiel. Baroffio came in and completed 6 of 11 passes for 72 yards and a touchdown. He also ran for 62 yards on 16 carries.

“If we take Alex out (of the wide receiver spot), then we lose him as a target,” said Sirianni. “We’re already losing Bliss as a quarterback, so it’s like we’re (altering) two positions.”

Bliss also was hurt in the 42-10 playoff loss to Johns Hopkins that ended last season. Shane Smith replaced Bliss and lasted five series before also being injured. Mechas came in and completed 16 of 35 passes for 155 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions in the second half.

Tailback Dion Wiegand, who rushed for 59 yards on 16 carries against SJF, and freshman Ryan Ruffing, who had 77 yards against Wooster in Week 1, will likely be used more to take pressure off the passing game.

“We’ll have to use three-receiver and two-back sets,” Sirianni said. “We’ve done that before, but that means we have to pull our tight ends out of the game.”