Openers could have postseason implications for PAC teams
Some of the top teams in the Presidents’ Athletic Conference enter the 2026 football season in a New York state of mind.
While PAC play doesn’t begin until the third week of the season, teams expected to contend for the conference championship have huge non-conference battles Saturday afternoon that could shape the NCAA Division III playoffs, which are almost three months away.
Washington & Jefferson, selected as the favorite to win the PAC title – which would be its third consecutive – is on the road at Utica.
Grove City, which has been to the NCAA playoffs three straight seasons, to plays at Cortland. Case Western Reserve also travels to New York Friday night to play Rochester.
Westminster played at Marietta on Thursday night. Geneva hosts Widener Saturday while Waynesburg hosts Capital in Larry Wilson’s debut as the Yellow Jackets’ head coach.
“We’re not looking at this as a chance to three-peat,” W&J coach Mike Sirianni said. “We don’t want anyone taking what we have. We have new players and we have lost players from last year. It’s a new team.
“Every team is different. We start the season at Utica. I don’t know if that will carry any motivation. In the conference we feel everyone is trying to take what we have. So, keeping what we have is our motivation.”
W&J received 37 first-place votes and tallied 497 total points in the media day poll. The Presidents went 8-0 in PAC play last year to earn the program’s 28th NCAA playoff bid and finished 8-3 overall.
Grove City, who was one of four PAC teams to play in the postseason after earning an at-large bid to the NCAA playoffs in 2025, was selected second with five first-place votes and 453 points. Westminster, who finished an 8-3 season with a victory in the Opendorse Bowl Series Extra Points Bowl, placed third with three first-place votes and 395 points. Ranking fourth was Case Western Reserve with 361 points, followed by Geneva, who earned an ECAC Bowl bid a season ago, with 339 points.
The balloting was filled out by Allegheny in sixth (250), Waynesburg (222), Saint Vincent (201), Hiram (152), Thiel (87) and Bethany (one first-place vote, 79 points). PAC newcomer Saint Francis was not included in the preseason poll.
Grove City expects to be a serious contender for the PAC title and a fourth consecutive NCAA postseason berth.
The Wolverines will be led by sophomore quarterback Mike Hollomon and return the interior of their offensive line.
While Grove City lost talented linebackers, it returns a ball-hawking secondary and spectacular special teams play.
“We’re much further along than last year and it helps,” veteran coach Andrew DiDonato said. “There’s no secret. Mike Hollomon is our guy. Our players voted him captain. He really came on big last year towards the end of the season.
“The biggest question is the experience at linebacker. In the secondary, we finished first in the country in interceptions last year. All those guys are back. There’s a certain type of player you need to have at linebacker. We feel like we have the athleticism at linebacker to continue to play at the level we’ve been.”
Case Western Reserve is buoyed by the return of quarterback Aaron Filips, who suffered a season-ending injury in the 2025 season opener.
The Spartans are coming off a 4-5-1 season and an unusual fifth-place finish in the PAC.
“We’ve spent a lot of time on team building,” said longtime coach Greg Debeljak. “Having Aaron back is big. He’s as good or better than any quarterback I’ve ever coached, and I have coached some great ones.”
A team that hasn’t had much success as of late that needs to be watched is Saint Vincent.
The Bearcats’ schedule is more than favorable as they do not play W&J, Grove City nor Case Western Reserve. They only play nine games, and its non-conference game is home against Hilbert, which was 0-10 last season. The Hawks are a member of the Liberty League.
Waynesburg will be led by Wilson, who in in his first head coaching job. He is a veteran of Division II football. The Yellow Jackets are fighting for respectability and a move upward.
“We were in a position where we were fortunate in scheduling,” Wilson said. “We were able to schedule Ursinus in the second week after Dickinson dropped us the week I got hired. Ursinus was willing to come here with no return visit. I was glad we got the schedule filled because I was having a little bit of anxiety because of being uncomfortable with what PAC football’s all about. I’ve obviously watched the teams. It’s a good league, a solid league. I’m excited to jump in there and see what it’s all about.”
Instant replay
Instant replay has come to Division II and III regular-season play this season.
The rules include:
• Each head coach will begin the game with one challenge.
• The head coach is responsible for initiating the challenge by taking a team time out and by informing the officials during the team timeout that he is challenging the ruling on the previous play.
• If the challenge is successful, the head coach will not be charged a timeout. The coach will also retain his challenge that he may use only one more time during the game.
• If the challenge is not successful, the head coach will be charged a team time out and will be out of challenges for the remainder of the game, including overtime.
In addition:
• If the officials call a targeting foul on the field, the game will automatically be stopped, and the foul will be immediately reviewed by the Referee. The Referee will make a ruling after viewing the targeting call from the Sideline Replay System. If for some reason the technology doesn’t work at that time, the Referee will review the play at halftime.