W&J, Grove City, Carnegie Mellon Finish as PAC Football Tri-Champions W&J earns AQ bid through tiebreaker 11/16/2024 6:00:00 PM TRAFFORD, Pa. (pacathletics.org) - For the first time since 1998, the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) has tri-champions in football, as Washington & Jefferson College, Grove City College and Carnegie Mellon University all completed the regular season with 9-1 overall and conference records. Since the three teams all went 1-1 against each other during the regular season (W&J defeated Grove City 27-19 on Oct. 19; Grove City defeated Carnegie Mellon 17-10 on Oct. 12; Carnegie Mellon defeated W&J 30-27 in OT on Sept. 28), the deciding tiebreaker to determine the PAC's automatic qualifier for the NCAA playoffs is scoring margin in games involving tied teams. That tiebreaker lifts W&J into the NCAA playoffs with a scoring margin of +5 in their games against Grove City, whose margin was -1, and Carnegie Mellon, whose margin was -4. This is W&J's first bid to the NCAA Playoffs since 2018. Despite not receiving the automatic bid to the NCAA Playoffs, Grove City and Carnegie Mellon are in solid position to be at-large selections. In the most recent NCAA National Power Index (NPI) rankings, Carnegie Mellon was 23rd in the county and Grove City was 24th, putting both in that discussion with 12 at-large bids to be handed out when the NCAA 40-team playoff announcement is made Sunday, Nov. 17th at 5 pm. All three champions completed their regular seasons with victories Saturday. W&J went on the road to post a 45-0 shutout victory at Allegheny College. Senior quarterback Jake Pugh (Jefferson Hills, Pa./Thomas Jefferson) threw for 295 yards and five TDs in the win, while the Presidents' defense shut out the Gators while allowing just 148 total yards. The conference crown is the 27th in W&J's history, most in the PAC, and first since 2018. Grove City's regular season came to a close with a 36-9 victory at Westminster. Running back Ian Demeri (Pittsburgh, Pa./Penn-Trafford) ran for 163 yards and three touchdowns and the Wolverine defense limited the Titans to 229 total yards. The championship is the second consecutive for Grove City and fourth in program history. Carnegie Mellon led for most of the game at Case Western Reserve before a late Spartans' TD made the Tartans have to rally. Graduate student QB Ben Mills (The Woodlands, Texas./Woodlands) led a 13-play, 63-yard scoring drive, capped off when the Tartan signal caller ran into the end zone from two yards out with 1:21 to play. After Carnegie Mellon converted the two-point attempt, the Tartan defense stopped CWRU on downs in Carnegie Mellon territory to preserve the 37-30 win, which gave the program a share of its 10th PAC championship. This marks the eighth time the PAC has had multiple conference champions in football and first since Carnegie Mellon and Westminster were co-champions in 2021. This is just the second time the league has had three teams share the title, with the first being in 1998 when Grove City and W&J were also tied atop the standings along with Waynesburg. W&J pic above courtesy of Ed Malliard