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| Rasheed Bailey burst onto the
national scene with a huge opening weekend vs. Montclair State and
is the prime mover of the ball on offense for Aaron Wilmer and the
Delaware Valley offense. Delaware Valley athletics photo |
There will no longer be two perfect teams in the MAC after Saturday. There will, however, almost certainly be two playoff bids going to that conference.
Delaware Valley and Widener have been building to this point all season – though that may not have been readily apparent with games against Lycoming and Stevenson coming earlier in the line. At stake is a MAC championship, the rivalry’s Keystone Cup trophy and, not to be taken lightly, local bragging rights.
“I’m jacked up, I’m excited, I can’t wait,” said Delaware Valley coach Duke Greco.” And I think the kids feel the same way. You’ve got everything on the line. It’s everything you’ve want as a player and as a coach. These are the moments you look forward to being a part of.”
In 36 previous meetings, these two teams have never been 9-0 when they’ve met. Now, the Pride sits at No. 12 nationally, while the Aggies are close behind at 16th.
“Whoever loses this game, it’s going to be heart-wrenching,” said Widener coach Mike Kelly.
Kelly, whose background includes head coaching stints in the Canadian Football League and at Division II Valdosta State, is in his first season at the helm of the Pride. He’s the third head coach in three seasons. Under his command is a stellar offense fueled by quarterback Seth Klein, who has posted 2,280 yards this season, and All-American receiver Anthony Davis.
“I’ve been through a transition myself as a player, having a coaching change after my junior year” of college, Kelly said. “This is my third head-coaching job. I have a feel for what transition is. And if you don’t have individuals who accept their responsibility in a transition, then you’re not going to succeed.”
The Pride, which hasn’t trailed in a game all season, has done nothing but succeed since Sept. 5.
Delaware Valley, not to be outdone, has cultivated similarly impressive accomplishments under its first-year head coach. Greco, however, isn’t a fresh face to the program – he was promoted after 11 years with the team, much of which was spent as the assistant head coach and offensive coordinator.
It’s little surprise that the Aggies, like the Pride, average more than 40 points a game.
“We’ve had explosive teams in the past, teams that are pretty explosive offensively,” Greco said, “but I don’t remember a team here being as young and, the last few weeks, being as successful as we’ve been.”
The youth is particularly prevalent on defense, where the linebacker corps and secondary are littered with sophomore and juniors. Offensively, quarterback Aaron Wilmer, wideout Rasheed Bailey and tailback Chris Smallwood are closing in on the end of their senior seasons.
They all played in last year’s game in which Del Val rallied with 33 second-half points to win 50-28. While Widener holds a big lead in the overall series record, the Aggies have won eight of the past 11 meetings.
Yet the coaching changes and the strong performances leading up to this week present a significant question mark about who could come away victorious.
“I think one of the things that we’ve been able to do is avoid the real high peaks and the real low valleys,” Widener’s coach said. “We’ve maintained a very businesslike approach every week. …
“My biggest challenge this week is not to let us have too great of an adrenaline rush, just maintain our balance.”
Widener and Delaware Valley have accounted for eight of the past 10 MAC championships. The 2014 MAC championship means a guaranteed trip to the playoffs and, very likely, a high seed in the bracket. Currently, Del Val is first in the east’s Regional Rankings, and Widener is third.
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| Seth Klein has thrived under
Mike Kelly, throwing 25 touchdowns and just two interceptions this
season. Widener athletics photo |
But what happens to Saturday’s losing team? History backs up both coaches’ opinions that the team that finishes 9-1 should get an at-large bid to the postseason.
“The unfortunately thing is that somebody’s got to lose,” Kelly said. “I certainly think that both teams are more than qualified to be in the NCAA playoffs.”
He noted the importance of the losing squad being recognized for a near-perfect season by getting its name called on Selection Sunday.
Greco agrees.
“To make the playoffs is a huge accomplishment,” he said. “I think it would be a shame if either of these teams aren’t in the playoffs. …
“I think no matter which team you coach or where you’re at, you get another opportunity. I feel like both teams deserve it.”
It’s one of the safest bets a person can make this year, that both Delaware Valley and Widener will be playing football on Nov. 22. But why leave any sliver of doubt? Why put fate in the committee’s hands? Why spend 24 hours worrying about whether there’s a Pool C spot for you in the 32-team field?
A Greco puts it: “We worry about ourselves and what we can control.”
Control means a win and a MAC title.
Coming up next week
Between the regular season and the playoffs, we’ll be featuring our annual surprises and disappointments Around the Nation column. Here, we tap into a panel consisting of D3football.com Publisher Pat Coleman, Managing Editor Keith McMillan, Around the Mid-Atlantic columnist Adam Turer, Stagg Bowl sideline reporter Frank Rossi and myself to help set the tone of expectations for the playoffs – and to forecast which teams might exceed them.
We’ll write about each bracket and give a little insight into how things will shape out. It’s one of the best-read columns of the season, and it will be sandwiched in between scores of other playoff coverage as well as our Round 1 score predictions in Triple Take on Friday of next week.
Later in the season
In the days after the Stagg Bowl, which is Dec. 19, come back and visit D3football.com for my Year-in-Review column. Not only will I revisit some of the big games and playmakers of the 2014 season, but I’ll also dig up some of the predictions from Kickoff to see how those of us on the expert panel fared. (I promise that it’ll make for great holiday reading.)
One question that’s worth highlighting now that playoff season is so close: Who will win the national title? Do you have a guess? In Kickoff, only one of us picked a team besides UW-Whitewater. And that lone outlier didn’t even pick Mount Union.