For four years now, Waynesburg University football’s situation entering into the second week of the season has mirrored Groundhog Day.
The 1993 film depicts a weatherman, played by Bill Murray, waking up in Punxsutawney, PA and living the same day over and over again. Although Waynesburg’s circumstances aren’t nearly as absurd, the Yellow Jackets’ story going into week two is the same as it’s been the past three years; 0-1 with a loss to Muskingum, and a game against Westminster looming.
The Jackets lost their season opener in New Concord, Ohio 31-20. Meanwhile, Westminster dominated its week one matchup defeating Capital, 66-7.
Another trend over the past few years has been Waynesburg losing to Westminster and thus starting 0-2, and that’s a trend the Jackets can halt by beating the Titans, which they haven’t done since 2014, on their home turf in Saturday’s Presidents’ Athletic Conference opener, which is scheduled for 1 p.m.
A consistent winner in New Wilmington
Since hiring head coach Scott Benzel, Westminter has had frequent success in the Presidents’ Athletic Conference. Since Benzel took over in 2014, Westminster has won twice as many games as it’s lost, with a 36-18 record, bested only by national powers Washington & Jefferson and Case Western Reserve in the PAC.
Under Benzel, the Titans have handled the Jackets. Benzel lost his first meeting with Waynesburg, but has won the four since.
“Coach Benzel has done a good job there,” Waynesburg head coach Chris Smithley said. “They’ve created a culture [of] tough, hard-nosed football, and at the end of the day, we’re going to have to go in there and play our best football to get this thing done Saturday.”
Pound the rock
That was former Tampa Bay Buccaneer and current Oakland Raider head coach Jon Gruden’s fancy way of promoting running the football.
Although a big storyline in Westminsters’ commanding win over Capital was its defense, which returned four interceptions for touchdowns, equally important to Smithley is stopping the Titans’ run game.
Seniors Keano Grice and Bryce Hill combined for 117 of Westminsters’ 143 yards on just 14 carries. As a team, the Titans averaged 4.9 yards per rushing attempt.
The Waynesburg ground attack didn’t have quite the same impact in its week one game. Waynesburg’s leading rusher, Chad Walker, picked up just 49 yards on 16 attempts, and as a whole, the Jackets averaged just 3.6 yards per carry.
“I think it always comes down to stopping the run on defense and running the ball well on offense,” Smithley said. “Those are things that we want to do on a regular basis. That’s the mindset that we have in this program. That’s the culture that we’ve created, and we have to play well up front on both sides of the ball. That at the end of the day is what makes that happen offensively and defensively.”
On the road again
For the first time since 2015, Waynesburg is starting its season with back-to-back away games. Despite not having home field advantage for the crucial conference opener, Smithley doesn’t see playing in New Wilmington instead of at John F. Wiley Stadium as a detriment.
“I see how home field can affect some Division I games, and some NFL games because of the crowd noise and things of that nature,” he said. “But in our circumstances, I don’t see it [being an issue.] As long as you travel well and you have the right mindset going into there, I don’t think that home field advantage does that much for you. We expect our guys to be able to play to their highest potential, and to our standard of how we want to play every week regardless of where we’re at.”