It’s been four years since the Waynesburg University football team won three consecutive games. After beating Geneva and Thiel the past two weeks, the Yellow Jackets (2-3, 2-2) have a chance to win three straight games for the first time since the 2014 season, when Waynesburg reeled off four consecutive wins between Oct. 4 and Oct. 25.

Carnegie Mellon, who has beaten the Jackets two years in a row, is standing in the way of both a three-game winning streak and a .500 record in the PAC for Waynesburg. The Tartans (2-2, 1-2) will look to spoil Homecoming this Saturday.

Last week, the Jackets held on for a 24-21 win over the 0-5 Thiel Tomcats. Waynesburg fell behind 14-3 in the first quarter, but touchdown receptions by junior running back Chad Walker and junior wide receiver Nick Moretti gave the Jackets a 17-14 lead at the half. The teams traded touchdowns in the fourth quarter, but an incomplete pass by junior quarterback Marko Bakovic on fourth-and-19 with little more than 1:30 to play sealed the win for Waynesburg.

The Tartans, on the other hand, suffered an upset loss to Grove City, 31-21. Carnegie Mellon allowed 308 rushing yards to the Wolverines, who were winless in the Presidents’ Athletic Conference coming into that contest. In Waynesburg’s win over Thiel, the Jackets rushed for 205 yards—134 of which were by Chad Walker—while the defense held the Tomcats to just 76 yards on the ground. An effective running game will be one of the keys to the Jackets getting back to .500 Saturday afternoon.

 

Balance Attack

In Waynesburg’s season-opening loss to Muskingum, the Jackets ran the ball 42 times for 101 yards, netting just a 2.4 average. The next week was worse, with Waynesburg gaining just 70 yards on 38 attempts, averaging 1.8 yards per tote. Last week, Waynesburg set a season-high with 160 rushing yards, and Walker led the way with arguably the best game of his career.

While head coach Chris Smithley is pleased with how the Jackets’ ground attack has progressed since week one, he feels that the running game is still hasn’t reached its ceiling. Waynesburg is currently fourth in the PAC in passing offense, but ranks just seventh in rushing average.

“I think that we have to continue to get better in the run game,” Smithley said. “I’m obviously coaching our guys to be great, and I think that we did run the ball well [against Thiel]. But I think we could have had another 100 yards. I think we left about 100 yards out there.”

The last time these two teams met, Waynesburg struggled to run the ball against the Tartans, gaining 67 yards on 35 carries [1.9 average].

 

Motivated CMU

With the Tartans coming off their first bad loss of the of the season, Smithley expects Carnegie Mellon to come to John F. Wiley Stadium with added fire.

“I think they’re going to come down here with a little bit of a chip on their shoulder,” Smithley said. “After losing that game to Grove City like that in their place.”

Smithley said that knowing the Tartans will have added motivation hasn’t changed how the team prepares this week.

“We’re not going to treat it any different than any other football game,” he said. “We have to prepare the same way we do each week and find a way to go 1-0 this week.”

 

No Benger, No Problem

Carnegie Mellon came into this season needing to replace the heartbeat of its offense, running back Sam Benger, who rushed for 5,386 yards in his four years at CMU. Thus far, however, the Tartans’ offense has more than held its own without Benger.

CMU ranks third in the PAC in both scoring average [27.0 PPG] and yardage [411.3 YPG]. Junior quarterback Alex Cline— who went 12-20 for 187 yards and three touchdowns last year at Wiley Stadium— is third in the conference with 947 yards passing and is tied for third with eight touchdowns in his second year as starter.

Filling Benger’s shoes at running back is senior Rory Hubbard, who has averaged 5.6 yards per carry through four games. Hubbard picked up the slack against Waynesburg last year. While the Jackets’ defense held Benger to just 34 yards on eight carries, Hubbard led the way on the ground with 94 yards on 11 carries.

Although the Tartans offense lost its top individual player to graduation, Smithley said that Carnegie Mellon has a more balanced attack this season.

“With Benger being gone, it’s actually made them more difficult to defend because of their balance with their run game and their pass game,” Smithley said. “They’re throwing it around. So we have to be ready to go in all phases.”