This past Saturday Carnegie Mellon University, Grove City College and Washington and Jefferson College all became not only Co-Champions of the Presidents’ Athletic Conference, but all earned a bid into the NCAA Tournament. 

This is the first time since 1998 when W&J, Grove City and Waynesburg shared the PAC as tri-champions, and the first time since 2021 when Carnegie Mellon and Westminster both shared the championship. 

“I knew it was a possibility and that there always is a possibility you can have what happened this year,” PAC Commissioner Joe Onderko said. “You can’t count on that. This was one of those perfect storm years; it was really a case of the changing of the power rankings the same year you change the bracket and in the same year we had three really good teams.”

This is the first time in nearly the 70 years the PAC has been in business that they have had three teams in the NCAA tournament. 

Onderko said that the PAC has been climbing and continuing to grab people’s attention nationally.

“I think our profile is much higher nationally,” Onderko said. “We have received more media coverage on the national scale this year. There is a rising tide, there are not just one or two teams that are good, there are four playing in the postseason. PAC football is as strong as it has ever been in its nearly 70-year history.”

All three teams finished 9-1 in the PAC this season, but all defeated each other in the process creating the three-way tie. Of all three teams, Washington and Jefferson were handed the automatic bid into the tournament. 

“The tie breaker is the point differential in all three games against each other,” W&J head coach Mike Sirianni said. “We [W&J] were plus five, Grove City was minus one and Carnegie Mellon was minus four.” 

This is not the first PAC Championship W&J has shared while under Sirianni, but for him that doesn’t diminish the title. 

“It doesn’t diminish it at all. The three other times we had the tie-breaker,” Sirianni said. “If we had been PAC Champions and not made the NCAA tournament then yeah it would.” 

The DIII College football playoff was expanded from 32 to 40 teams this past offseason, so W&J with the automatic bid will have a break until November 30, when they play Ralph-Mason College in Ashland, VA at 12 p.m. 

Sirianni believes it is all about matchups and getting hot at the right time, which he believes his team is. 

“In 2004 and 2008 we had one of the best QB’s in the country. Now we have Jake [Pugh] who is the reigning PAC Player of the year and I’d be shocked if he wasn’t again,” Sirianni said. 

Sirianni acknowledged the talent in not only division III but in the PAC. 

“This is an outstanding conference that ranks in the top five or six in the entire league,” Sirianni said. “At the end of the day though I don’t care who everyone else plays; we are focused on ourselves and who we are playing.” 

Carnegie Mellon, a team who has won the PAC Championship now three of the past five years and head coach Ryan Larsen has been there for those three seasons.

“I am extremely proud that we have won three PAC Championships in the last five years, but I am even more grateful to be a part of two in the last three years,” Larsen said. “We have an unbelievable culture here where our team loves to practice, and we can play with high energy and effort.” 

Larsen, like Sirianni, said even sharing the PAC Championship doesn’t diminish its value. 

“It is a championship, and I would never think any less as it is earned by our young men with hard work,” Larsen said. 

The Tartans will have a bye from the first round and play host to Centre College on Nov. 30, and kickoff at 12 p.m. 

In 2022, the Tartans made it to the second round of the playoffs before losing to Northern Central College. Larsen believes this team has the tools to make it even farther this season.

“I think we still have a lot of guys still on the team from the 2022 season, so they have experience in the playoffs,” Larsen said. “Overall our leadership has been phenomenal this year, and we will learn from that and move forward as a program one game at a time.”

Larsen is also grateful not just to host a playoff game, but to allow his players to be home.

“I am excited that our seniors and fifth year guys get another opportunity to play at home,” Larsen said. “It is even more special that our team will get to spend Thanksgiving together as we prepare for a very talented Centre College team.” 

Head coach Andrew DiDonato and Grove City are familiar with this feeling with being PAC Champions in back-to-back seasons. Last time a team won back-to-back PAC championships was in 2021 and 2022 when Carnegie Mellon did it. 

“It starts with us and our vision,” Didonato said. “We want to compete for PAC Championships. We are in such a great conference and if we can compete in the PAC then we can put ourselves in the best spot to compete in the NCAA tournament.” 

Like the other coaches, DiDonato said the PAC is heading in the right direction and becoming great preparation to compete with other teams in the country. 

“Me and my brother played in this conference for Grove City, and when we came back we couldn’t believe the difference,” DiDonato said. “From top to bottom how good the conference is- if you can compete in the PAC you can compete with anyone in the country.” 

Didonato continued to say that despite losing to the eventual champion Cortland, it helped the team prioritize the opportunities that the team is given. 

“You just have no idea how close you are,” DiDonato said. “1-0 each week; that game taught us to maximize each rep and the one or two plays it takes to win a game.” 

All three teams will have to wait until they play their games in the tournament, however all three look to become the first ever PAC school to win the NCAA tournament.W&J has made it to two national championship games, however has never won.