2025 PSAC East Predicted Ranking

[CUlater]

I'm taking the bold approach this one, shaking things up a bit, thought process below

1. ESU knocks off Ktown for the East, they've been marching towards this for a while now and have all the pieces in place
2. Kutz - takes a very small step back but more about ESU's growth - playoff team but take a break from the state game
3. Bloom - really liked the way they bounced back last year and they return a lot from that group
4. LHU - even with the HC change I think they've kept the momentum rolling. that and one of the top returning QB's in the league has them back in the mix, new O line group has to gel early tho
5. WCU - I don't think its too much longer before they are back in the top 3, but not yet
6. Shep - A LOT of moving pieces here, hard to see them falling this far down the list but also struggling to pick them above some of the others...wouldn't be surprised to see them climb as high as 3/4 slot but we'll see. questions at QB and number of new faces on D is certainly driving the positioning here
7. Ship - very young team, things were looking a little brighter before the OC left town a few weeks ago. tough spot for the red raiders
8. Ville - things were trending up in a big way just a couple years ago but the momentum has falling completely flat

[Ship69]

1. Kutztown: Shaky at best offense. Defense and confidence will carry them.
2. West Chester: Dynamic...and sometimes erratic qb. Very good Defense. Returners.
3. East Stroudsburg: Solid offense. Solid Defense. Lost a few Olinemen.
4. Bloomsburg: Like their qb. Bend but don't break Defense. Learning how to win.
5. Lock Haven: Will win 6 games because they will.score. Portal will help them.
6.Shepherd: Loss of Qb Powell and WR Dorner are big losses. Losing half of Defense to defection does not help either. Replacing former OC Clark with Ambrose helps.
7. Millersville: New leaders on offense and defense may hurt initially. Solid nucleus of returning difference makers though. Don't be surprised if this squad finishes higher.
8. Ship: Just lost OC Ware. Can it it get any worse for this team.

Ship has been down, but i can't see them going below Millersville, which also has lost a couple of coordinators.

[TDBoi8136]

I'll do a standing prediction based off of gut feeling. No research or knowledge on who is back, who moved where, etc.

1) ESU
2) KU
3) Shep
4) WCU
5) Bloom
6) LHU
7) Ship
8) Ville

[nova2wv]

Inspired by the other thread. Bear in mind these are my own opinions and I admit to having biases here and there. Post your own rankings, then in four months we can look back and see how wrong we all were.

1. Kutztown – another year, another contender. A lot of the pieces from last year are back. For my money they are the SR1 pre-season favorites.
2. East Stroudsburg – bringing back McTaggart is huge. The defense brings back several pieces as well. Losing Tahir Mills to the portal is a big blow to the running game, which will need someone to step up. The schedule is really soft (please get Pace off the schedule, we've outgrown them) and double digit wins should be the expectation.
3. West Chester – year #2 with Coach Greco, plus the return of Cooper Jordan. I expect the Rams to take a step towards playoff contention.
4. Bloomsburg – Did a good job of avoiding too many losses after a nice 2024 season. Something could be brewing here.
5. Shepherd – Big retooling year, it could take some time for all the pieces to gel. I believe in the program too much to rank them any lower.
6. Shippensburg – They have a really young roster, but having a returning QB helps. I think they can reasonably reach 6th place but there's a lot of work to do to jump to 5th or higher.
7. Lock Haven – I have concerns how the high-turnover strategy works with a new HC. They also have a returning QB but a lot of receiving yards left with T'iar Young.
8. Millersville – New OC, new DC, new pieces up and down the lineup. Their 3-1 start in 2023 feels like a long time ago.

Shepherd has the first 3 games on the road and then Kutztown - I'm thinking the road games will either help them bond together with so many new faces or they'll completely fall apart and the portal will be filled at the end of the season. I still can't see Ernie giving up his OC duties --- as mentioned, the new OC is well-over qualified..... maybe grooming as Ernie's replacement :)
1.Kutztown
2.West Chester
3. East Stroudsburg
4. Bloomsburg
5. Shippensburg
6. Shepherd
7. Millersville
8. Lock Haven

[Ram040506]

Shepherd has the first 3 games on the road and then Kutztown - I'm thinking the road games will either help them bond together with so many new faces or they'll completely fall apart and the portal will be filled at the end of the season. I still can't see Ernie giving up his OC duties --- as mentioned, the new OC is well-over qualified..... maybe grooming as Ernie's replacement :)
1.Kutztown
2.West Chester
3. East Stroudsburg
4. Bloomsburg
5. Shippensburg
6. Shepherd
7. Millersville
8. Lock Haven

Blasphemy. Shepherd got lucky to grab someone like Rob Ambrose to be an OC. Likely, it'll only be a 1 year or 2 year at most for him. His son, Riley Ambrose, is on the team and is a redshirt junior or senior. Once he's gone, I'd be shocked if he stayed. Rob will be a tremendous asset to have there and will give Ernie a trusted coach on that side of the ball that he can scheme with, which he hasn't had in a few seasons.

If you are the type that would like to see Ernie gone after 1 bad season (6-5), your going to be disappointed.

[nova2wv]

Blasphemy. Shepherd got lucky to grab someone like Rob Ambrose to be an OC. Likely, it'll only be a 1 year or 2 year at most for him. His son, Riley Ambrose, is on the team and is a redshirt junior or senior. Once he's gone, I'd be shocked if he stayed. Rob will be a tremendous asset to have there and will give Ernie a trusted coach on that side of the ball that he can scheme with, which he hasn't had in a few seasons.

If you are the type that would like to see Ernie gone after 1 bad season (6-5), your going to be disappointed.

Not gone - just in this time of college football, I believe you need a "Head Coach" that focuses on just that -- Rob would be a huge asset if he stays healthy (praying for him) https://sports.yahoo.com/article/min...035900176.html ---- and I'd love to see him take over the OC solely -

[EastStroud13]

Compiling the rankings in this thread:

1. Kutztown - 70 points (7 first place votes)
2. East Stroudsburg - 62 (2)
3. West Chester - 52
4. Bloomsburg - 46
5. Shepherd - 32
6. Lock Haven - 27
7. Shippensburg - 23
8. Millersville - 12

Overall this is almost exactly the same as last year's standings, with only West Chester and Bloomsburg flipping spots. Shepherd and Lock Haven are the two main wild cards, with Shepherd ranked anywhere from 3rd to 8th, and Lock Haven ranked anywhere from 4th to 8th (plus iupgroundhog who sees them as 3rd).

[Ram040506]

Compiling the rankings in this thread:

1. Kutztown - 70 points (7 first place votes)
2. East Stroudsburg - 62 (2)
3. West Chester - 52
4. Bloomsburg - 46
5. Shepherd - 32
6. Lock Haven - 27
7. Shippensburg - 23
8. Millersville - 12

Overall this is almost exactly the same as last year's standings, with only West Chester and Bloomsburg flipping spots. Shepherd and Lock Haven are the two main wild cards, with Shepherd ranked anywhere from 3rd to 8th, and Lock Haven ranked anywhere from 4th to 8th (plus iupgroundhog who sees them as 3rd).

I should probably revise my ranking for Shepherd, as I was being a bit sarcastic. I think there is too much talent for them to be lower than 5th, and I am optimistic they are going to bounce back this year and make a run at a playoff bid. Could be the homer in me, but from what I can tell the DL is going to be good, and the secondary should be as well. LB's are very green, but I feel like that is the easiest position to recruit so they'll have some guys.

Offensively, the OL is healthy! They should be one of the top 2 or 3 OL units in the PSAC, which would be a gigantic improvement over the patchwork line they had last year. The RB room is loaded. QB room had a talent infusion, will have to see if that talent can translate to results. Rob Ambrose taking over as OC is going to be a gigantic improvement in coaching as well, as we actually will have offensive minds coaching offense. Wild concept there.

The PSAC East has come a long way in the last 3 years. Kudos to Jimmy T and Sheptock for staying the course, those programs have come fully back to life or are knocking on the door. West Chester I think made a great hire, and have a really talented squad coming back. I really think there are 4/5 teams that could talk themselves into being PSAC East champion this year, which I don't think was a realistic scenario at any point in the last 10 years or so.