August 25th, 2026 3:05am
G-MAC Weekly
Week Zero Schedule *G-MAC teams bold and italicized
Kentucky Wesleyan at Kentucky Christian
KWC couldn’t quite get off the schneid last year finishing the 2025 campaign 0-11. They’ll open this season against in-state opponent Kentucky Christian who competes in the NAIA. Sophomore Justus Wertzler returns under center after taking over the quarterback position midway through the season. Wertzler finished with 937 yards passing with six touchdowns and eight interceptions on the season. Dominick Hollis returns for his sophomore season in the backfield for KWC as he finished second on the team in rushing with 202 yards and led the team in total carries with 75 a season ago. Coach Tyrone Young returns for his fifth season at KWC and a win to kick-off thie 2026 campaign would be a great start for the Panthers.
KCU finished the 2025 campaign with a 4-6 record and dropped their last two contests of the season. The Knights did average 424 yards and 33.4 points per game. They could be a tough offense to stop. Defensively, The Knights gave up 391 yards per game while allowing 32.3 points.
I think the key to victory in this one will be can KWC stop KCU’s offense.
PREDICTION
Kentucky Wesleyan 27 Kentucky Christian 24
Ohio Dominican at Morehead State
ODU had a solid season in 2025 finishing at 5-5 overall and 4-5 in conference play. Carson Parker, who took the most reps at quarterback a season ago returns to the panthers for his redshirt sophomore campaign. He threw for 1139 yards with eight touchdowns and four interceptions while completing 56 percent of his passes. He’ll be joined in the backfield by Nathan Webster, who returns for his junior year. Webster was second in rushing last year with 340 yards and three touchdowns. ODU was strong defensively, only giving up 19.1 points per game. Kelly Cummings remains atop the program for the 11th straight season.
Morehead State is a Division I FCS team that competes in the Ohio Valley Conference. The Eagles, just like the Panthers, are coming off of a .500 season in 2025. They finished 6-6. Morehead State scored 21. 2 points per contest while allowing 29.9.
It’s always a challenge for a division II school to beat a division I school simply because of the number of scholarships.
PREDICTION
Morehead State 34 Ohio Dominican 13
Tiffin at Carson-Newman
The Dragons had a solid 7-4 campaign in 2025 and hope to build on that in 2026. Head Coach Brett Elkins left to take a quality control coaching position with the Arizona Cardinals and his former OC Zack Blair has been promoted up to be the head man. Blair’s offense a year ago averaged over 400 yards per game with a balanced attack. Alex Johnson will have to be replaced at quarterback and Kyle Antoine, who played very little last year is the only quarterback on the roster that had playing time in 2025. Whomever takes the reins at quarterback will have a potent running game behind him as Ronald Blackman returns for a fifth year. He averaged a whopping 5.7 yards-per-carry last season and totaled 820 rushing yards and four touchdowns. Defensively, Tiffin was very good against the pass but struggled to stop the run, allowing nearly 1500 yards on the ground and 13 touchdowns.
Carson-Newman competes in the South Atlantic Conference of Division II. The Eagles had a stellar season in 2025 just missing out on the playoffs with a 7-3 record. All three losses were by seven points or less. CNU will look to run the ball and play defense as they bring back the tenth ranked rushing offense from a season ago and a defense that only yielded 14.5 points per contest.
PREDICTION
Carson Newman 27 Tiffin 21
Walsh at West Liberty
Walsh had a disappointing end to their 2025 campaign. After a hot 6-2 start, the Cavaliers faltered down the stretch losing their last three games to finish at 6-5. John Franhuser returns for an eighth season as head coach. The Cavaliers gave up right at 20 points per game and scored 21.9 points a contest in 2025. Jake Gill returns in the backfield as a redshirt junior after compiling 664 yards rushing and five touchdowns on 148 carries. Gill led Walsh in every rushing category. Hayden Wickard started the season a year ago, but did not finish the year as the starter and he’s back as a redshirt junior to lead the Cavaliers offense.
West Liberty competes in the Mountain East Conference in Division II. A season ago they finished 3-8 overall and 3-5 in conference play. Chad Salisbury enters his first season as head coach at WLU after being the offensive coordinator for the last nine years at California University of Pennsylvania. He is known for his offensive wizardry and we’ll look to install his west coast offense at West Liberty.
Last year this game was the opener for both squads with Walsh running away with it at home, 38-10. Can they travel to West Virginia and get a similar outcome?
PREDICTION
Walsh 45 West Liberty 27
Thomas More at Wheeling
Chris Norwell enters season number five as head coach for the Saints. He’ll be looking to rally his troops in hopes of a better 2026 campaign after winning only one game a season ago. Griffin Scalf and Ben Chesser combined took the bulk of the reps under center last season and Scalf returns as a junior while Chesser will be a sophomore. Scalf led TMU in passing yards but will need to improve his touchdown-to-interception ratio as he threw only one touchdown compared to nine picks. Chesser was second in passing yards behind Scalf, but completed over 62 percent of his passes and threw more touchdowns than interceptions. The Saints allowed 31.4 points per game in 2025 and only scored 11.4. Those numbers will have to improve drastically if TMU wants to notch more wins in 2026.
The Cardinals were a competitive 6-5 in the Mountain East Conference last year. Offense was Wheeling’s calling card in 2025 as they averaged 27.8 points and 356 yards of total offense per outing. Defensively, they were vulnerable, allowing over 30 points and 419 yards per contest.
Wheeling lost the one game they played against a G-MAC opponent last season. Can Thomas More keep it that way in 2026?
PREDICTION
Wheeling 34 Thomas More 20