PSAC Football Champions 2008 marks the 75th year since PSAC Football Champions have been crowned, dating back to 1934 when a group of sportswriters recognized champions among Pennsylvania’s State Teachers Colleges. Since then, a variety of methods have determined league champions. In 1950, college representatives decided to employ the Saylor Points System. That practice gave way to the “State Game” beginning in 1960, when league administrators agreed an end-of-the-season contest between the Eastern and Western Division Champions would be played to decide Conference supremacy. The “State Game” was played until 1987 when membership determined to place more emphasis on access into the NCAA playoffs. Since 1988, only Divisional Champions have been awarded. Divisional Champions Championship Game Played 2007 West Chester - East 1987 IUP 21, West Chester 9 California - West 1986 IUP 20, West Chester 6 2006 Bloomsburg - East 1985 Bloomsburg 31, IUP 9 California, IUP - West 1984 California 21, Bloomsburg 14 2005 Bloomsburg - East 1983 Clarion 27, East Stroudsburg 14 California, Edinboro - West 1982 East Stroudsburg 24, Edinboro 22 2004 West Chester - East 1981 Shippensburg 34, Millersville 17 Edinboro, Shippensburg, IUP - West 1980 Clarion 15, Kutztown 14 2003 Bloomsburg, E. Stroudsburg - East 1979 Lock Haven 48, Cheyney 14 Edinboro, IUP - West 1978 East Stroudsburg 49, Clarion 4 2002 Bloomsburg, E. Stroudsburg - East 1977 Clarion 25, Millersville 24 IUP - West 1976 E. Stroudsburg 14, Shippensburg 14 (tie) 2001 Bloomsburg - East 1975 East Stroudsburg 24, Edinboro 20 IUP - West 1974 Slippery Rock 20, West Chester 7 2000 Bloomsburg - East 1973 Slippery Rock 28, West Chester 14 Clarion, IUP, Slippery Rock - West 1972 Slippery Rock 29, West Chester 27 1999 West Chester - East 1971 West Chester 35, Edinboro 14 Slippery Rock - West 1970 Edinboro 14, West Chester 6 1998 Millersville - East 1969 West Chester 41, Clarion 34 Slippery Rock - West 1968 California 28, E. Stroudsburg 28 (tie) 1997 Bloomsburg - East 1967 West Chester 27, Clarion 7 Slippery Rock - West 1966 Clarion 28, West Chester 26 1996 Bloomsburg - East 1965 East Stroudsburg 26, IUP 10 Clarion, IUP - West 1964 East Stroudsburg 27, IUP 14 1995 Bloomsburg, Millersville - East 1963 West Chester 36, Slippery Rock 7 Edinboro - West 1962 Slippery Rock 13, E. Stroudsburg 6 1994 Bloomsburg, West Chester - East 1961 West Chester 21, Slippery Rock 0 IUP - West 1960 West Chester 35, Lock Haven 6 1993 Millersville - East IUP - West Saylor Points System Sportswriters 1992 West Chester - East 1959 West Chester 1949 Bloomsburg IUP - West 1958 California 1991 East Stroudsburg - East 1948 Bloomsburg 1957 Lock Haven/ IUP - West 1947 Mansfield Shippensburg 1990 Millersville - East 1946 California 1956 West Chester IUP - West 1945 World War II 1955 Bloomsburg 1989 West Chester - East 1944 World War II 1954 Bloomsburg Edinboro - West 1943 World War II East Stroudsburg 1988 Millersville - East 1942 East Stroudsburg West Chester Shippensburg - West 1941 Millersville 1953 West Chester 1940 IUP/Millersville 1952 West Chester 1939 Slippery Rock 1951 Bloomsburg 1938 Mansfield 1950 West Chester 1937 Lock Haven 1936 Lock Haven 1935 Shippensburg 1934 IUP Table of Contents Changes in the PSAC PSAC Champions .............................. IFC ► The Return of the State Game PSAC Football Through the Years .... 2-3 Unable to truly crown one Conference champion in football since 1987, the About the PSAC ................................4-5 league will once again give its divisional rivals the opportunty to “settle it on the Division II Proud..................................... 6 field.” The 2008 football season will be exciting for many reasons, perhaps PSAC Football Notebook ...................... 7 none greater than the return of a PSAC Championship Game. The Teams ......................................... 8-39 This year’s league title game will be played November 15, one week prior to the Bloomsburg...................................... 8-9 start of the NCAA playoffs. Set up on a rotational basis, the 2008 contest will California...................................... 10-11 take place at the site of the Western Division Champion. The 2009 game is Cheyney....................................... 12-13 slated for November 7 at the site of the Eastern Division Champion. Clarion ......................................... 14-15 C.W. Post..................................... 16-17 East Stroudsburg ......................... 18-19 Edinboro ...................................... 20-21 Gannon ........................................ 22-23 IUP............................................... 24-25 Kutztown ...................................... 26-27 Lock Haven.................................. 28-29 Mercyhurst ................................... 30-31 Millersville .................................... 32-33 Shippensburg............................... 34-35 Slippery Rock............................... 36-37 West Chester............................... 38-39 2007 PSAC Year in Review............. 40-46 Postseason Awards ..................... 40-41 Final Standings, Superlatives, Former IUP head coach Frank Cignetti takes hold of the game ball as he and his team celebrate a victory in the 1987 PSAC Championship Game. IUP toppled West Players of the Week.......................... 42 Chester, 21-9, the last time the “State Game” was played. Team & Individual Statistics......... 43-46 PSAC History................................... 47-55 PSAC Football Records............... 47-52 ► Conferenece Expansion PSAC in the Postseason .................. 53 All-Time Standings....................... 54-55 2007-08 FB Scholar-Athletes.......... .... 56 Scholar-Athletes of the Year............. IBC 2008 Composite Schedule ................. BC Credits History was made in the summer of 2007 when the PSAC announced it was Editors: Will Adair, Lauren Packer expanding its membership for the first time in its 56-year existence. Following Contributor: Ilia Lopez the overwhelming and welcoming support of the league’s Board of Directors, three additional schools will begin participating in the PSAC in 2008-09. A Special Thanks to: The sports information directors and staff at all Gannon University and Mercyhurst College have accepted full membership, member institutions for their assistance in bringing with them a respective 15 and 16 of the league’s 22 sponsored sports. the preparation of this publication. C.W. Post – Long Island University will join the PSAC as an associate member, slated to participate in football and field hockey. Pennsylvania State Gannon and Mercyhurst, both located in Erie, Pa., end a 13-year association Athletic Conference with the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. C.W. Post, located in 204 Annex Building Brookville, N.Y., becomes the first conference member outside Pennsylvania. Lock Haven University The Pioneer football progam was an associate member of the Northeast 10 Lock Haven, PA 17745 Conference, while their field hockey program had no conference affliation. Phone: 570-484-2512 The groundbreaking move brings the league’s football membership to 16 Fax: 570-484-2206 schools, making the PSAC the largest football-playing conference in Division II. Web site: www.psacsports.org Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference 1 PSAC Football… Since its first champion was crowned over 70 years ago, the the Pennsylvania State Teachers’ College Athletic Conference, Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference has grown into one of the the league adopted the Saylor Point System to identify its football nation’s most competitive NCAA football leagues. League champion. West Chester excelled during that nine-year period, expansion in 2008 gives the PSAC 16 members, making it the earning four outright conference crowns and sharing another. largest football-playing league in Division II. In 1960, the league elected to begin divisional play in football Under its current structure, PSAC football is comprised of and to match the Eastern and Western Division champions in a Eastern and Western Divisions, each featuring eight teams. The playoff game, later nicknamed "The State Game," to determine schools span every geographical region of the commonwealth an overall champion. West Chester won the first two State and extend into New York’s Long Island with associate member Games and captured five titles through 1969. The fine tradition C.W. Post. Each team plays a round-robin schedule within its continued from that point forward through the early 1970s, as the own division and squares off with the opposite division in three Golden Rams of that period remain the only league school to win mandated “crossover” games. six straight divisional crowns. Beginning in 2008, the PSAC will re-establish its Football While West Chester played in 13 title games from 1960-87, Championship Game, pitting the top teams in each of its divisions East Stroudsburg registered the best success rate. The Warriors at the end of the regular season. The match-up picks up a of that era won a league-best seven times, dropping only two practice that was originally put in place in 1960, but has not been games and tying another in the end-of-the-season showdown. played since the 1987 season. Following the regular season and PSAC Championship, teams may be selected for NCAA playoff competition. If selected, PSAC Coaches Among Nation’s Best teams first compete within a six-team regional format - the Below is a list compiled by NCAA Statistics Services which PSAC’s being the Northeast