LATROBE, Pa. (Aug. 3) – With the 2021 college football season closing in, the Presidents' Athletic Conference held its annual football media on Tuesday afternoon at the Fred M. Rogers Center on the campus of Saint Vincent College.
 
The Saint Vincent College football team was selected to finish seventh in the conerence standings per a vote by the league's 10 head coaches, sports information directors and media members in attendance.
 
Third-year head coach Aaron Smetanka and graduate student linebacker Cam Norris  represented the Bearcats at PAC Football Media Day.
 
"I'm expecting a lot out of our team this year," Smetanka said. "I think starting week two is going to really help us to get guys healthy from camp and give us some extra time to prepare for the season."

Norris spoke of how the team's young defense developed into a strong unit throughout the spring 2021 campaign. 
 
"In the spring we had a lot of guys that were new, but we were able to use it as a time to learn and get some consistency," Norris said. "A lot of us tried to make everyone comfortable and it gives us an opportunity to keep getting better as a unit."
 
Washington & Jefferson College received 23 of the 31 first-place votes (298 points) and garnered the PAC preseason favorite status. Case Western Reserve University finished second with six first-place votes (277 points) with Westminster College following in third with two first-place votes (241 points). Grove City College rounded out the top four with 219 points.
 
Along with the preseason poll, the PAC announced its Players To Watch for each team. Graduate Students Keith Kalp and Cam Norris, senior Kyle Coombe and juniors Jack Poling and Brady Walker represented SVC on the list. 
 
Before this afternoon's question-and-answer sessions got underway, PAC Commissioner Joe Onderko presented the 2020 and 2021 Dow Carnahan Media Awards to Ken Wunderley, a longtime sportswriter, and Hugh Ringer, veteran Thiel College play-by-play announcer, respectively.
 
The Bearcats open the 2021 season when they travel to Bluffton University on Saturday, Sept. 11. Kickoff is at 1:30 p.m. SVC will then open the home schedule against Geneva College on Saturday, Sept. 18 at 1 p.m.
 
2021 PAC Football Media Day Preseason Poll Results
1. Westminster (21) - 316 points 
2. Washington & Jefferson (6) - 299 points
3. Case Western Reserve (7) - 281 points
4. Grove City (1) - 229 points
5. Carnegie Mellon - 213 points
6. Geneva - 156 points
7. Saint Vincent - 144 points
8. Bethany - 113 points
9. Waynesburg - 63 points
10. Thiel - 56 points
 
(Indicates First Place Votes)