Sep 22, 2016 4 min read

For Mike Keir, so far, so good.

In a little more than four combined quarters of two blowout victories, Keir has shown poise and accuracy required to run California University’s offense. Keir and the rest of the Vulcans face their best opponent so far Saturday, when they travel to Seton Hill in Greensburg for a 3 p.m. kickoff in a PSAC West Division game.

Cal has outscored Cheyney and Millersville by a combined, 140-3, and Seton Hill has won all three of its games by outscoring teams. A 50-48 win over Bowie State was followed by a 38-24 win over Millersville and last week’s 44-22 beating of Kutztown. Redshirt junior quarterback Christian Strong has thrown for no fewer than 323 yards in each game and is coming off a 517-yard, four-touchdown performance.

Keir, meanwhile, has completed all but 10 of his 35 attempts for 413 yards and seven touchdowns. Most impressive, he has no interceptions.

“The last two weeks, our offensive line has been playing great,” Keir said. “I’m still learning. I missed a couple throws down in the red zone (against Millersville). I’m still getting adjusted to the new offense. I’m learning like everyone else is here. I had the benefit of being with Coach Dunn in the spring but I’m definitely still trying to figure things out. It’s good to start 2-0.”

Dunn has stretched the playbook each week with his confidence rising in Keir.

“Each week, Mike grows a little bit,” said Cal first-year head coach Gary Dunn. “The big thing for him is to get game reps. He’s taken advantage of his opportunity and he grows a little each week with the different concepts we have.”

Seton Hill’s defense has been allowing 426 yards and 31 points per game.

Washington & Jefferson head coach Mike Sirianni has had time to break down the video of a lopsided loss to Thomas More last week and has come to a conclusion about the two previous wins leading to the game against the Saints.

“It’s like deodorant. It might cover up things that stink or aren’t very good about your football team,” said Sirianni. “Maybe it’s that we won those games against not very strong teams that we ignored some problems.”

W&J knocked off Wooster in the opener and Grove City the following week by a combined 123-33 score. Thomas More tore up W&J’s offensive line, stifling the running game and harassing quarterback Pete Coughlin into a below average game (15-32-2 170 yards, TD).

“Our offensive line played poorly. The defense played great. … We don’t point fingers but this is the first time in a long time when we lost a regular-season game that most of the blame goes on the offensive side of the ball,” said Sirianni. “It’s the first time I can remember; maybe 14-7 in 2009 against Thomas More? It might be the first time you could point to the issue being on the offensive side of the football.”

Tailback Austin Kemp did not play in the game and Sirianni said he was not injured.

W&J returns to action Oct. 1 at Thiel.

Kickoff: 1:30 p.m., Saturday

Waynesburg is still looking for its first win but is coming off its best performance in a 35-23 loss to Carnegie Mellon.

The Yellow Jackets (0-1, 0-3) gained 315 yards and quarterback Jake Dougherty completed 22 of 39 passes for 259 yards and two touchdowns. Most important, he did not throw an interception. The rushing game was abysmal, though, gaining just 35 yards on 28 tries.

The bad news for Waynesburg is Dougherty was injured in the CMU game and will miss this one. Replacing him will be sophomore Tyler Perone, a transfer from Seton Hill. Perone played his high school ball at Seton-La Salle. He was three of six for 21 yards against CMU.

On defense, Waynesburg had problems controlling tailback Sam Benger, the 2015 PAC Offensive Player of the Year who rushed for 193 yards and a TD.

Case Western’s offense is led by quarterback Rob Cuda, who many felt should have been the conference’s player of the year. Cuda is completing 65 percent of passes for 554 yards and six touchdowns. Cuda also has a team-high 137 yards rushing in blowouts of Chicago and Grove City.