SCIAC WEEKLY PREDICTIONS 🏈

CMS 21 | Pomona-Pitzer 10

Coming into the season, I expected more out of PP. Look for CMS to establish the run and control the tempo in this one.

Cal Lutheran 28 | Redlands 7

Redlands continues to struggle offensively, and another week without production could lead to another loss. I'm still waiting for Cal Lu to establish a consistent running game. If they can't figure that out, they're likely headed for another average season.

Chapman 35 | La Verne 14

La Verne enters SCIAC play with a ton of confidence after starting the season 2-0. Meanwhile, Chapman has faced one of the toughest nonconference schedules in Division III, which should pay dividends heading into conference play. The keys for Chapman will be shutting down the run and containing La Verne's mobile quarterback. If the Panthers can accomplish both, look for them to take control of this game.

Both Chapman and LF had plenty of opportunities to take control and put the game away. At the end of the day, it comes down to making plays when they matter most, and Chapman did exactly that.

Right now, the top team in the SCIAC and NWC is Chapman. The Panthers went on the road and knocked off the NWC champions in last year's playoffs, then followed it up with a win over a nationally ranked LF team this season.

What surprises me is that LF continues to receive more votes than Chapman in multiple national polls. Chapman won the head-to-head matchup and led at halftime on the road against a team that is now ranked No. 8 in the country, in its season opener. Chapman will need to keep winning and I would imagine they end up in the top 25 here soon.

George Fox is going to have a legit chance to win the NWC. They have some studs on the line.

This Week's Picks

**George Fox vs. CMS — CMS by 4**
I'm expecting a low-scoring game. George Fox has an All-American-caliber player at defensive end, so CMS will need to find a way to establish the run and stay ahead of the chains.

**La Verne vs. Willamette — La Verne by 10**
I like La Verne in this one. I think they're capable of winning 4–5 games this season and should take care of business against Willamette.

**UPS vs. CLU — CLU by 24**
CLU should win comfortably, but the big question is whether they can establish a consistent running game. It didn't look great in Week 1, so that will be something to watch.

**Pomona-Pitzer vs. Lewis & Clark — L&C by 17**
Any word on why Russo (QB) and Matthias Olson (WR) didn't play in Week 1? If both of them are back and playing, I think this game could be much closer than the 17-point prediction.

**Linfield vs. Chapman — Close Game**
Chapman was up 7–6 at halftime against Hardin-Simmons before the 100-degree heat and travel appeared to catch up with them in the second half. Hardin-Simmons is also looking like a legitimate team after a big road win over La Crosse.

I think this one stays close and comes down to the wire. Chapman will need to contain Linfields quarterback and limit the big plays from their top receiver.

**Whittier vs. APU — Whittier by 10**
I'm taking Whittier on the road by 10. Having an extra game under their belt should help, and APU hasn't shown much offensively so far.

**Whitworth vs. Redlands — Whitworth by 17**
Redlands' defense can keep them competitive for a while, but they can only do so much. Unless the offense takes a major step forward, I like Whitworth to eventually pull away.

That looks to be Whittier's 2025 roster based on the numbers. Not sure why they haven't posted the 2026 roster yet.

There are some great games across the SCIAC this weekend, and it's good to have football back. My predictions are below:

NW (MN) 10 / CMS 24
It's always tough to travel and win on the road. CMS should have plenty of energy playing on the new turf and in the renovated stadium.

Willamette 7 / Pomona-Pitzer 38
I don't see Willamette having much of a chance in this one. PP should control the game from start to finish.

Cal Lutheran 24 / Pacific Lutheran 28
This should be a competitive game, but I think the travel ends up being the difference.

APU 17 / La Verne 14
APU picks up its first win in a close one against La Verne. I expect APU to be well coached and ready to play.

Simpson 56 / Whittier 7
I don't see Whittier having much of a chance against Simpson. Simpson just lost to Southern Oregon by only three points and should be a tough matchup.

Redlands 21 / George Fox 31
I don't think Redlands has enough offensively to keep up. George Fox's home opener will also be a tough environment to play in.

Chapman 24 / Hardin-Simmons 21
If Chapman handles the heat and travel well, they have a real chance to pull this one out. I'm curious to see who steps up to replace the QB/WR duo they had last season.

It seems like we don't have many CLU guys on here, but I would imagine they're starting to get frustrated with their head coach, similar to what we're seeing at Redlands.

It looks like APU and Whittier are both going to have healthy roster numbers this year—potentially 100+ players—which is great to see for two programs bringing football back. APU's roster has a ton of bounce-back and JUCO players, so it'll be interesting to see how quickly everything comes together. I'm assuming Whittier will have a similar makeup, but we probably won't know for sure until their roster is posted online. La Verne looks like they'll be somewhere around 85 players.

How do you think the SCIAC shakes out this year? Any predictions on how teams are going to do?

I think we can all agree that Coach Good should be—and probably is—on the hot seat. Redlands' defense always seems to show up, but the offense has been really bad in recent years. I'm not sure if the OC they hired a couple of springs ago is going to be able to turn things around. At this point, though, there really aren't many excuses. Their QB is returning, and they've now had multiple years in the same offensive system.

I believe APU and Cal Lutheran are the only Colleges/University in the SCIAC that require students to take to take religion and philosophy courses.

APU has a very unique opportunity with what was D2 sports and facilities now moving to D3. I would imagine due to the decline in enrollment (similar to Whittier) they are going to be letting just about anyone in to build the football program back up. 2.5+ GPA's should do the trick.

Also, any word on how APU and Whittier are doing in terms of overall numbers? I would hope each team will have 60+ on the roster for the 2026 season? Who knows.

Coach Shine officially the head coach at Chapman. He will do a tremendous job!

https://athletics.chapman.edu/news/2026/3/2/casey-shine-named-head-coach-of-chapman-university-football.aspx

That CMS field should be a huge asset once it's all finished.Excited to see the finished product.

On the second point, I agree that Chapman is dropping the ball here. From the outside, it really feels like the transition to a new president has left a lot of key roles in limbo across the entire University, from important academic and board positions to everything going on in athletics with both the AD and the head football coach.

There doesn't appear to be any real urgency to get things finalized, which is surprising given how much momentum the school has right now. Maybe they don't know exactly what direction they want to go, or they're trying to line up some sort of big, uniform "national search" process for every major position and are insisting on running the same timeline and hiring model for all of them? Who knows.

The frustrating part is that Coach Shine is a slam dunk, no-brainer hire. He wins the SCIAC in his first year, then goes on the road and wins a playoff game! Something that hasn't been done by a conference team in over 40 years. Not to mention the staff racks up Coaching Staff of the Year in the conference, Offensive Player of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year, and sets the highest team GPA in the history of the program. With that resume, it's hard to understand what more you could possibly be waiting for. At this point nobody seems to have a clear answer, and from the outside it just looks like unnecessary delay that risks wasting a huge opportunity to build on a fantastic 2025 season.

Congrats to Chapman for a great win on the road. From the what it looks like this is the first SCIAC road playoff win in 40 years. I believe the last time was Oxy in 1985.

Chapman D has been playing well this season. They have speed all over the field and did a great job containing the Whitworth QB.

Should be a good one at River Falls!

 

Congrats to Chapman on a great season and scoring 20 unanswered to beat Cal Lu. 8-0 in conference play which I believe is the first time in the history of the league. Should be a fun one at Whitworth on Saturday.

Going to be some unusual weather for these games tomorrow in Socal.

CMS and Redlands both play on grass fields and with heavy rainfall today and tomorrow, it is going to be a mud bowl. Redlands clearly spray paints their field green so hopefully pomona has a good laundry crew for those white jerseys! 

Winner of the SCIAC will go and play Whitworth unless Whitworth somehow loses this weekend. In that case, Whitworth would travel to Chapman or play a home game versus Cal Lu.

Interesting weekend in the SCIAC.

Pomona completed 50/50 jump balls, won the field position battle and had a pick six that led them to a strong win on senior night versus Cal Lu. Cal Lu was unable to run the ball and Pomona forced the QB to scramble. The poor announcers of Pomona did a great job on the broadcast but was constantly saying with a Pomona win tonight, Cal Lutheran would not be in the SCIAC championship game, which they already had clinched before the game kicked off due to tiebreakers.

CMS has been a completely different team since they found #11 at running back. A running game mixed with strong defense is what led them to a win at Redlands. Redlands offense struggled all throughout SCIAC play only scoring a high of 17 points in regulation outside the La Verne game.  What a waste of an opportunity for Redlands to make the SCIAC championship game with Cal Lutheran getting handled by Pomona.

Chapman and LaVerne looked to be a sloppy game. Turnovers on both sides of the ball which led to touchdowns. Chapman gets the win and improves to 7-0 in conference play.

 

A lot of eyes on the 7PM game at PP this weekend. CLU wins and is in the SCIAC Championship game. I don't see them losing this one. Pomona's offense is the worst in the league. If everything plays out like it should it will look like this for the Championship Week.

CLU @ Chapman
Pomona @ Redlands
La Verne @ CMS