York Tech enters as Grant Ashworth’s preseason favorite, two new programs make this the deepest CAC field yet.

By Grant Ashworth | CAC Network

The Continental Athletic Conference was built to answer an argument.

What happens when radically different versions of college football are forced onto the same field?

Can an Air Raid survive on Lake Superior? Can option football travel from the California coast? Can Gulf Coast speed outrun northern power? Can discipline beat deception? Can brains beat brute force?

That was the experiment when Commissioner Chel Cee assembled the original conference. The idea was never to make the programs resemble one another. The differences were the point.

Now the experiment is getting bigger.

The CAC enters the new season with 14 programs, newcomers Augusta State and Hilo State, several teams talented enough to make a legitimate championship argument, and something the conference has been chasing since its creation:

Nationally recognized players..

That might be the clearest indication yet that this league is becoming more than an interesting collection of football programs.

It is becoming a conference with real talent.

Pre-Season All-Conference Teams

Before talking about who might win this conference, start there.

Lake Superior State defensive tackle Blaine Castonzo earned preseason first-team All-Conference recognition.

So did a remarkable collection of defenders from Daytona Beach Tech and Carolina State.

Daytona landed Karsten Van Ness, T.J. Daniels, Gabe McCadam and Chuck O’Shaughnessy on the preseason first team, along with specialists J.R. Hurns and Josh Song.

Carolina State placed Joey Gooden, Zach Revis, Layne Carney and Mike Schumacher on the first-team defense, with Darren Chesley also appearing on the offensive side.

High Plains Tech put Howie Morton on the first-team offense and Kerry McGinnis on the first-team defense.

That alone would be an impressive collection.

The second team goes even deeper.

York Tech quarterback Spencer Klemente leads that group, joined by York linemen Phil Hurt and Hugh Kush, defensive tackle Dom Mesko, linebacker Gabriel Folk and corner Hunter Cook.

Keweenaw Tech receiver Kurt Calloway and tight end Corbin Thomas were recognized.

Acadia State placed Greg Silva, Anthony Good, Nick Hofmann, Matt McClease, James Dillinger, Matt Calloway and Jon Metropulos across the second team.

Lake Superior State added Jake Pounds, Nick Ricci and Tony Wesevich.

Territorial State receiver Matt Grupe, Daytona running back Bruce Isaac, Carolina State running back Owen Roye, Carolina edge rusher Leighton Ritter and Daytona defensive tackle Troy Harris were also among those recognized.

That matters.

Because preseason projections are normally built around ratings, schemes and assumptions.

These teams also have players whom the national preseason lists already believe belong among the best in college football.

And no team benefits from that argument more than York Tech.

THE OYSTERMEN LOOK READY

There are three CAC teams sitting at 84 overall with 88-rated offenses entering the season:

York Tech.
Keweenaw Tech.
Lake Charles State.

That is the top tier on paper.

But York separates itself in one important way.

The Oystermen appear unusually complete.

Klemente gives them an established quarterback around whom the entire offense can operate. Hurt and Kush give him preseason All-Conference protection. Mesko, Folk and Cook provide recognized talent at three different levels defensively.

That looks less like one great unit and more like the skeleton of a championship roster.

It also fits exactly what York Tech wants to become.

The Oystermen have never hidden their ambition. Their goal is not simply to become the best program in Maine. York wants to become the Northeast’s defining national football power, pairing its polished academic identity with a program capable of developing professional-level players.

This may be the roster capable of pushing that vision forward.

But winning this league will require surviving it.

KEWEENAW MAY HAVE THE CAC'S HIGHEST CEILING

If York is the safest pick, Keweenaw Tech may be the most frightening one.

The Owls are also 84 overall with an 88-rated offense, and unlike practically every conventional cold-weather program in football, Keweenaw has no interest in slowing anything down.

They want the opposite.

The Air Raid is the football expression of the entire university: process information faster, solve problems faster and force the opponent to keep up.

Calloway and Thomas already have preseason All-Conference recognition.

And if Keweenaw finds its quarterback play and offensive system clicking early, there may not be another team in the conference capable of producing points as quickly.

The problem is what surrounds them.

Lake Superior State is waiting.

York Tech is waiting.

High Plains Tech is waiting.

And the Owls will have to survive all of it.

CAROLINA STATE MAY HAVE THE BEST DEFENSE IN THE LEAGUE

No roster made a louder statement on the first-team preseason All-Conference defense than Carolina State.

Gooden.

Revis.

Carney.

Schumacher.

Four Shiners defenders.

Add Ritter on the second team and suddenly the identity of this Carolina State team becomes very easy to imagine.

Good luck moving the football.

The Shiners enter at 83 overall, 83 offense and 83 defense, one of the most balanced profiles in the CAC.

There may be more explosive teams.

There may be prettier teams.

There are probably teams that will score considerably faster.

Carolina State might not care.

This program has always been built around earning everything. Appalachian, physical, slightly mischievous and entirely comfortable making an opponent miserable for four quarters.

If that collection of preseason All-Conference performs to expectation, the championship race may eventually have to come through The Stillhouse.

DON'T FORGET THE TRAWLERS

Lake Charles State is the third member of the 84-overall, 88-offense club.

And somehow the Trawlers feel like the quietest of them.

That is dangerous.

Lake Charles has always been built around the Run and Shoot, Gulf Coast speed and the idea that football should remain unpredictable enough to make defenses uncomfortable.

The roster rating says they have the talent to do much more than entertain.

An 88 offense with an 82 defense creates an obvious formula: make opponents chase points and trust the defense to produce just enough stops.

The season will eventually bring the Gulf War against Daytona Beach Tech.

By then, there could be much more on the line than regional bragging rights.

HIGH PLAINS CAN SCORE WITH ANYBODY

High Plains Tech comes in at 83 overall with an 86-rated offense.

That alone puts the Storm directly into the contender conversation.

Then add two first-team preseason All-Conference in Morton and McGinnis.

The Storm have always been built around controlled energy. Their pistol system is designed to make the defense choose incorrectly: spread out and High Plains can run downhill; crowd the box and the Storm can attack through the air.

Their problem is not capability.

It is survival.

High Plains gets No. 8 Texas A&M early, then faces a CAC schedule filled with teams capable of punishing mistakes.

If the Storm get through it, nobody will question whether they belong near the top.

DAYTONA IS THE PRESEASON WILDCARD

No team is harder to understand before kickoff.

Daytona Beach Tech is only 79 overall, with a 79 offense and 80 defense.

Then you look at the All-Conference teams.

Van Ness, Daniels, McCadam, O’Shaughnessy, Hurns, Song, Isaac, and Harris all representing the DareDevils

That is a remarkable amount of recognized individual talent for a team whose overall roster rating sits in the middle of the conference.

So what exactly are the Daredevils?

Are they top-heavy?

Are the ratings missing something?

Or is this a roster filled with difference-makers capable of dragging Daytona much higher than its overall rating suggests?

For a program built around speed, volatility and the belief that everything can change in one snap, perhaps uncertainty is appropriate.

No brakes, indeed.

THE BERSERKERS STILL HAVE TO BE SURVIVED

Lake Superior State is rated 83 across the board.

That feels right, There is nothing particularly mysterious about the Berserkers.

They want to hit you.Then hit you again. Then see whether you still enjoy playing football in the fourth quarter.

Castonzo gives them a first-team preseason all conference pick in the middle of the defense, while Pounds, Ricci and Wesevich provide second-team recognition elsewhere.

The Berserkers are not designed to win a spreadsheet.

They are designed to make November miserable. Their program identity revolves around physicality, cold-weather advantage and accumulated punishment.

Nobody should be excited to see Lake Superior State on the schedule.

Especially late.

TERRITORIAL STATE IS BUILT TO RUIN SOMEBODY'S SEASON

The Dealers enter at 83 overall with an 86-rated offense.

That means Territorial State has roughly the offensive profile of a contender even if the preseason conversation has centered elsewhere.

Grupe gives the Air Raid a preseason second-team All-Conference target.

More importantly, Territorial's entire identity makes it difficult to trust any comfortable favorite against them.

The Dealers want you making the wrong decision.

The Air Raid stretches the field, the offense looks for leverage, and the program is perfectly comfortable creating the feeling that the opponent is gambling even when Territorial State believes it already knows the odds.

They may not win the conference.

They may decide who does.

ACADIA HAS MORE TALENT THAN THE RATING SUGGESTS

Acadia State joins Daytona and Hilo at 79 overall.

But seven preseason second-team All-Conference make that number difficult to dismiss casually.

Silva and Good give the Mainiacs offensive recognition.

Hofmann, McClease, Dillinger and Calloway give the defense a substantial core.

Metropulos adds another recognized specialist.

Acadia's reputation will always begin with chaos.

The Mainiacs are loud, fun and perfectly willing to drag opponents into something strange in Bar Harbor.

But the All-Conference list is a reminder that there is football substance underneath the party.

That makes Acadia one of my favorite teams to outperform its preseason projection.

CORONADO AND PHILADELPHIA ARE THE TEAMS NOBODY WANTS TO DRAW

Both sit at 81 overall.

Neither needs to apologize for it.

Coronado Maritime is going to run the option, remain disciplined and make opponents defend correctly over and over until somebody eventually stops doing it.

The Admirals even open against No. 11 LSU, giving the league one of its first national measuring sticks.

Philadelphia Tech brings a completely different kind of discomfort.

The Iron Horses are physical, industrial and built around work. There are more talented teams in the league, but The Forge is not going to care very much about your recruiting profile.

Coronado wants to test your discipline.

Philadelphia wants to test your appetite.

Neither will be an easy Saturday.

BLUE RIDGE HAS TO FIND A WAY THROUGH A BRUTAL SCHEDULE

Blue Ridge State enters at 73 overall, tied with newcomer Augusta State for the lowest rating in the conference.

Then look at the schedule.

North Carolina, East Carolina, and Appalachian State to round out a North Carolina Focused out of conference slate.  Then CAC play begins with: Augusta State, Keweenaw Tech, Lake Charles State, Territorial State, Acadia State, Coronado Maritime, Philadelphia Tech before the biggest rivalry game in the CAC.  The Battle for Appalachia against Carolina State.  This year, that's an away trip to Wilkesboro for the Wayfinders. That is not a rebuilding schedule.

That is a survival test.

The Wayfinders' entire identity revolves around finding another route when the obvious one disappears.

They may need every bit of it.

WELCOME TO THE CAC, HILO AND AUGUSTA

Expansion makes this year different before anyone takes a snap.

Hilo State begins at 79 overall, with a 79 offense and 80 defense.

That gives the Frogs enough talent to be immediately competitive.

Augusta State starts at 73 overall, with a 75 offense and 71 defense.

The Fighting Azaleas have a different challenge.

They are truly beginning from the bottom of the conference hierarchy and trying to establish themselves against programs that already know exactly what they want to be.

There is no shame in that.

Somebody has to build.

The intriguing part is that both expansion programs will immediately have opportunities to disrupt the order everyone else thinks already exists.

GRANT ASHWORTH'S PRESEASON CAC STANDINGS

These are not roster rankings.

They are my projection of where everyone finishes once talent, schedule, style and week-to-week survivability are all accounted for.

The underlying roster data explains why the top is so tight: York, Keweenaw and Lake Charles are all rated 84 overall with 88 offenses, while High Plains and Territorial State both bring 86-rated offenses and Carolina and Lake Superior each sit at 83 overall.

PRESEASON CAC PLAYER OF THE YEAR

Spencer Klemente, QB, York Tech

There are flashier choices.

There are first-team All-Conference elsewhere in the conference.

But if I am picking the player most likely to define the CAC season, I am taking Spencer Klemente.

The York quarterback enters as a preseason second-team All-Conference, plays for my projected conference champion and operates an offense rated 88, tied for the best in the CAC.

More importantly, the Oystermen are built around exactly what a quarterback controls.

York wants NFL-style football, and the program expects its quarterback to command rather than merely participate in the offense.

If York becomes what I think it will become, Klemente will be standing in the center of it.

My next names up would be Kurt Calloway of Keweenaw Tech, Blaine Castonzo of Lake Superior State, and whichever star ultimately emerges from Carolina State's loaded defense.

But Klemente gets the first ballot.

GRANT'S GUESS

There are legitimate arguments for five or six teams.

Keweenaw may score more, Carolina State may defend better, Lake Charles may become the hardest team in the conference to chase, High Plains may explode, Lake Superior may turn the season into a survival contest.

Daytona may prove the ratings were completely wrong.

But eventually I have to choose somebody.

CAC CHAMPION: YORK TECH

I trust the Oystermen in more ways than I trust anybody else.

They have an 88-rated offense, They have a preseason All-Conference quarterback, They have All-Conference-caliber talent at multiple levels of the defense.

York Tech does not want to be a charming football story from Maine.

The Oystermen want to change what major college football in the Northeast looks like.

I think this is the year they take the biggest step yet.