LATROBE, Pa. -- The Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) hosted its annual Football Media Day Tuesday afternoon in conjunction with the Pittsburgh Steelers training camp on the campus of Saint Vincent College.

The Gators were well represented at Tuesday's event, which serves as the unofficial kickoff to the 2026 college football season.

Festivities began with the presentation of the PAC's Dow Carnahan Award to Ed Mailliard. A Meadville native, Mailliard has served as Allegheny's primary sports photographer for many years and covered the Gators during his tenure at The Meadville Tribune. He first joined The Tribune in 1972 and served as a sports writer, editor, and chief photographer for more than 40 years before retiring to focus on a career in sports photography. Mailliard began shooting for Topps in 1981, and his photography has appeared on more than 15,000 baseball and football cards. He's been inducted into both the MLB's Cactus League Hall of Fame and PennWest Edinboro Athletics Hall of Fame. In October, Allegheny will also honor Mailliard as part of the Hall of Fame Class of 2026 as the first-ever recipient of the Victor "Vic" P. Kress '60 Meritorious Service Award.

"This is a distinguished award that I was really surprised to hear that I was receiving," Mailliard said during his acceptance speech. "I am truly humbled to accept this.

"Fifty-four years ago next month, as a sports writer for The Meadville Tribune, I covered my first Presidents' Athletic Conference events, and I quickly realized what a special place the PAC holds in this region."

Head coaches and student-athletes from each of the conference's 12 football-playing members also spoke during media day. Representing the Gators were fourth-year head coach Braden Layer and senior wide receiver Curtis Knobeloch (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Hills). Both Layer and Knobeloch touched on their expectations for the 2026 season.

"We want to be better than we were the year before," Layer said. "The challenge for (Curtis) and his class is to continue to raise the bar. We talk always about leaving the program better than you found it. So for these guys, it's trying to get to an above .500 record in conference play.

"We take everything at Allegheny one week at a time. Before we mention or talk about any other opponent further down the season, we're doing everything we can in our scrimmages and during camp to try to beat Anderson in what's going to be a long road trip out to Indiana."

"As a team, we're aiming for (a record) above .500," Knobeloch said. "We'd love to be playing some free football by the end of the year. Our players, our coaching staff, the whole organization – we're pretty confident we can achieve this."

Media day concluded with the announcement of the preseason poll, voted on by the head coaches, sports information directors, and media members in attendance. Allegheny finished sixth out of 11 teams in the poll with 250 points, beating seventh-place Waynesburg University by 28 points. That result matches the PAC standings from 2025; the Gators and Yellow Jackets were both tied with a 4-4 league record a year ago, but the Gators earned the tiebreaker with a 21-11 victory in Waynesburg.

Full results from the 2026 preseason poll are as follows:
 

School	Points (first place votes)	2025 Record (PAC)
1. Washington & Jefferson College	497 (37)	8-3 (8-0)
2. Grove City College	453 (5)	8-3 (7-1)
3. Westminster College	395 (3)	8-3 (6-2)
4. Case Western Reserve University	361	4-5-1 (4-4)
5. Geneva College	339	6-5 (6-2)
6. Allegheny College	250	4-6 (4-4)
7. Waynesburg University	222	4-6 (4-4)
8. Saint Vincent College	201	2-8 (1-7)
9. Hiram College	152	3-7 (2-6)
10. Thiel College	87	1-9 (1-7)
11. Bethany College	79 (1)	1-9 (1-7)

Allegheny kicks off the 2026 season at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 5, with a non-conference contest at Anderson University in Anderson, Indiana.