This weekend settled some questions about who is in good shape for the Men’s DII college playoffs. Here’s a rundown.

 

There are 14 conferences playing for 16 spots in the playoffs. In addition, Colorado College looks set for an at-large bid, where they will play in within another conference’s playoff structure.

 

And, four conferences - Cardinals, Northern Lights, WIIL, and Potomac - will be able to get their #2 team into a play-in at some point.

 

Meanwhile, in the Deep South, Louisiana Tech is in control and won on a forfeit this week. They look to be the top team from there.

 

In the Southern Rugby Conference, UNC Wilmington ran out to a 31-0 halftime lead and somehow held on when Furman stormed back. It was 41-38 with UNC-W winning when the Seahawks scored once more to put the game away and clinch 1st in the South division, with Furman taking 2nd.

 

East Carolina defeated UNC-Greensboro 38-15 to finish 1st in the North.

 

So the semis are set for November 1 at UNC-Charlotte, with Furman playing East Carolina, and Appalachian State taking on UNC-Wilmington. The winners will play for the championship the next day, while the losers play for 3rd.

 

In New England, Vermont won their clash with Rhode Island to more to 6-0, with URI dropping to 5-1. These two play again this coming weekend, so nothing is settled yet.

 

Grand Valley State beat Oakland to move to 5-0 and take control of of the Great Lakes North. In the Great Lakes South Xavier of Cincinnati are in control of 1st. 

 

In the Wisconsin-Illinois Conference, Illinois State beat Loyola 19-0 to take sole control of 1st in the South. UW-Whitewater already is top dog in the North.

 

In the Potomac Conference, Towson finished league play undefeated with a 46-10 defeat of Georgetown. The result dropped Georgetown to 4-2 and 3rd behind Salisbury, who are 4-1.

 

In Northern Lights, Minnesota-Duluth were clearly the top team. 

 

In the Cardinals Conference in the Virginia area, James Madison beat Virginia Military Institute to basically clinch 1st. 

 

In the MARC, Rowan won a close on 23-21 over Scranton to stay on contention at 4-1. IUP is also 4-1, while right behind them, with a game in hand, is Notre Dame College at 4-0.

 

York and East Stroudsburg lead the MARC Tier II and both won this week.

 

In the Tri-State Conference in the New York/New Jersey area, Vassar won the North Division with a win over Marist. RPI also won and is right there in playoff contention. Fairfield won again and leads in the South.

 

In Rugby Northeast, Bentley remains the top team, with UMass Lowell, winners this weekend, right behind. In the New England Collegiate Conference, Roger Williams won again to finish 6-0 and enter the playoffs with the top seed. They will face Endicott while Plymouth State will host the other semi. 

 

Upstate NY still has a bunch of teams looking strong, although it seems SUNY Cortland is the team to watch. They have beaten Buffalo State in an East-West crossover, SUNY Oswego also looks strong.

 

In Gateway, it’s St. Louis University, and the rest.