The Men's DII College playoffs begin Saturday around the country; here are our picks:

 

(Goff Rugby Report rankings in parentheses)

 


UW-Whitewater (#2) vs. Bentley (#25). The Warhawks are powerful. Bentley will push them, but UWW wins.

 


Vermont (#11) vs. SUNY-Oswego (#9). Can we say we don't know? That would be a cop-out. We strongly suspect that Oswego wins this, but if it comes down to a late penalty, ooh for Vermont to steal it.

 


James Madison (#3) vs. Rowan  (#16). JMU hasn't put a foot wrong all season. Rowan did well to get to the Round of 16, and won't back down, but it's JMU on JMU turf.

 


Towson (#5) vs. Grand Valley State (#7). This, according to our rankings, is the best matchup. We like GVSU, but Towson has been tested more this season. Towson.

 

Salisbury (#4) vs. Roger Williams (#20). RWU is a great program, but the wild ride ends here. Salisbury will strangle their offense.

 


Notre Dame College (#6) vs. Furman (#14). Can we cop out of this one too? OK, sorry ... Notre Dame ... we think.

 

UM-Duluth (#1) vs. Colorado College (#10). You know what we think of Duluth. They are fielding basically the same team that made two national finals last year. Penguins fly to quarters.

 


St. Louis (#8) vs. UW-Stout (#12). Upset special! OK we're not sure we want to pick Stout, but if any team can do it, Stout can. I guess we'll go with St. Louis, but I'm not happy about it.

 

 

OK, so on to the quarterfinals:

Whitewater v Oswego (probably) ... Whitewater
JMU v Towson ... hmm ... maybe James Madison but this isn't an easy game to pick
Salisbury v Notre Dame ... another great matchup, as it should be. Salisbury.

Minnesota-Duluth v St. Louis (or maybe Stout) ... Duluth.