DIA and DIAA Games And Picks
While we don't have an enormous number of DIA and DIAA games, they are meaningful.
The Liberty Conference has its final, plus a series of challenge matches between teams with similar records. It's a very good way to just cap off the season. It's mostly a pick 'em game for the final (Northeast vs BC) but we've decided not to sit on any fences this week.
Penn State at Ohio State is a very tough pick and could go any way. It all depends on how these two teams feel after falls that were good, but could have been better.
Lindenwood vs Davenport is a very important Mid-South game, and we get the feeling Davenport is steadily improving. Enough to beat Lindenwood? Maybe not yet.
In the DIAA games, we haven't spent a lot of time on the Ivy League because it's going to be Dartmouth's again. The Big Green has been unstoppable.
Gamebreakers DII College Nov 9-10
It was a relatively quiet weekend in Men's DII college rugby in that there weren't a lot of games, but there were some important ones.
Here are our Gamebreakers for the week.
Kyle Clark, Norwich
The Cadets prop scored a try and helped set the tone up front as Norwich beat UMass-Lowell to win the Rugby Northeast.
JJ Greatrex, Middle Tennessee State
MTSU beat Georgia Tech 29-24 and outside center Greatrex was a constant scoring threat, notching two tries and continually breaking through the Tech line for long runs.
John Gurriero, William Paterson
The WPU No. 8 scored three tries to lead his side to a 34-19 win over RPI to win the Tri-State Conference.
Gamebreakers DI College Nov 9-10
Every game means something, but that's especially true at this time of year as conference champions are decided and the same for playoff seedings in DIAA.
Here are our Gamebreakers for DIA and DIAA for November 9-10.
Connor Buckley, Iona
The Gaels scrumhalf scored three tries as Iona defeated Fairfield in Liberty Conference action.
Connor Robinson, Boston College
Once again the BC hooker has been a force in open play, and he powered in for two tries and kept the Eagles rolling as they defeated Syracuse to make the Liberty Conference final.
Adam Eberle, Brown University
Eberle scored two tries, and converted one, and led the charge as Brown defeated Columbia 64-28 in the Ivy League semis.
Texas Longhorns Improving Fast
Goff Rugby Report came out with a list of the top five surprise teams in DIA this fall, and if we’d made the video a few weeks later, it might have been six teams, with the University of Texas in that list.
With only two games under the Longhorns’ belt, it’s pretty clear that Texas is a much better team than in 2018-19. Last year in the Red River, UT was 1-7. This year they’re 1-1 after beating LSU Saturday.
It was a tale of two halves. LSU led 12-7 at halftime, but then UT turned it around.
“We were definitely flat in the first half,” said Head Coach Connally McKay. “I have played more than a few times in Baton Rouge and it’s definitely tough to play there. We got in late on the bus and we kicked off at noon and the guys needed until halftime to get into the game.”
Men DIAA Fall Bracket Finalized
The USA Rugby Fall DIAA bracket has been finalized as it carries a little bit of a surprise, but probably a well thought-out one.
Lindenwood-Belleville, which went 6-3 during the fall as an independent, did not make the cut. Likely the thinking within the selection committee was a) L-B lost to Kentucky, which is the #2 team in the SCRC and didn't make the playoffs, and b) split two games against Iowa Central CC, but lost heavily in terms of aggregate points.
Whether committee members felt only one independent team should be in the top eight, or whether it was just a case of the results telling the tale, the Lynx are out and the Tritons are in.
Also out is MARC runner-up West Chester, which, according to Head Coach Bjorn Haglid, reconsidered its desire to be an at-large team after incurring some injuries.
Men's DII College Playoff Brackets Set
USA Rugby's Men's DII College bracket is set, with 21 teams getting set to kick it off in the next two weekends.
Eleven teams have a spot in the Round of 16, which will be played in Columbia, Mo. and Greenville, SC on November 23-24.
USA Rugby Confirms 2019 Fall College Playoff Venues
But ten teams will be playing off a week earlier to get a spot in those playoffs.
First Round
Play-ins November 16 or 17, played at home field of one of the teams:
UW-Whitewater at Thomas More
The Best DII College Team Not Ranked: Thomas More
Southeastern Louisiana at Memphis
Liberty Latest: NU, BC Set For Rematch
Boston College and Northeastern will face off in the final of the Liberty Conference after both won semifinals over the weekend.
BC was very impressive in beating Syracuse (7-0 in conference play) 39-10 In Liberty games, Syracuse hadn’t given up more than two tries in any game, but against the Eagles, Syracuse gave up six.
BC exploded for a 29-point run in the first half (and part of the second half). Prop Quinlan Kelly, lock Andrew Thomas, hooker Connor Robinson, fullback James Thornton, and Robinson again all scored tries, with wing Chris Whelan converting two.
Syracuse did finally get a try through fullback Jean Eric van der Elst, but BC was in control by then. Thomas added his second try and Whelan converted. Scrumhalf Garrett Reilly added a penalty at the end of the game.
The DIAA Playoff Headache
We're going to find out very soon what the DIAA fall bracket looks like, and it won't be a simple task to figure it out as ten teams are in the running for eight spots.
The Automatics
Following this past weekend's action, three of the four conference champions pertinent to this playoff have been decided:
Bowling Green - Last-Second PK Wns MAC For Bowling Green
St. Joseph's
Virginia Tech
We're Waiting
November 16, Kennesaw State and Tennessee play to see who wins the SCRC.
Independents
Lindenwood-Belleville (6-3; wins over three DIA teams, three DIAA teams, and losses to one DIA team and two DIAA teams)
Cal Sweeps Weekend To Win PAC 12 7s
STANFORD, Calif. – California went 5-0 and won PAC 7s Champions on Sunday, taking the tournamet for the seventh time in the past eight years.
After going 3-0 to sweep pool play on Saturday, the Bears entered Sunday with a tough challenge against the UCLA Bruins in the Cup Semifinal.
In Pool Play, Cal scored 21 tries, with sophomores Nick Bloom and Sam Walsh, junior Oliver Sharpe, and freshman Alex Brundage touching down three times each.
"We did mostly OK on the day," said Cal Head Coach Jack Clark. "We didn't do as well in the last game as we would have hoped, but we were able to spread the minutes around and we will look to put out our best available team tomorrow."
Louisiville Coach Collapses During Game
There was a scary moment during the Mid-American Conference 3rd-4th game on Sunday when Louisville Head Coach Emil Walton collapsed while patrolling the sideline.
Walton was taken to the hospital and at first no one knew what had happened or if he will be OK.
Both Louisville and IUPUI teams gathered on the field during the stop in action.
Walton, fortunately, appears to be OK, or at least will be, and he posted a message on Facebook from his hospital bed:
Last-Second PK Wns MAC For Bowling Green
Bowling Green defeated Western Michigan 23-20 to win the Mid-American Conference championship about 11 months after winning the entire USA Rugby fall DIAA championship.
The Falcons were certainly in danger of not even winning their conference, as they had lost two games in the regular season, to Western Michigan and Louisville.
Bowling Green had the opportunity to reverse those results in the playoffs at the Brimlowe Fields run by the Cincinnati Wolfhounds men's club. And they did so, beating Louisville 41-12 on Saturday. Western Michigan defeated IUPUI 52-14 to set up Sunday's final.
William Paterson Comeback Wins Tri-State Final
William Paterson has won the Tri-State Conference, defeating RPI 34-19 in Sunday's championship match to vault WPU into the national playoffs.
Paterson came back from a 16-10 halftime deficit to defeat a very intelligent and savvy RPI team.
"They came at us very hard," said WPU Head Coach Kisset Chirengende. "RPI is a really good team."
Forced to put a relatively new player in at fullback, WPU was vulnerable to the kicking game, and RPI figured that out quickly.
Using the boot, RPI put Paterson under pressure and turned that pressure into four scoring opportunities—two tries and two penalty goals—and took the lead.
But WPU adjusted. Center Joshua Amoako was moved to fullback and his counter-attacking ability helped neutralize RPI's kicking game.
Illinois State Wins Dramatic Great MW Finals Weekend
Illinois State won two very tight games this weekend in a wild finish to take the Great Midwest Conference.
The semifinal-final weekend produced plenty of drama throughout.
Played in snow, which slowly melted and converted the fields to mud, the games were close all the way through.
Loyola of Chicago pushed Wisconsin-Whitewater in a bit of a slugfest on Saturday, holding the Warhawks to just one unconverted try in the first half. Whitewater started to pull away after that, scoring twice early in the second half to lead 17-0, both on long breakaways. Loyola clawed back, but turnovers killed their momentum and Whitewater won the semifinal 27-10.
32-Point Roll Takes Norwich To RNE Title
Norwich University defeated UMass-Lowell 32-16 Saturday to win the Rugby Northeast conference championship, securing a national playoff spot for the Cadets.
Lowell will likely get an at-large bid, probably to play the runner-up from another conference in the preliminary weekend of the playoff structure.
Norwich fell behind 6-0 early on, but rallied and reeled off 32 straight points before Lowell got their first try.
Michael McLaughlin got the Cadets on the board in the 22nd minute, and then Kyle Clark went over with five minutes left in the first half. That made it 10-6, and then just before halftime Nate Rolling was over to make it 15-6 at the break.
Red River Latest: Aggies, Longhorns, Sooners
The evidence that the University of Texas is getting better was shown in sharp relief Saturday as the Longhorns beat LSU 48-19 in Baton Rouge.
Having undergone several coaching changes over the last few years, the Longhorns team has found a little bit of stability, and focused on improving.
Under Head Coach Connally McKay, Texas has produced some effective pressure defense and shown some talent out wide.
A week ago, after opening the game with a 12-0 lead, and then later losing to Texas A&M, McKay said: “they just need to keep it going for 80 minutes.”
What they also needed was to develop a little trust. Trust that the coaches would be around at the end of the season, or next season. Slowly the trust has been established, and the players are buying in. That showed on Saturday.
