Cal Edges UCLA for PAC 7s Title
For the eighth time in nine tournaments, the Cal Golden Bears have won the PAC Rugby 7s tournament, beating UCLA in the final 10-0.
It was a competitive tournament, and UCLA certainly produced a strong defensive performance in the championship match. Cal needed that shutout to get out of there.
"UCLA is potent, so keeping them in check is something to build upon," Cal Head Coach Jack Clark said. "I thought we were mostly solid throughout the weekend and the boys should feel good about their performance. We'll put 7s behind us for awhile now and turn our focus to fifteens."
Cal beat Oregon 27-7, USC 34-5, and Utah 36-5 in pool play on Saturday, and then beat Arizona 27-5 in the semis.
Thomas More Pulls Off the Big Shocker, But Was it Predictable?
Thomas More's 45-14 defeat of Marian in the MCRC final was a result very few saw coming.
And yet further examination indicates that maybe it was in the cards. Marian, as a new varsity program that has been active in recruiting talented young players has been testing itself with tough opponents throughout the fall (and, indeed, the spring before). So they had lost games, but against University of Kentucky, Iowa Central (that was 29-21), and Lindenwood. Meanwhile, their conference wins were to the tune of 81-0 and 102-0 ... or forfeits.
Men D2 College Rankings 2021 Week 10
Well the rankings took a bit of a hit in playoff time.
This isn't the first time that's happened, and the reason is even more pronounced—we don't see a lot of teams cross over from one conference to another, or even from one division within a conference to the other side, and in this post-COVID-shutdown time that lack of crossover data has been even tougher to make up for.
Still, it wasn't a complete bloodbath. The #1 team survived (although #2 lost in a close one). Overall, higher ranked teams won eight and lost six this week. Thomas More over Marian was the biggest surprise. Georgia Tech over Memphis wasn't much of a shocker at all, really, as they were ranked very close. We didn't have Drexel ranked because we hadn't seen them against tough opposition (same with Georgetown at #39). But they showed they deserve to be in the rankings.
NCR DI Postseason Can Confuse Even the Best
NCR's DI men's postseason is a little bit confusing, but them what isn't in men's DI college rugby these days?
With two conferences fielding a combination of teams that are tracking to a CRAA- or USA Rugby-supported postseason and teams going to the NCR postseason, sometimes you're looking at splitting a conference.
And in fact, NCR is splitting conferences regardless. Here is, as far as we can tell, how it works (we also have a video about this below):
Latest on Men's D2 Bracket. After Sunday's Results.
After Sunday's results in D2, here's what the national bracket looks like.
Georgetown won the MARC over Bucknell. Marist took the Tri-State over RPI. IUP shut out Kent State and Virginia shut out (by a lot) VCU.
So we are only missing the #1 and #2 seeds from the Southern. UNC-Charlotte and UNC-Wilmington are in the playoffs, but meet next week to figure out who gets which seed.
Click on the image to enlarge:
MAC Wraps Season, Confirms Semifinalists
The MAC top four are decided after this week's results.
IUPUI needed a Cincinnati loss (which they got) and an IUPUI win (they lost 31-24 to Louisville) to make the semis, and just missed. Bonus points almost, but not quite, mixed up the standings. WMU's penchant for scoring tries even if they lose, and IUPUI's two close losses almost got them up a spot.
WMU rolled past Dayton as expected. Bowling Green did the same to Cincinnati, which is somewhat sobering for the Bearcats, who have to face the Falcons again in the semis. Bowling Green doubled Cincinnati's points-against total from 72 to 144 in just one game.
Louisville did what they needed to do to retain 2nd.
So BGSU plays Cincinnati and Louisville plays WMU in the semis. The winner of these playoffs will play the winner of the SCRC in the CRAA finals weekend in December.
Marist Beats RPI for Tri-State Conference Title
Marist won the men's D2 Tri-State Conference championship, beating RPI 47-10 Sunday to book at spot in the NCR national playoffs.
Federico Gubana was a scoring machine for Marist, logging an astounding 32 points from two tries, five conversions, and four penalty goals. Wing Shemar Phillip added two tries and outside center Albert Severini added a try as well.
RPI battled for two tries in the first half, using their size to counter-ruck well; lock Ray Santiago and flanker Chris Rovito have both been effective all season. Jack Farrar was also a tough customer at scrumhalf. Battling at the breakdown led to an RPI tries and that physicality was what was going to work for them.
But they also got into penalty trouble and Gubana punished them with three kicks, and also scored a try, as did Phillip.
Dramatic Finish in Heart of America Semis
Minnesota and Kansas play for the Heart of America championship Sunday in Lawrence, Kans., with the Kansas game carrying with it more than its share of drama.
The Golden Gophers of Minnesota defeated Arkansas 37-19, putting together perhaps their best performance of the season.
Minnesota Gophers On the Same Page, Writing a New Chapter
It was a lot closer between Kansas and Iowa State, and perhaps the opening scoring attempt was an indication of that—10 minutes in KU captain Chandler Owens attempted a penalty goal. The ball hit the top of the post and bounced away.
Cal, UCLA 3-0 on Day One at PAC 7s
Cal and UCLA went 3-0 Saturday in the PAC Rugby 7s Saturday.
The Bears beat Oregon 27-7, USC 34-5, and Utah 36-5 to win their pool.
"The main goal for the weekend was to establish a rhythm in the first few games," said junior Max Schumacher, who scored four tries against Oregon . "I think we did that pretty well and the boys got the job done. The biggest thing for tomorrow is to keep that rhythm, improve our brackets on defense and keep the speed of play up."
Cal will now shift its focus to Arizona who it will play in the cup semifinal on Sunday morning. Arizona went 2-1 in Pool B, defeating Oregon State 26-5 and Stanford 38-5. But they lost to UCLA, a longtime rival in the conference. UCLA looked polished in going 3-0, beating the Wildcats, OSU, and Stanford.
Brown Shocks Dartmouth, Wins Ivy League
Brown University men's team pulled off a huge upset Saturday, beating Dartmouth in Hanover, NH to win the Ivy League championship.
Brown hasn't beaten Dartmouth in over 20 years, and Dartmouth has dominated the Ivy League for years. While both came into the title game having won most of their games by huge scores, Dartmouth had logged some additional wins, including beating Army, and that, along with their history, had the Big Green as favorites.
Men's D2 National Playoffs Bracket Update
The Men's D2 college rugby bracket is filling out.
Here's what we know as of Saturday afternoon, November 6.
Illinois State beat Northern Iowa to win the Great Midwest—ISU Downs UNI in Teeth-Rattling GMW Final—and Marquette took third—Marquette Takes 3rd in GMW, Books Place in NCR Playoffs—and all three will go to the national playoffs.
Norwich beat UMass Lowell 29-14 to take the New England-Wide, while Vermont took third over Providence. All three of those teams will move on to the NCR D2 playoffs as well.
ISU Downs UNI in Teeth-Rattling GMW Final
In a tight, hugely physical match that lived up to expectations, Illinois State held off a determined Northern Iowa team 27-23 to win the Great Midwest.
Both teams move on to the national playoffs and both will take Round of 16 berths. but ISU gets the bigger trophy.
Northern Iowa, starting the game without their regular flyhalf, Jentry Staack, who had received a red card the week before, put ISU under pressure from the kickoff. Illinois State defended their line for several minutes until they managed to get a turnover and immediately launched a counter-attack.
UNI couldn’t recover and Tom Nevara, who doubles as the team’s backs coach, raced in under the posts. Illinois State took a 7-0 lead against the run over play.
Marquette Takes 3rd in GMW, Books Place in NCR Playoffs
Marquette defeated Wisconsin-Whitewater in relatively emphatic fashion 54-22 to finish 3rd in the Great Midwest and book a spot in the NCR D2 playoffs.
The game was a rematch of a much earlier league game, won by Marquette 36-31. This time, however, things were poised nicely for Marquette to expand on that lead. With injuries and military commitments hitting Whitewater's lineup hard, they fielded a squad lacking in experience and with only one player—who was carrying an injury—on the bench.
Marquette started with the wind at their backs at the Wisconsin Rugby Club venue in Cottage Grove, Wisc. and worked to use that to their advantage. Their execution, early on at least, wasn't particularly crisp and so some odd man rushes went un-exploited.
Chamionship Day For Iona, Northeastern
Iona and Northeastern clash for the Liberty Conference title Saturday.
Both teams have showed off impressive offenses and can claim to have dominated their division. At the same time, they've been humbled, as well. Iona shipped over 50 to Indiana; Northeastern did the same with Dartmouth.
So there's still stuff to work on.
DIA, DIAA, and NCR DI Games This Weekend
For Northeastern, Alex Parciak and Alvaro Borrego helped lead the Huskies past Fordham in a close semifinal last week. Rarely have they had to worry about their defense, but against Fairfield and Fordham NU has dealt with close games, and held on. Parciak at No. 8 and Borrego at outside center were especially effective on defense and will need to be again.
Trophies Glitter in This Week's Men's DI College Games
What's on the line this week in Men's DI college rugby? Plenty.
Check back for score.
DIA
It'll be interesting to see how Davenport matches up with Notre Dame and how that affects each team in its own ranking. Navy chases 2nd in the Rugby East, while Indiana hopes to secure an unbeaten run in the Big 10. Michigan State should confirm a place in the 3rd-4th game in BTU.
How good is Iowa Central? Playing Lindenwood certainly helps answer those sorts of questions.
Air Force at Army, among other things, is the final game of the Commander-in-Chief Trophy. A win or tie for Army clinches that trophy for the Black Knights. And, if Lindenwood isn't impressive and Army is, you might see Army go past Lindenwood in the DIA rankings.
