Kentucky Makes Statement in SCRC
The University of Kentucky made something of a statement in SCRC action as the Wildcats downed the Gamecocks of South Carolina 32-15 Saturday.
The win put Kentucky at 3-0 in the SCRC East and drops USC to 2-1.
“It was another outstanding performance on defense,” said Kentucky Coach Gary Anderson, who said his initial estimate was that his team was on defense for as much as 70% of the game.
“South Carolina did a great job poaching and we seemed to make too many mental mistakes,” added Anderson.
However, when Kentucky did get the ball, they scored. The backs were able to notch a few nicely-taken tries and the Wildcats turned penalties into points as well.
The attack fired when it needed to, but, added Anderson, “defense continues to be our bread and butter.”
NC State Over VMI in Cardinals
NC State edged VMI 35-27 Saturday in a clash of the two undefeated teams in the Cardinals Men’s DII conference.
The result of the game is that NC State will go into the playoffs with the #1 seed, but it’s also likely that these two teams will meet in the conference final.
It was a hard-nosed, physical game, but not always tidily played. The rucks were a bit of a free-for-all at times, but both teams put full effort into the contest.
VMI had much of the run of play in the first half, but gave up some key breaks to the Wolfpack that would end up hurting them.
“We let them through three times in the first half and they scored on two of them,” lamented VMI Wayne Howe.
NC State used their strength in the scrum to shove VMI back, and Amani Manning broke through for a key 70-meter try and had the VMI defense scrambling.
Wisconsin Over OSU - Big 10 Latest
Wisconsin defeated Ohio State 19-15 to join Indiana as the only undefeated teams in the Big Ten, but it might not be enough to see the Badgers in the top two.
On a windy day, Wisconsin started the day with the breeze at their backs and scored two well-taken tries to lead 12-0 at halftime. Both teams used the wind with intelligence and kicked to space to pressure the opposition team. But Wisconsin was able to exploit a couple of OSU penalties and good pressure to set up fullback and captain Dan Pettay to burst through the middle for his second try of the day, and the game-winner in the 19-15 contest.
"I still don’t think it was a great game by us," said Wisconsin Coach Nic Tyson. "We played well in some areas. We were pretty strong defense but we lost the ball too much out wide in the backline. We made passes that were unnecessary."
Rugby East Latest - PSU Leads
Penn State remains atop the Rugby East after the Nittany Lions defeated Iona 36-19 Saturday.
Penn State got on the board early with a try from Selby Niu, but Iona replied through Mike Scarcella. Late in the second half Leo Van Buskirk's try, with Jimmy Ronan converting, gave Penn State a 12-5 lead the break. Iona continued to battle, using the boot to push Penn State back, and disrupting some of the Lions' prime scoring opportunities.
In the second half, a big break from Jimmy Haley set up a short-range drive by Rob Irimescu and a 19-5 Penn State lead. Iona replied one more, but the Kiefer Kei-Boguinard scored to make it 24-12. Kei-Boguinard then linked up nicely with Joe Kelly, who set up Haley for the try. Ronan converted for the 31-12 Penn State lead. Iona, once again, would reply, before Jordan Crofts finished the game off.
JMU to 4-1 in Chesapeake
James Madison is continuing the team's torrid run after their close loss to Mount Saint Mary's, following up on last week's 66-0 shutout of Salisbury with a 41-22 defeat of Maryland Saturday.
"I think we are slowly showing that we have improved over last year," said JMU Head Coach Mark Lambourne. "I do think we can get better. We are leaving three or four tries on the field with drops in the red zone."
Against Maryland, JMU got two tries from Mo Katz and two also from Chris Marcelin, while Federico Meersohn and Christian Morreale also touched down. Johnny Zelsnack was the only try-scorer whose name does not start with M.
With the victory, James Madison joins Mount Saint Mary's at 4-1 in the Chesapeake. JMU has a superior points different, but MSM has the head-to-head over JMU.
Wins for Binghamton, Colgate, Fordham Clear Empire Picture
Binghamton University hasn't clinched a top-two spot in the Empire Conference, but they are as close as possible.
Binghamton defeated rivals Brockport 41-17 Saturday to move to 4-1 in the conference, possibly the most competitive or closest conference in Men's DI rugby. The Devils opened up the scoring with a try from Jason MacKenna and flyhalf Brandon Healy added another try soon thereafter. A weakside run off a scrum put wing Hunter Reiter in from 50 meters, and then No. 8 Brian Burke capped off a torrid first half for Binghamton.
Empire Latest - Binghamton Eyes Final Stretch
Binghamton University can basically wrap up a top-two spot in the Empire Conference with a bonus-point win over Brockport Saturday, but that doesn't mean it's a done deal.
Head Coach Kevin Dublin knows it's going to be a difficult proposition.
"Brockport is one of our rivals and given how crazy this conference has been, you never know," said Dublin. "This conference is really competitive - I don't remember it ever being like this - but what's also good is that the rugby is so much better."
Binghamton is led by Conor Horan, a skilled fullback who is the team's last line of defense and also a solid goalkicker, and senior prop Nick Coppola, who started his time at Binghmaton as a center, but got bigger. As a prop he's powerful over the ball and in tight, but also likes to run and make offloads in the open field.
Men DI College Games Oct 13-16
Time to put up or shut up this weekend in Men's DI college rugby? Yes, maybe it is.
Friday, Fordham takes on Stony Brook in yet another chapter of the saga of the Empire Conference. Currently, Six of the seven teams in the conference are still in with a chance at making the championship game. Two of them are Fordham and Stony Brook. They both sit at 2-2, and the winner will most likely move into 1st place for a day. A loss will likely eliminate that team from championship contention.
BC Win Sets Up ECRC Finale in Two Weeks
Boston College defeated New England College this week in a makeup game of a previous postponement.
The result - a convincing 38-16 result for the Eagles - puts BC in excellent position to challenge for the ECRC title later this month.
"For the first time this season we are at full strength," said BC Head Coach Rob Conway. "We put in a pretty dominant performance. We are hitting our stride at the right points of the season."
BC is chasing AIC, which beat UMass 45-15 to go to 6-0, and will set up a winner-take-all game between the two on October 29.
Here are the latest standings we have. BC has Fairfield and Northeastern on the schedule before they take on AIC.
A Look at DIAA Fall Playoffs
The DIAA Fall playoff picture is clearing a little bit as USA Rugby works on the brackets.
Here's how it looks to be shaking out:
The champions from the MAC and SCRC will be in one bracket held at Eastern Kentucky University. Also in that bracket should be the top independent team, and an at-large team. The Independent team will be decided the morning of November 5, when Notre Dame College and Lindenwood Belleville meet up in the Chicago area. Considering Notre Dame College beat Davenport, and Davenport beat L-B, NDC is currently favored in that game.
The at-large would be the #2 team from a strong conference. More on that later.
Bowling Green, Western Michigan, and Dayton look to be the major contenders with the MAC, with BGSU favored. In the SCRC, Tennessee, Kentucky, and South Carolina are all 2-0.
Men DII College Games Oct. 14-16
It's mid-October and a young rugby player's thoughts turn to playoffs - or at least qualifying for the playoffs.
So we have some very big games in Men's DII College rugby this weekend, with major playoff implications.
VMI at NC State is a game between the two 5-0 teams in the Cardinal Conference. While the conference does have a final-four playoff in November, the winner of this game gets the #1 seed, and would be the favorite to win the entire conference. However, if the game is close, the #2 team would certainly be in line for an at-large bid in the USA Rugby playoffs.
VMI Faces NC State in Clash of 5-0 Teams
Bragging rights in the Cardinals Conference are up for grabs Saturday as 5-0 VMI takes on 5-0 NC State.
While in the end this is most likely just the first meeting between the two - the conference ends with a final four on November 5 and 6 - this is the game that sets the tone.
Virginia Military Institute, long an outfit that powered over and through opponents, has unleashed a more elusive, more slick backline attack this season. Sophomore flyhalf Jackson Mitchell has been at the center of that, but, alas, for this weekend he is out injured. Fullback Eric Maudhuit has been excellent, as well, and effective as the team's goalkicker. He will likely don the #10 jersey for Saturday. In the midfield, Paul Conteh loves to make tacklers miss, and he does it a lot.
AIC Downs Mass to go 6-0
American International College moved to 6-0 in the ECRC Thursday with an impressive 45-15 defeat of UMass.
The Minutemen went into this game 2-1 and playing some solid rugby, but an athletic and nicely-clicking Yellowjacket squad hit them for two tries in the opening 16 minutes and cruised from there.
AIC played the game with only three off-days after their last league game. Coach Rob Guiry said he was concerned about how his team would bounce back from Sunday's 37-7 defeat of Northestern, but the players responded.
Big Developments at Clemson
Some big changes are afoot for the rugby program at Clemson.
Clemson Rugby is close to completing construction on the first phase of the team's very own rugby complex. The project has been made possible by a lead sponsoring gift from the Clemson Rugby alumnus-owned business, National Athletic Village, located in Pinehurst, NC, and with additional support from Clemson Rugby alumni.
The project is well underway and players will be able to use it this fall. The planning, development and construction Clemson Rugby Complex at the Pier was made possible by our valued partnership with another Clemson alumnus and local real estate developer, Tom Winkopp.
Men Fall DI College Rankings Week #3
This is what happens when you let things slide.
We haven't run the DI rankings for a couple of weeks, and so of course there have been many results that move everything around.
Right now we're waiting on some teams such as Texas State and LSU and a few others that we haven't seen a lot of. Maryland has lost to a bunch of good teams by a point or two each. We wanted to put them in, but cut off the list at 45 and Maryland looks to be 46th or so - sorry Terps!
Penn State has done nothing to disabuse us of the notion that they are #1 among fall teams. We move Air Force just past Navy because Air Force beat Navy (albeit at home by one point), and then Colorado State beat Air Force, so CSU moves ahead of Air Force and Navy.
