On D1A Brackets, Parity, and the Algorithm
There are complaints about the D1A brackets this year, but CRAA’s Paul Santinelli says that’s normal.
Santinelli, who oversees the rankings process, among other things, points to the NCAA basketball tournament or the FBS football rankings as other sources of conversation … and consternation.
“We’re trying to make it more mathematical,” Santinelli told GRR. “The thing is there’s never a perfect science to this and this is an evolutionary process. This is the first year we used power rankings because we went through something similar last year.”
The seeds in D1A have always been based on rankings, but the rankings were much more vote-focused in the past. This year Santinelli introduced an algorithm that included won-loss record in-conference, won-loss out-of-conference, strength of schedule, and polls.
Spring 2023 D1AA College Rankings for March
What in the world is going on in D1AA rugby in the spring?
Well it's split and divided and splintered. While the NCR teams are worrying about 7s, we could have a single road to a trophy but we don't. ACR is running their playoff with a final May 6 in Colorado. The teams going for that are Iowa State, Sam Houston State (who play off), Western Washington, and San Diego (who will work their way through a regional playoff).
These are all good teams. They are all conference champs.
Meanwhile, CRAA's playoff has the California D1AA conference entering its playoffs, with Sacramento State and Fresno State hosting semifinals. And they will take on the top two from Florida the weekend of May 6. Who will be in that Florida final? Yeah, we don't know. Could be anyone.
D1A Playoff Brackets Confirmed
The D1A playoff brackets have been announced by the College Rugby Association of America.
Not surprisingly, Navy and Lindenwood will get byes to the quarterfinals in the East, and Central Washington and Saint Mary's will garner byes to the quarterfinals in the West.
In this, the D1A season with the most parity in recent memory, likely ever, only one team, Navy, has made it through the season without a loss. Lindenwood clinched the Mid-South this past weekend but split their games with Life in conference play. Central Washington has enjoyed an excellent season, but did lose 24-23 to BYU on March 18. Saint Mary's have suffered losses to Cambridge University, Central Washington, and University of British Columbia, but did win the California Conference and beat Cal this past weekend.
Last Four Set in Florida DIAA Conference
The final four in the Florida DIAA college competition is set after this weekend's first round of playoffs.
Six teams were in action this week, playing quarterfinals while 1st-place team Florida State had a bye.
Florida won convincingly over North Florida 62-7.
Martin Gentile scored three tries and so did Justo Olivera, who added five conversions for a personal haul of 25 points. Felix Olivera, Brian Stock, Sam Koelsch, and Ryan Duffy also touched down for the Gators.
"The team is coming together nicely," said Florida Head Coach Ken Simmons. "They are continuing to work hard at getting better but we have plenty of work to do. Our scrums and lineouts continue to dominate; combine that with our skilled and dynamic backline and we have a well-rounded team.
Iowa State Hangs on In Dramatic HOA Final
The Heart of America Conference title game between Iowa State (7-0) and Minnesota (5-2) produced a tight and dramatic finale.
These two made the final with semifinal victories over Arkansas and Kansas last fall. The final, however, was delayed until March in order to avoid bad weather and to give the winner a launching pad to the playoffs in the spring. Of course, the weather was bad anyway, and the match ended up being played in Minnesota’s domed field.
The match started off with Iowa State kicking off deep and turning over Minnesota. Within minutes it appeared Iowa State had scored in front of the posts, but with multiple lines on the field for different sports, there was a bit of a confusion and it was determined that the ball had been placed over a line that was not the tryline.
Around D1A: Confirmations, Cancelations, and Surprises
Let's talk D1A rankings, results, conferences, and playoff seedings.
Numero Uno
Navy has hardly put a foot wrong this season, and even if they have put a foot wrong, it didn't result in a loss. Friday night's victory over Army solidified that as the Midshipmen are now Rugby East champions and 15-0.
Navy To 15-0 After Beating Army
Numero Due
Who is Numero Due? Could it be Saint Mary's? Possibly. After the Gaels beat Cal this weekend there's an argument to be made.
Wild Game in Berkeley as Saint Mary's Edges Cal
Two tries just after the 60th minute stymied a Cal comeback and brought Saint Mary's a rather remarkable 38-34 victory over Cal.
Both head coaches lauded the game and the day.
“Congratulations to Saint Mary’s; that was a proper game of first XV rugby,” Cal Head Coach Jack Clark said.
"It was great for college rugby, great for rugby," added Saint Mary's Head Coach Tim O'Brien. "I can't say I'm totally cool if we lose, but win or lose it was a great day for rugby."
The Gaels struck first, putting back-to-back tries on the board in the first 15 minutes to lead 12-0. Cal answered with a try from No. 8 Alex Aguero and Max Schumacher's conversion made it 12-7. Saint Mary's answered and led 19-7. But a run from Evan Weigold and a chargedown from Aguero made it 19-19 just before halftime.
Gonzaga Impresses in Victory over St. Ignatius
Gonzaga HS put up a massive score on rivals and defending Single-School national champions St. Ignatius Saturday in DC.
Exploiting some St. Ignatius mistakes and riding the positive feelings of getting some injured players back, Gonzaga put SIHS to the sword 49-7. Ignatius has some issues, and in fact they've had a few issues this season. Expected to be a bit of a work in progress after graduating 12 of their 15 regular starers from 2022, the Wildcats then saw two of those returning three go down with injury.
Navy To 15-0 After Beating Army
Navy played a high-rankings game and won, showing why they are the #1-ranked men's college team in rhe USA as the Midshipmen beat Army 34-24 Friday night at West Point .
“It’s been an incredible journey from August to today," said Navy Director of Rugby Gavin Hickie. "The men have worked hard every day, setting standards and demanding accountability from each other. The team deserves huge credit for going 15-0 and beating Army twice along the way.”
Which is the Big Game This Weekend in College Rugby?
This is a massive weekend in college rugby.
Army hosting Navy is TRN's Game of the Week and it's a bit of a tossup as to whether that's the biggest game. Actually, Cal vs Saint Mary's was slated to be the game but when it was moved from Saint Mary's to Cal's Witter Rugby Field because the field at Saint Mary's has been overstressed by rain, the broadcaster also, apparently, had to move.
Army Hosts Navy at West Point
The #1-ranked US naval Academy makes it a double-dip Army-Navy season with a spring game at West Point Friday night.
Army is ranked #7 by GRR and last fall lost to the Midshipmen 27-14 in Rugby East Conference play. This followed on from their fall 2021 clash in which Army won 24-17 on their way to winning the D1A National Championship.
The game will be shown live on The Rugby Network.
“We have been on a great journey all season long and now our journey culminates our regular season with a visit to West Point,” said director of rugby Gavin Hickie. “We are expecting a physical and tough game from Army who will pressure us in all areas. We are very excited about the challenge.”
Nominees for 2023 Scholz Award Named
The nominees for the 2023 Rudy Scholz Award have been announced.
Presented every year to the top men's college rugby player in the country and sponsored by the Washington Athletic Club of Seattle, Wash., the Scholz Award is named after two-time gold medal-winning USA scrumhalf Rudy Scholz, who excelled at rugby at Santa Clara, was decorated in both World War I and World War II, and was a champion of rugby, playing into his 80s.
First presented in 2016, the Scholz Award has gone to:
Dylan Audsley, Saint Mary's
Bryce Campbell, Indiana
Connor McNerney, Navy
Harley Wheeler, Life
Payton Telea-Ilalio, Saint Mary's
Emmanuel Albert, Lindenwood
Larry Williams, Army
College Sevens: USC, TMU, Wheeling, Kutztown
Thomas More won the latest Big Rivers 7s on a last-minute try from Ta'Veon Veal to beat Principia.
That 21-15 result clinched the tournament for TMU and puts them in a good position to qualify for the CRC in May.
Who else has been doing well in men's college 7s this spring?
Wheeling
Already qualified is Wheeling, which did so by winning the Terrapin 7s. That allows Head Coach Mike Geibel to test some different mixtures of players through the rest of the spring.
A Look Ahead at a Wide Open D1A Playoffs Picture
The D1A playoffs are fast approaching and, as everyone knows, the the rankings have a lot to do with how they get populated.
First off, a quick reminder: D1A is the organization under CRAA that runs what is the most high-level collegiate playoff in men's college rugby. NCR is separate and NCR runs their own D1 playoff in the fall. That playoff was won by Brown over Queens.
It can get complicated because there are teams playing under NCR and teams playing under D1A/CRAA that are in the same conference. As a result these teams pay to both dues structures.
BYU Makes Statement in Win Over Central Washington
BYU defeated Central Washington 24-23 over the weekend to shake up the rankings and the D1A landscape.
After close losses to Life in the fall and Saint Mary's in the winter, the Cougars managed to hold off a CWU team that has beaten Saint Mary's and Army.
"Central is a great team and we knew we had to play our best game of the year to win," said BYU Head Coach Steve St. Pierre. "But we made it plenty hard on ourselves."
BYU started strong and scored early—a penalty and maul putting hooker Lilo Clark over for a 5-0 lead. Central answered with a penalty goal from Oliver Clark—the result of some dogged defense from the Cougars that prevented them the Wildcats from breaking through.
