The ACRC Bowl Series looks set with a week to go.

Sixteen top DI men’s college teams face off in eight bowl games, seven of which will be held in the Rugby Athletic Center in Charlotte, NC. The eighth game will be the Ice Bucket Challenge Bowl between Iona and Delaware in New Rochelle, NY.

The first game of the series in Charlotte is NC State against UMass. UMass finished up their league season last week with an impressive 76-10 defeat of Middlebury to finish 5-3 in the ECRC. NC State, meanwhile, defeated North Carolina to move to 3-1-1 in the ACRL. It was the 50th Anniversary of the NC State rugby program, and in front of a huge grow, NC State won 60-3.

Two Senior Leaders started the scoring on the first play when Cam Jernigan gathered the ball at mid-field and passed to Steven Glass for a long try setting the tone for the night.  State never looked back and went on to a 60-3 victory.  Four Wolfpack players scored their first tries of the season, including senior Patrick O'Shea who was returning from an injury earlier in the season.  

NC State’s forward pack was tough in the scrums and in the breakdowns led by seniors TJ Dixon and Mikey Dotterer.  Senior backs Kyle Morris, Nik Foulkrod, Flo Prince and Rashad Alston also had strong performances for the Wolfpack. 

NC State may not win the conference, but the Wolfpack still has logged one of their best conference season. Second-year Head Coach Brian Ketchem has built a strong program with a combination of returning experienced players and new recruits. He will have work to do to fill in for the seniors graduating this spring.

The Wolfpack and Minutemen kick off at 4:50pm, Friday, November 20, at the RAC. The game will be live-streamed by Next Level Rugby (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQTQemHqafenHtJPnf7dKfg) with NLR’s Ryan Ginty and GRR’s Alex Goff providing commentary.

Next up will be Empire Conference Champions Syracuse against DIAA independent Notre Dame College (ranked #41). The NDC Falcons will be coming off a game with Navy this weekend. 

On Saturday, November 21, Rugby East team St. Bonaventure (ranked #45) faces MAC runners-up Western Michigan (#24). Bonnies may be only 2-5 in Rugby East, but they’ve played all of their opponents tough and also beat Notre Dame College. WMU beat Bowling Green in the regular season only to lose a close one against BGSU in the MAC final last weekend.

Iona (#14) takes on Delaware (#28) in the Ice Bucket Challenge Bowl. Delaware is back from suspension and played some Rugby East competition this year. Iona finished 4-3 in the Rugby East, including a victory over Army.

North Texas (#50) won the SWC conference and takes on Keystone Conference team Rutgers, not ranked by a team that has been very competitive in that competition.

Empire runners-up Stony Brook (#25) will play Cincinnati, a team that is far better than their 2-2 MAC record. The Bearcats (#36) logged a win over Bowling Green and a close loss to WMU.

And then finally on Saturday night two games that could decide who ends the fall at #1. Current #1 AIC takes on ACRL undefeated team Clemson (#9), and then Indiana (#2) faces #5 Kutztown, which was #1 just last week until the Bears lost to Penn State. KU is the Rugby East champion, and Indiana is favored to win the Big Ten this week. Also on the slate will be the SCRC Championiship, teams to be confirmed.

It’s a very strong lineup of teams with seven conference winners or runners-up in the list plus more ranked teams. All games will be streamed live here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQTQemHqafenHtJPnf7dKfg)