Some championship and major playoff seeding questions will be answered this week in D1A.
Big 10
Ohio State takes on Indiana in the Big 10 final at Kuntz Stadium. Both teams played cross-divisional matches last week, with Indiana falling to Kutztown 19-12, and Ohio State losing a close one 44-42 to Arkansas State.
When these two last met, it was 42-25 Ohio State in Columbus. This is a neutral-site match, albeit one a bit closer to Indiana's home campus. Note that total of 42 in those two matches. OSU fullback Tommy Kilbane has been on fire with his goalkicking, and those kicks have certainly not all been under the posts.
Indiana has explosive potential and can turn around pressure into long-range tries. But Kutztown managed to keep them in check and, for the most part, Ohio State managed, too, mostly from doing a good job holding onto possession.
Rocky Mountain
Utah Valley and Utah State have a rivalry match to play, but eyes will continue to be on Air Force, which has gone from strength to strength this fall.
After last week's impressive 39-5 win over Colorado, the Zoomies take on Wyoming this week.
"The players are buying into what we are doing and who we are," said Head Coach. John Cullen. "This was one of our best defensive performances and we're starting to show a mindset of 'tackling everyone and everything.'"
Center Luma Vaii and wing Evan Wells were outstanding defensively for the Zoomies and ran well with the ball also.
Utah, who don't have a game this weekend, have been right there. Like Air Force, the Utes are 2-1 with the lone loss being BYU.
"We're proud of what we've been able to achieve so far, but there's still a lot of work to be done," said Utah captain Logan Hawes. "There are a few areas of our game where were undisciplined and don't play the rugby we know we can. That just means taking full advantage of the all of the opportunities we get during a game."
Jonah Lange and Karsten McElreath have been the guys who put in work off the ball, with Lange's defensive pressure a bit last week's win over Utah State.
Unfortunately, Utah and Air Force don't play each other, but both have shown flashes and certainly signs of improvement this fall as they chase BYU.
