There are some conference games this week in DIA, with the Mid-South getting back in the think of things.

The weather and COVID have served to cancel a few things, including the Saint Mary's tour of the UK. In addition, Cal announced today that their annual clash with Cal Maritime is off because Cal Maritime won't pay for the temporary USA Rugby membership (Cal Maritime is an NCR team). We asked Cal Maritime Head Coach Steve Hiatt, who is also Men's Rugby Director of NCR, about it but haven't received a response as of this writing. This is a development we've expected, but haven't seen before (although it might have happened; we just haven't heard of it happening). 

Oklahoma vs Texas A&M is under a weather threat, so we will keep an eye on that. OU Head Coach Blikkie Groenewald has his Sooners playing with confidence. And by the way, word is that the Texas vs Oklahoma result from October has been vacated and replaced with a forfeit win for OU (Texas won the game 29-5 when it was played), pushing Oklahoma to 2-2 and Texas to 1-3.

Baylor at North Texas may also be under weather threat. Baylor is favored in that one but UNT actually has a pretty useful attack, so if they can start to defend a bit better they're in with a shout.

UC Davis at San Diego State is a California Conference game and a chance for both of these teams to show what they can do. UC Davis has been especially quiet of late. Meanwhile, an improving Cal Poly side visits Santa Clara, which had to cancel one game because of COVID already. Santa Clara will look to No. 8 Anton Viera and outside center Ben Voelz to lead their attack, but Head Coach Paul Keeler isn't sure how it all will go.

"Tough to say—two years without a match and 18 months without training is a long time," said Keeler. "We do have some very good athletes with potential.  It would have been great to have a preseason but a COVID outbreak put that to the sword."

Another California Conference team in action is Grand Canyon, which hosts Arizona in a non-conference match. GCU is coming off a win over Utah Valley, while Arizona beat UCLA by three last week. UCLA, for their part, take on a San Diego Legion U23 team that struggled to get wins at the Storer Classic and then shipped 120 to Cal last week. (Cal also played UC Santa Barbara on that day, but it was the against the Legion that the Bears played their most experienced 15,)

"We appreciate both UC Santa Barbara and the San Diego academy team for making the trip," said Cal captain Sam Golla. "The Gauchos had the run of play for some of that match and the academy side never gave in. We played pretty quick in that second match which made it hard on them. The fact they stayed at it is a credit to them." 

And then there's the little matter of the Mid-South, with Arkansas State at Life. Life is 1-0 in the conference after edging Davenport 17-16, which wasn't a result that they were especially happy with. Add then losses to Saint Mary's and Life West (neither being pushovers) and you've got a Running Eagles team with something to prove. ASU kind of has, too. They are feeling pretty good about where they are right now, and they know this game is more than just one of six in the conference.

"We’ve had this game circled on our calendar since the schedule was set," said ASU head Coach Jake Mizell. "This game sets the tone for the entire season."

Central Washington faces Western Washington in a local rivalry match which we preview here>> 

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In DIAA, well it's kind of a bummer that Long Beach State vs Claremont Colleges is postponed, but it's probably best to have this later in the season anyway. 

In Florida, we've got 1-0 Central Florida hosting 0-1 Florida, but a Gators team that lost by only a single point. FIU (0-1) visits 0-1 North Florida, albeit two losing teams that played tough. And we've got 1-0 Florida State against South Florida, which hasn't played yet. USF was 6-0 in conference play in 2020.

"I'm excited to take on the defending champs this early in the season," said Florida State Head Coach Michael Gomez. "I know they are going to have some big boys and I'd really like to test our defense. If we can keep it tight against their pack, our backs may be able to give us the advantage since I know USF lost a few starters in key spots there. Overall should be a fun weekend."

FSU has a ton of depth, too, and you might see Gomez move some players around.

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