Conference Championships in D1AA Clarify NCR Playoff Picture

11.08.2026

SJU romps to a conference title.

Author: Alex Goff

St. Joseph's defeated West Chester 41-29 Saturday to finish the MARC D1AA conference season 8-0 and take the top spot in the league.

Both the Hawks and the Rams had come into the game at 7-0. However, three tries from wing Jack Del Monte, plus tries from Tommy Bonner at hooker, flyhalf Jeff George, and flanker Alejandro Benitez saw SJU through.
Fullback Jamie Weir added nine points with his boot.

This was a huge win for St. Joe's as they had been keeping a watchful eye on West Chester throughout the season as both teams logged victories.
Both had recorded very similar scores against common opponents, except, perhaps, St. Joe's opener vs James Madison, which wasn't as convincing as was WCU's effort against JMU.

Both both defended well, but SJU's points scored (495 to 475) and points against (48 to 61) were slightly better than those of West Chester going into this game.

On Sunday Boston College churned out a gritty 22-14 win over UMass to clinch a 7-0 record in the Liberty and their third-straight conference title.

Adam Bornhorst once again showed a machine-like work rate and led the squad along with captain and fellow back-rower Louis Parry-George. Two Nor-easters have hit the area and BC's pitch was in a rough state. It made wide open rugby tough and the eagles had a tough time pursuing their game plan.

"We need to up our game standards," said Head Coach Rob Conway. "UMass were tenacious in defense. We controlled the game but didn't punch it in from close range. But the bottom line it that we are immensely happy to be Liberty Conference champions again."

At 6-1 Northeastern should be in the playoffs as well, while there's a good chance Iona will be an at-large.

Kentucky finished off their run with a win over Tennessee and really what's interesting about Kentucky is to go back to their early matches with Marian and Indiana. Both of those were losses against higher-division teams, but they were close losses, and both Marian and Indiana won their conference this weekend.

In the MAC, Cincinnati had to forfeit to Bowling Green which meant Louisville needed a bonus-point win over Western Michigan in order to seal 1st for sure. They did that, and Louisville wins the conference with just the one loss—BG and UofL split their two games.

So, to the playoff spots:
Oklahoma, Boston College, Texas A&M, Louisville, St. Joseph's, Kentucky, UNC Charlotte

Those are all conference winners.

That leaves nine at-larges, and second-place teams such as Northeastern, West Chester, Bowling Green, South Carolina, and Missouri should be in there.

There's a strong case for Texas State, Iona, and Tennessee

And we might see Virginia Tech, Kansas State, or JMU as well.