CRAA Makes Schedule Changes
CRAA Makes Schedule Changes
Editors Note: Some of this stuff has proven to be "to be confirmed rumors" rather than confirmed-for-sure happenings. We are working on separating the wheat from the chaffe on this and will post an update, which will also be linked in the body of this article. For now we will leave the article as initially published until we have confirmed exactly what to change.
Collegiate Rugby Association of America is making some major schedule changes for the 2023-24 season which could have wide-ranging ramifications for the college game as a whole.
The central part of the changes is the move of the D1A 7s tournament to December.
7s Moving to Fall
This event would coincide with the CRAA Fall Classic, which will be almost exclusively bowl games in 15s. The reason for that is partly because the women's D1 Elite is moving back to a spring playoff after one season wrapping up their competition in the fall, and partly because almost all, if not all, of the ACRA women's DII conferences and teams have shifted to National Collegiate Rugby.
The Fall Classic will return to Charlotte, NC on December 2. More bowl game matchups are expected for the weekend, but the big question is what teams will embrace 7s at the end of the fall? This could be a fairly robust 7s tournament, but it would depend the interest.
As GRR has reported, there appears to be a slowing down of the interest in 7s at least as a major component of the higher-division collegiate schedule. However, many other divisions continues to look at the spring as the time for 7s, and NCR's CRC tournament now seems to have the momentum in the spring. If their CRC tournament is able to get sanctioned, they could attract even more teams in the higher divisions.
The shift also reflects the growing trend within D1A teams of playing less 7s—not necessarily eliminating 7s entirely, but also not spending months playing it. Instead, the goal within D1A appears to be more challenging and meaningful 15-a-side games.
Spring Playoffs
The D1A spring playoffs will expand to 16 teams. This move was made largely because the teams that got a bye to the quarterfinals actually didn't want the bye. They would rather play another game. So while the playoff schedule will remain the same—four weekends of playoffs over five weeks, with a bye week before the final—16 teams will be involved instead of 12.
How teams get to the playoffs is changing, too. Being a conference champion is no guarantee to get in—the playoff seeds will be decided by the D1A rankings and the higher-ranked team will host games.
D1 Elite
In a move that some would say is overdue, Women's D1 Elite is going to expand to six teams, with BYU and Grand Canyon University joining Central Washington, Penn State, Life University, and Lindenwood.
In addition, the move to a fall-only 15s season lasted only the one season. D1 Elite will return to having their playoffs in the spring. It's unclear whether all of the league games will be in the spring, but they certainly could be in both the fall and the spring.
The Spring Finals Weekend
May 4-5 will be the Finals Weekend, with the D1A and D1 Elite finals as well as bowl games.
The Collegiate Playoff Picture
So this is how it all happens:
November 18 NIRA holds the finals for the NCAA Varsity women's programs with D1, D2, and D3 all finding their champions all at Harvard University in Camrbidge, Mass.
December 2-3 CRAA will hold bowl games and its 7s tournament in Charlotte, NC.
December 2-3 (unconfirmed bu likely) NCR will hold its championships for Women's Small College, Women's D2, and Women's D1. NCR's D2 competition will be significantly expanded in terms of the number of teams.
December 8-10 (unconfirmed but likely) NCR will hold its championships in Men's Small College, Men's D2, and Men's D1. We expect these to be in Houston, Texas.
April 6 D1A Round of 16
April 13 D1A Quarterfinals
April 20 D1A Semifinals
Sometime in mid- to late-April D1 Elite Playoffs
May 4 D1A Final / D1 Elite Final and Bowl Games all in Houston, Texas.
May 17-19 (?) NCR's CRC 7s Tournament; expected to be back in Germantown, Md.
