The Midwest Rugby Conference headlines the D1A schedule this week.
Lindenwood takes on Davenport on Friday while Ohio State is at Arkansas State.
Lindenwood has done its thing and eased into the schedule, with game time spread around so pretty much everyone is bought-in by mid-October. As an example, of the 23 players that faced Ohio State two weeks ago, 10 players against Marian a week later.
Then comes the business end of the fall, which is conference games against Davenport, McKendree, and Arkansas State, as well as a visit to Arizona to play the Wildcats.
This week's game with Davenport will be a challenge. As we've documented, Davenport has taken a boost of confidence after winning the Challenge Cup in CRAA.
Also in the Midwest, Ohio State will take on another challenge at Arkansas State. Having just celebrated 60 years, Ohio State has been embracing bigger challenges. They are shooting for a Big 10 title at the same time as they jump into the deep, cold waters of the Midwest.
They have a very good halfback combo and a young, hardworking back row, as well as a very good goalkicker.
For Arkansas State, the coaching changeover is underway, but with the help of some alumni, Aaron van Dyk has been the key leader there.
Coming off a win over McKendree, van Dyk said it wasn't a perfect performance in a 36-12 win.
"The first half was shaky and didn’t start the way we wanted to," said van Dyk. "But we came out in the second half wanting to tick boxes and get the job done. McKendree are a completely different outfit to last season and I take my hats off to them and their coaching staff they’ve seriously put the work in and become an even more solid side.
"We got a fair few work-ons and we looking at rectifying them this coming week against Ohio State; it’s going to be a big game for us and we’re excited for the challenge that awaits us on Saturday."
Rugby East
Navy is favored over a very good Penn State team, but PSU is still in good shape to play Mary Washington a week later for what would be 4th in the conference.
UMW, for their part, plays Army and that's going to be a tough ask with Army playing well at the moment.
Life hosts Southern Virginia also. Right now it does seem like everyone is chasing Navy, who will wrap up a 6-0 conference run with a win over Penn State.
