What is THE game of the week?
Is it UCLA at Cal? Could be. Cal has started very well and vaulted to #1 in GRR's rankings—Men D1A Rankings Week 19—while UCLA has logged big wins on tour (U. Bristol, UCD) and against UCSB and GCU in recent week. The level of opponent leaps this week with #10 UCLA at #1 Cal.
Or ...
Is it #4 Lindenwood vs #9 Mount St. Mary's? This one does being in two teams who had solid falls. MSM went 5-2 in Rugby East action and an impressive win over Arizona in the CRAA Fall Classic. Lindenwood played its regular busy fall with all kinds of opponents. But they also played, and won, conference games against McKendree, Adrian, and Davenport, plus a non-conference win over Arkansas State. Lindenwood tracks all of their games, regardless of level (or how many players are on the field). So, including 2nd-side games and three sevens games and six 10s games, they have played 27 games so far. Wow.
One more extra-special game is Cal Poly at UC Santa Cruz. This is perhaps the decider on who is 2nd in the California D1A Conference behind Saint Mary's. We're picking Cal Poly for this game, but it's not a done deal by any stretch.
Bad news for Central Washington and snow and ice on Trinity Western's pitch has canceled their game. CWU offered to host, with the March 8 TW at CWU game switched to Langley, BC. Trinity Western said that was too difficult to do, so Central Washington is left without a game on a pretty important building weekend. In the coming weekends CWU plays Cal Poly, Saint Mary's, UCLA, Trinity Western, BYU, and Arizona. Every single US team is ranked in the D1A Top 15 (by GRR, anyway), with Cal Poly at #15. The average ranking, currently, is 9.
