D1A Playoff Ramifications All Over the Nation

03.18.2026College Men

Cal Poly and Saint Mary's still have big games to come.

Author: Alex Goff

D1A teams are entering that nervy time when playoff seedings are starting to crystalize.

Let’s take a look at some of the results and ramifications.

California Conference

Saint Mary’s is in control in the North and won comfortably over UC Davis and are now 8-0 in the conference, having outscored opponents 96-5. That’s right … 96.

Meanwhile, the big result was Cal Poly beating San Diego 66-34. This has been an impressive season from USD in their first D1A year, but Cal Poly has started to piece it all together.

It was the Day of Tylers with Tyler Hoffman, Tyler Roberts, and Tyler Riley all scoring tries. Cornelius McKeon scored 16 pints from the boot and young wing Jake Dempster was very good with two tries (a feat echoed by Coby Baker).
We asked Head Coach Chris O’Brien to compare this performance to the team’s opening match of 2026, a 101-0 loss toCal.

“We are a completely different team now,” O’Brien said. “It was a good performance. We still need to eliminate silly mistakes in our own end and you cannot do that against the very top teams.”

The Mustangs are now 7-1 and have one more game to play in-conference, and that’s UCLA. The Bruins are just off the pace in the California, having lost to Saint Mary’s and USD. They’ve beaten everyone else and could vault themselves into the D1A playoff conversation with a victory here.

“We will find out how good we are,” said O’Brien. “We need to work as a team and our overall team play is good, but far from perfect. UCLA is always a very strong team and we will have to be good.”

Also notable in the California Conference, San Diego State and Cal State Long Beach will play this coming weekend. CSULB was impressive in their win over Santa Clara and this game is, potentially, a chance to be the 4th-highest team in the conference. That would happen if UCLA lost and SDSU won, however, the truth is that UCLA is still a strong team than the Aztecs. SDSU and Long Beach both play more games in the California; UCLA has beaten both of them.

That’s not to say they aren’t good. Both the Aztecs and 49ers have done well and boy can they score tries—SDSU is scoring 37 per game, and Long Beach State 42. Only UCLA, USD, Cal Poly, and Saint Mary’s have more.

East Coast

The Rugby East was of course decided back in the fall (Navy #1) and so the teams from that conference have been playing other games. Army’s 70-18 loss to Cal was cut into two periods: the first 40 minutes showed a 21-11 Cal advantage, while the second was Cal 49 Army 7. That must have been sobering for the Black Knights.

Still, Army is a solid team, it’s just that Cal has been very impressive, especially on the offensive side of the ball.

Also in action was Mount St. Mary’s vs Mary Washington. This was a game of two Rugby East teams, but was, more importantly, a game that could nail down a favorable playoff seeding for the winner.

Mount St. Mary’s won this 35-24. Hayden McKay scored two tries and Raylon Murry scored two, with Joe Sharrock adding one for MSM.

“Mary Washington is one of those teams that do a very good job of capitalizing on penalties and errors,” said MSM Head Coach Jay Myles. “A massive hat tip Andrew [Spencer] and what he’s created there.”

With a couple of experienced players, Bastian Brunello and Evan Corbett, out, MSM ran a relatively young team. Myles called those selections “growing opportunities.”

Freshmen such as Jack Lamotta, Jacob Gandy, and Kieran Meenan all came off the bench to inject some energy.
Murry was very good, working as a center/loose forward hybrid.

“We told him, go play openside, take all that natural ability, and have a day,” said Myles. “And he had a day.”

This result certainly solidified the playoff position of Mount St. Mary’s and could even have bumped them up a seed (maybe to #5?). That’s a big deal. Generally you’d like to avoid Navy, Lindenwood, or Life in the first round, but Army or Arkansas State? They could be surprised a bit.

Playoff Seedings Ramifications

While we’re talking about playoff seedings, Cal Poly went into this game ranked #15 by GRR and #12 by D1A. Certainly they will move up with GRR and that would push Cal Poly past Colorado State and will almost certainly lock in a 1st round matchup with BYU … as long as CP beats UCLA.

Over the next two weeks we’ve got major games that will have an effect on the rankings and the official playoffs seedings.

Mount St Marys vs Arkansas State 2025 Fall Classic. — Mount St Marys vs Arkansas State in the 2025 Fall Classic. Photo Calder Cahill.

Saint Mary’s at BYU. This is a very demanding game for both. Saint Mary’s is favored here but BYU could make a statement even with a close loss.

Arkansas State at Life. As we pointed out, there’s a threat to ASU’s potential playoff seeding. A good showing vs Life reduces that vulnerability.

Air Force at USD. This is a cool fixture that could do a lot to help one of these teams to bump their rankings.

St. Thomas vs Penn State. Currently Penn State is the #8 in the East. St. Thomas could win this and maybe either move to #8 themselves or open the door for Davenport.

Colorado State vs Arizona. This is a massive game for Colorado State. CSU has been playing some warmup games, but this is a rankings match that, if CSU wins or makes very close, could lock in a playoff seed, and maybe get them past someone like Grand Canyon.

Mount St. Mary’s at St. Thomas. Same story for STU a week later. If the Bobcats beat Penn State and then MSM, they are shooting up those rankings.

UCLA at Cal Poly. The Bruins need this one.

Penn State at Mary Washington and Lindenwood vs Davenport. These games, combined with the two St. Thomas games, involve the current #7, #8, #9, and #10 seeds in the East according to D1A’s power rankings. If St. Thomas beats Penn State, and Penn State beats Mary Washington, that’s tough news for UMW. If UMW beats Penn State, then PSU might drop out of that eight. And a good showing by Davenport might well see them move up.

And, finally, there is also the Challenger Cup. This was introduced last year and will likely be changed this time around with a semifinal-final weekend May 1-3 as opposed to multiple rounds in different venues. Ohio State vs McKendree has an effect on this.