D1A Playoffs Round 1: The Matchups
D1A Playoffs Round 1: The Matchups
It’s been said the last couple of years, and seems to be even more so this year … this D1A is very competitive.
Now, having said that, we at GRR World Headquarters appeared on a TRN show with Will Hooley where we picked Life and Cal to be in the final—two teams that have met each other twice before in the championship game and teams that have, of the 12 finals played (24 finalists) have been in the final 11 times. So, we’re not exactly picking new faces to win it all.
And then, having said that … GRR is pretty high on Central Washington and Lindenwood, so there’s that.
If you’re interested in the states, since 2011, seven different teams have appeared in the D1A final, and six have won it all. Overall, 13 different programs have been in the semifinals.
But this season, by our count there have been 47 games between playoff-bound D1A teams. Of those, 17 were decided by a try or less. That’s an astonishing number. More than a third of the games are one-possession games. Six more were decided by two tries or less—we’d call these close games. Half of the games are close. This isn’t even counting the games that are very close until the final 10 minutes or so, and there were a lot of those.
So, let’s have a look at the matchups.
Western Bracket
Colorado State at Cal. In a world where far too many teams duck big opponents, the CSU Rams are welcoming the challenge of traveling to Berkeley and playing the #1 seed in the West. Will it be difficult? Sure. But CSU deserves all the praise for embracing the game.
Cal, for their part, have lost just the one game, on the road at Navy with a couple of players unavailable. What we said on the Rugby Rundown show with Will Hooley was that Cal is quite possibly the best fast-break team in the nation. They are more than that. If you get a game where it’s won in the trenches, they can do the trench thing, too. If you want a chess match, they can play chess.
Arizona at Cal Poly. The Arizona Wildcats know they could have been hosting this game had they been able to pull out close games against Army, UCLA, Saint Mary’s, and Central Washington—the total winning margin of those four games was … 12. Instead, Cal Poly hosts and they host because they beat Army and beat UCLA, teams Arizona lost to.
Arizona’s defense is impressive and they have unleashed some special moments. But they need a full 80 minutes against a Cal Poly team that (and we mean this in the best way) just doesn’t care. The Mustangs have every excuse to say it’s too hard, they don’t have these benefits or those advantages, and instead they just play rugby. Yes they are riding a superb season from one guy, but they have other players who have been doing their job in an exceptional way … and they’re fit.
BYU at Central Washington. These two teams met up recently in Provo and Central Washington lost. The Cougars might get some guys back from injury this week and that will help them, but the Wildcats have been building nicely. Their Head Coach, Todd Thornley, assured us at GRR that it will be pleasant weather, finally, for everyone in Washington state, and that is good news for both teams that like to run the ball.
The thing for BYU to remember is … don’t commit penalties in your own half—Central’s maul is outstanding, and if they need to kick, they’ve got Jac Tregoning. So discipline for BYU is hugely important.
UCLA at Saint Mary’s. The consensus thought it that Saint Mary’s is a little down from last year—they have talented youngsters and good senior leadership but they have not controlled games the way they did last year; are the Gaels relying on special plays by special players too much? Maybe, maybe not. But we have seen games where their attack has just stalled (Arizona, UCLA), and games in which their defense was shaky (Cal, BYU, the first half against Life, and Cal Poly).
And, yes, UCLA, which has the best tight five they’ve had in a while, maybe ever, already beat Saint Mary’s. That game was played in LA. Up in Northern California it might be different.
Find out where to see these games here>>
Who are the favorites & dark horses in the CRAA D1A Men’s Playoffs?
— The Rugby Rundown (@RugbyRundownTRN) April 2, 2025
Alex Goff @goffrugbyreport sits down with @will_hooley to discuss the upcoming playoff. Watch episode on @therugbynetwork to see their Crystal Ball Bracket picks
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Eastern Bracket
Penn State at Navy. Yes Penn State has improved markedly over this season. Yes, you might lay that improvement on Zac Mizell (he has done a great job at State College). But Navy has plans. DOR Gavin Hickie worked his substitutions differently than just about anyone else. He is unafraid to start pretty much anyone and use pretty much anyone. So even though these teams were close a month ago, expect Navy to be a different Navy this time around.
Arkansas State at Lindenwood. One of the interesting things about Lindenwood is that their Scholz Award nominee Duncan Krige is the son of a highly-respected sports psychologist. Yikes, a tooth-rattling flanker who gets inside your head? Scary squared. Krige has become a coach on the field with the players, encouraging the players to set micro-goals and then holding them accountable. It has raised the already high bar for the Lions. A-State did lose to Lindenwood in the fall, and that was a long time ago … so long that it’s almost irrelevant. We know the Red Wolves have improved, but they also ran into difficulty against Davenport two weeks ago while Lindenwood won big on the road at BYU.
That BYU result, if anything, shows that Lindenwood is ready for a playoff run. The word we hear is “hunger.”
Mount St. Mary’s at Army. These two teams are very close. As anyone who has been reading GRR’s D1A rankings articles, we have struggled with figuring out which team should be ranked ahead of the other. In the end, we bumped Army ahead of MSM, and so did the D1A seedings. That puts the Mount on the road. But we think this is a tossup game. Army needs to be more clinical on the goalline, and will have to deal with MSM’s kicking game. The Mount has goalkicking talent, tight five power, and can defense. This should be close.
"Our priority is always on us internally to try to reach a new best, and we know we will need to do so to potentially earn a positive outcome against a vey good Mount Saint Mary’s team," Army Head Coach Matt Sherman told GRR. "The Mount is a very well put together and balanced team, strong in both the forward and backs, as well as in all facets of the game. We’re looking forward to putting everything into the challenge."
Davenport at Life. There is a danger that Life might be a shade cocky. But think on this: Life has played Saint Mary’s, Navy, and Lindenwood. All of those games were close (average margin of victory three points) and Life won all of them. This is a Life team with a number of players—Logan Ballinger, Jordan Vassel, Adam Chadwick, Wes Piggins, Bradley Crane—having an excellent season. The timing is good for them. Davenport will not back down and these two have not met each other this season, weirdly. Their defense is strong, but Life can handle the pressure.
