We've got a very busy D1AA weekend this week and some key statements to make.

Top of the list, in our humble opinion, is Claremont Colleges at San Diego. Claremont has been winning games but Head Coach Scott Bracken was not overjoyed with his team's discipline record. They gave up way too many penalties against Arizona State and will need to be on top of their game against San Diego.

For their part, San Diego is still our #1-ranked winter/spring D1AA team and continues to win games in convincing fashion ... such as last week againt Fresno State.

Michael Lewis has been outstanding at fullback and with flyhalf Lucas Troughear stepping in at flyhalf USD has mutliple playmakers. 

"You, of course, don't reach that scoreline without every member in the 23 doing their job, and the impact subs in the second half certainly did theirs," said USD DOR Kevin Eaton. "We are pleased with the way the team started the season after a tough training camp [and] we are excited for the upcoming challenges, starting with Claremont at home next Saturday."

We are also keeping an eye on Cal Maritime, which has joined D1AA this season and has now an interim coaching staff after their Head Coach, Sean Lindersmith, had to step away for personal reasons. They host Stanford this week.

"The team is coming together," said coach Vickie Hudson. "The players are working towards every match being one where they play the best rugby they can with the scoreboard reflecting their hard work. They are holding their own in the league and have had some good competition so far."

That seems a very fair assessment. 

We talked a bit about the NCRC and where all of the teams in that league fall rankings-wise. It's here if you want to see: Men D1AA Spring 2025 Rankings Week 2. The upshot is any one of OSU, BSU, UO, and UW can make a statement here. Western Washington is at Grand Canyon in a crossover with a D1A team. That is one of several D1A/D1AA games this week. UTSA takes on D1A Texas within the Lonestar Conference environment. UTEP is a new D1A team that is just getting started in that level. There's a lot for them to work toward there. They host Texas Tech.

Lindenwood goes to Knoxville, Tenn. to play Mount St. Mary's and also Tennessee. So this is a 2nd-team Liindenwood, but that's still a massive challenge for UT.

The game to watch in Florida may well be South Florida at Central Florida. These are two teams that have started the season on a winning note, and there seems to be a race to see who can challenge St. Thomas. Right now it looks like St. Thomas is the favorite in Florida; San Diego is the favorite in California South; American River is (likely) the favorite in California North; Western Washington is the favorite in NCRC. Sam Houston State is probably the favorite in Lonestar. There are other teams trying to trip them up (Oregon 17 WWU 15 early last fall) and a trip-up is possible. Where that will happen we're not sure.

There will be a CRAA final four in Indianapolis over the May 2-4 weekend with the Heart of American champs, Iowa State, the only team we know will be there. The Lonestar champs will also be there and the Florida champs. The fight for the final spot will be a war in itself because it would mean finding a California Conference champion and then a playoff between them and the NCRC champion. So. The regional nature of this playoff might expand in coming years but that's how it is. So the West Regional team will have had to wade through the likes of Claremont Colleges, San Diego, San Jose State, American River, and Western Washington.