D2 Playoff Latest; Playoff Picture Clearing
D2 Playoff Latest; Playoff Picture Clearing
We do indeed know more about the Men's D2 college playoffs.
We talked about who and what here>>
Play-in Bids
Northern Lights: MSU Mankato defeated North Dakota State in impressive fashion 47-0 to take this spot.
Great Midwest #3: We don't know who this will be yet, because the 3rd-4th game is next week. But we do know that the 3rd-4th game will be between Northwestern and the University of Chicago.
Mid-Atlantic #3 and Mid-Atlantic #4: Which is which we don't know, but Salisbury and Georgetown lost their semifinals and they will be playing to figure this out.
NACR #3: New Hampshire beat UMass-Lowell 41-21 to take the #3 seed.
Southern #2: Coastal Carolina is the #2 from the South after UNC Wilmington beat East Carolina.
Round of 16 Seeds:
High Peaks Champion: Montana State is already the champion and we knew this already.
Gateway Champion: We're down to rivals St. Louis University and UMS&T, who play-off next weekend.
Great Midwest #1 and #2: We don't know which is which, but Loyola edged Chicago and Northern Iowa slammed Northwestern to make next week's final. UNI has been beating everyone by massive margins.
Liberty Champion: We know that RPI and Marist will be playing next week for this spot. RPI beat RIT 103-3. Their main playmaker, Quinten Pienaar, has been outstanding this season and he scored six tries in this game. Marist overcame a massive penalty count and a tenacious Stony Brook team to win 45-12.
Mid-Atlantic #1 and #2: We don't know which is which, but it's Towson and Villanova in the final. Towson, which entered the playoffs as the #8 seed, keeps rolling.
Program Spotlight: Towson Pulls Off the Upset
NACR #1 and #2: Norwich beat Vermont in dramatic fashion 41-38, which reversed the earlier result between these two from earlier in the season.
"My DNA as a coach is we teach and get better throughout the season," said Norwich Head Coach Bob Weggler. "We usually are a better team in November then in September; we just coach them up. Back in September, in our first game vs UVM, we did not play well. Yesterday we were harder and battled throughout in defense and attack."
Southern Champion: UNC Wilmington beat East Carolina and that clinched UNC-W to be the #1 seed from that conference.
This is UNCW's 3rd conference title in four years. UNCW's win over East Carolina over the weekend sealed it, as the Seahawks scored three tries in the first 10 minnutes. Flyhalf Danny Marsh did an excellent job of pinning ECU deep with his boot, and Wilmington's defense met ECU's hard-running forwards with physicality.
Junior wing Zay Arrington scored three tries.
SCRC Champion: We don't know who will be in the playoffs from here but we do know who will be playing Memphis in the conference final this coming weekend, as Ole Miss beat MTSU 22-9 to move on to the conference championship.
Allgheny/Great Lakes: IUP beat Grand Valley State 43-33. Both teams enter the NCR D2 Round of 16, but IUP now has the higher seed.
"IUP was much faster covering the breakdown and taking quick taps," said GVSU Head Coach John Mullett. That fast pace saw IUP go up 17-0 early. But Grand Valley State responded.
"They played to win better than us," added Mullett.
Still GVSU's comeback was notable as they were down 27-7 at halftime.
This was a very good test for both teams, and if both came out of it healthy, everyone else better watch out.
