The Men's DII college leagues begin the march to a national championship in December with this weekend, and everyone will have a tough time catching up with the defending champion Wisconsin-Whitewater Warhawks.

That's not to say it isn't possible. Previous champs Minnesota-Duluth have been hard at work trying to rebound from failing to make the national final for the first time since 2012. Head Coach Dean Walsh has taken over the team after Jeramy Katchuba had to step back due to family and work commitments. He's had more time to put his stamp on this group and the Fighting Penguins are a major contender once more.

No Northern Lights league games yet, though.

But 2016 national finalists Furman get back on the field after thumping Western Carolina 50-0 in the first week. Furman plays Elon, and Head Coach John Roberts is under no illusions.

"The Southern, I think, can make a valid claim to being the top DII conference," said Roberts pointing to the fact that two difference teams made the national finals, one in 15s (Furman), and one in 7s (UNC-Charlotte). Furman should be solid this year, but having graduated both props, both centers, their No. 8, a flanker, and a wing, they have some work to do to bring it all back.

"We have a few talented newcomers," said Roberts. "If we can get solid front row play and avoid injuries, we should be good again. It remains to be seen if we can get back to the level of last year. The boys came back early this year, and their work attitude has been tremendous so far."

Charlotte is a big contender, too, and played Furman very close last year. As usual, weather is an issue in this region this time of year. Not to belittle the struggles those in the Caribbean and Florida have undergone or will undergo thanks to Hurricane Irma, for this conference, the aftermath of Irma could well affect games next week.

9/2/2017	UNC-C	Ppd	Elon	Southern
9/2/2017	UNC-G	0-28	Appalachian State	Southern
9/2/2017	WCU	0-50	Furman	Southern
9/2/2017	UNCW	28-0	UNCP	Southern
9/2/2017	Coast	Ppd	ECU	Southern
9/2/2017	Citadel	Ppd	UNC	Southern
9/8/2017	UNCP	at	ECU	Southern
9/9/2017	Elon	at	Furman	Southern
9/9/2017	UNC-G	at	Wake Forest	Southern
9/9/2017	WCU	at	Appalachian State	Southern
9/9/2017	UNCP	v	UNC	Southern
9/9/2017	Coastal Carolina	v	Citadel	Southern
9/9/2017	UNCW	v	College of Charleston	Southern

 

In Upstate New York, with SUNY Cortland out of the picture, SUNY Oswego and SUNY Geneseo should be favored. But we've seen that this fairly rigorous season create some upsets late, and then the playoffs add another later. It's early days, but watch out for RIT.

9/9/2017	Geneseo	at	Buffalo State	Upstate NY
9/9/2017	Oswego	at	LeMoyne	Upstate NY
9/9/2017	Fredonia	at	RIT	Upstate NY

 

A year ago, teams from the Great Lakes backed out because the travel was difficult. Well, those teams are back with their own conference and the addition of some more talented teams. Watch out for IUPUI. Something is brewing there.

9/9/2017	Xavier	at	Kent State	Midwest
9/9/2017	Thomas More	at	Marshall	Midwest
9/9/2017	IUPUI	at	Eastern Kentucky	Midwest
9/9/2017	Southern Indiana	at	Western Kentucky	Midwest

 

The Cardinals Conference comes back with DII and NSCRO teams mixed in to make it more geographically logical. So we'll see some interesting matchups. NC State is the biggest school here and should be favored. But it only takes 23 players to make a game-day squad, and VMI can do that ...

9/9/2017	Virginia Military Institute	at	Northern Virginia Griffins	Cardinals Conference
9/9/2017	Christendom College	at	George Mason	Cardinals Conference
9/9/2017	Virginia Commonwealth	at	Madison Developmental	Cardinals Conference
9/9/2017	North Carolina State	at	Longwood	Cardinals Conference
9/9/2017	William and Mary	at	Lynchburg College	Cardinals Conference
9/9/2017	Duke	at	Radford	Cardinals Conference
9/9/2017	Roanoke College	at	Washington and Lee	Cardinals Conference

 

It's early days yet for a few more. The Great Lakes kicks off with perennial favorites Grand Valley State at Eastern Michigan. Vermont, as we outlined (Team Moves Leave UVM In Cold, Looking For Games), has no conference. They beat Burlington men's club 25-0 last week, which is impressive (especially the shutout) and take on St. Michael's this week.

The MARC (without annual contenders Rowan) kicks off with just the one game. The Gateway teams play each other, but across borders, so they're not league games. UMS&T has already started strong.

Norwich, which finished #4 in the nation last year and retains the top back of the season in scrumhalf Tom St. Pierre, is at Brown in a warmup.

9/9/2017	Grand Valley State	at	Eastern Michigan	Great Lakes
9/4/2017	Vermont	25-0	Burlington Men	Independent
9/9/2017	Lock Haven	at	Lehigh	MARC
9/9/2017	Norwich	at	Brown	Non-Conf
9/9/2017	Washington University	at	St. Louis U.	Non-Conf (Gateway teams)
9/9/2017	Missouri S&T	v	Truman	Non-Conf (Gateway teams)
9/9/2017	Louisville	at	Principia	Non-Conf (Gateway teams)

 

We previewed the Tri-State here - Can Sacred Heart Repeat in Tri-State?. That conference has the NSCRO teams in the central. Molloy, US Merchant Marina Academy, and a big New Jersey rivalry highlight the South

 

9/10/2017	SUNY New Paltz	at	SUNY Oneonta	Tri-State Central
9/10/2017	Bard	at	SUNY Maritime	Tri-State Central
9/10/2017	Drew	at	Monroe	Tri-State Central
9/10/2017	Hartwick	at	Vassar	Tri-State Central
9/10/2017	College of NJ	at	NJIT	Tri-State South
9/10/2017	Seton Hall	at	USMMA	Tri-State South
9/10/2017	Montclair State	at	Molloy	Tri-State South

 

In the Rocky Mountain, Western State has already put down a market.

 

9/2/2017	Western State	64-5	Colorado Mesa	Rocky Mountain
9/9/2017	UC Colorado Springs	at	Western State	Rocky Mountain
9/10/2017	Colorado College	at	Montana State	Rocky Mountain
9/10/2017	Colorado Mesa	at	Northern Colorado	Rocky Mountain

 

The WIIL also kicks off this weekend, with Wisconsin-Whitewater the defending national champions and favorites to repeat. This despite UWW having graduated several key players. The younger group isn't bad at all, though, and don't forget that Illinois State, Northern Iowa, and UW-Milwaukee weren't that far behind. Illinois State starts off at UIC.

 

9/9/2017	Illinois State	at	UIC	WIIL
9/9/2017	Marquette	at	Loyola	WIIL
9/9/2017	UW-Stout	at	UW-Lacrosse	WIIL