Dublin, Ohio—The stage is set for the 2024 Big Ten Universities Rugby Conference Championship tournament beginning on Saturday, October 26, 2024, with higher seeds hosting semifinal matches in both the Championship Cup and Bowl brackets.
East Division
After going 3-0 in divisional play, the University of Notre Dame Fighting Irish will be the top seed from the East. With wins over Michigan (31-19), Michigan State (50-0) and Ohio State (40-39), the Fighting Irish will host the West division’s #2 seed, Wisconsin Badgers, in the first Big Ten Cup semifinal. After defeating Michigan State (42-5) and Michigan (69-21), the Buckeyes of Ohio State secured the #2 seed in the East.
Michigan State defeated interstate rival Michigan (22-10) in this year’s Battle for the Mitten for the East 3rd seed and will host the West division’s #4 Seed, Purdue Boilermakers in the first Bowl semifinal. As the East #4 Seed Michigan will travel to meet the Illinois Fighting Illini, who will represent the West division as their #3 seed in the other Bowl semifinal.
West Division
The West bracket came down to the final weekend, as Indiana defeated Wisconsin, 29-17, to secure the top spot in the division. With earlier season victories over Illinois (56-17) and Purdue (50-0), Indiana will now face Ohio State, the aforementioned second seed from the East. These teams met previously in an October 12 exhibition match with Ohio State defeating the Hoosiers, 37-24. We expect the rematch to be just as exciting.
The Wisconsin Badgers secured the second seed in the West (2-1 record) by defeating both Purdue (57-0) and Illinois (31-27).
Finally, the third and fourth seeds were determined when Illinois defeated Purdue convincingly, 67-7. Illinois will host Michigan in their Bowl Championship Semifinal, while Purdue will travel to East Lansing, MI to meet Michigan State.
The big game this past weekend between IU and Wisconsin was one in which Indiana Head Coach Luke Gross was left shaking his head.
