Indiana Victory Finalizes Big 10 Playoff Matchups
Indiana Victory Finalizes Big 10 Playoff Matchups
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.
"It’s a rebuild year for us so we've been up and down," said Gross. "We had 16 turnovers in the first half; how we won that game I do not know. Kurtis, [UW Coach Kurtis Shepherd] is really putting that team together well. They're big and there's never a question about the spirit on that team."
Where IU has done well is that they hit hard, so when they decided to just carry and reset rucks in the second half, they pulled away.
This season IU lost HSAA No. 8 Emir Yuksel to injury earlier this year to a knee injury, but Owen Welburn has done very well to step in on that role. Sophomore scrumhalf Joey Reis gets the ball out really fast, which is pulling the rest of the team to provide quick ball.
Hooker Alex Jancy (like Welburn, a freshman) has impressed on a lineup that started 11 freshmen and sophomores.
Looking ahead to Ohio State, Gross said that previous loss to OSU was a tough one to take, but, in the end, "we didn't do enough to win that game. But playing at home we feel we have a chance."
Big 10 Cup Bracket
|
11/2/24 |
Wisconsin |
at |
Notre Dame |
3:30PM at South Bend, Ind. |
|
11/2/24 |
Ohio State |
at |
Indiana |
KO TBA at Bloomington, Ind. |
Bowl Bracket
|
11/2/24 |
Michigan |
at |
Illinois |
1PM at Champaign, Ill. |
|
11/2/24 |
Purdue |
at |
Michigan State |
2PM East Lansing, Mich. |
The Big Ten Championship tournament will culminate on Sunday, November 10, 2024 at Stinson Rugby Field on the campus of University of Notre Dame with the Championship Bowl and Cup Finals. The event will also feature the Second XV Championship, where Ohio State looks to repeat as champions.
