The national playoffs for Men's DII College are fast approaching with the play-in games in less than two weeks - here's who is in, or who is close:

 

Rugby Northeast

Roger Williams had 1st sewn up and won anyway, finishing 8-0 in regular season play.

So the battle was instead for who would face RWU in the semis. As it turned out, RWU decided that, beating Bryant 34-0 and thus making sure Bryant finished 4th, and setting up a rematch for the two teams this coming weekend.

Meanwhile, Bentley and UMass Lowell both won, but Bentley won by more to ensure they took 2nd on points difference. Doesn’t matter - those two will face off in the semis.

So the battle for a spot in the national Round of 16 has two weeks to go, with the semis on November 7 and the conference final on November 14. Roger Williams remains the heavy favorite, having beaten these three teams already, but an average score of 39-6.

 

MARC

As outlined here, Rowan, IUP, York, and Drexel are in the final four, with the champion set to face the Rugby Northeast winner in the Round of 16. The MARC Runner-up will face the NECRC Runner-up.

 

Capital

As outlined here, Salisbury and Towson are now in the national playoffs - they just have to figure out who goes directly into the Round of 16, and who has to play the Southern #2.

 

Upstate NY

SUNY Cortland finished 8-0 and already had a bye to the conference semis. This past weekend, everything else was decided. SUNY Oswego needed to win over Ithaca to take the other bye, and did so, 66-19. That bumped idle Niagara down to 3rd, and into the 1st round of playoffs. 

Buffalo State was in grave danger of being bumped out of the top six, and a playoff spot, but faced 1-6 LeMoyne. They made it tough on themselves, coming away with a tight 26-24 victory. It was enough to move to 4th as Geneseo lost to Cortland and held 5th.

The final spot in the playoffs came down to RIT and Ithaca. RIT needed to beat Fredonia with a bonus point, and needed Ithaca to lose and not get a bonus point, and then it was up to points difference. Ithaca had the better record (3-3-1 vs. 2-4-1) and the better points difference going into the weekend, but lost big to Oswego, 66-19, while RIT beat winless Fredonia 27-5. The results were enough to put RIT into 6th with a points difference of -11 to Ithaca’s -68. One more try from Ithaca would have changed all that.

So Niagara plays RIT and Buffalo State plays Geneseo in the quarterfinals, and with Oswego, and heavy favorites Cortland, waiting for the winners in the semis.

 

NECRC

As has been outlined in GRR, this is a very close conference. Rhode Island leads the conference with two games left, with Vermont now in 2nd after Coast Guard lost to URI this past weekend.

This coming weekend, URI, UVM, and CGA all play teams they expect to beat. Then Coast Guard finished off with a midweek game against Norwich, a game the Bears have to win in order to stay in the national playoff mix.

The entire conference comes down to Vermont at Rhode Island on November 14. In that game, most likely, Vermont will need to win to make the top two, while Rhode Island will only need a single bonus point or better to make the top two. The only team to beat Rhode Island this season is Vermont, so it’s a wild finish.

The NECRC winner plays the Upstate NY winner. The Runner-up plays the MARC #2 in the play-in.

 

WIIL

As outlined here, it’s down to four teams - Wisconsin-Whitewater, Lindenwood-Belleville, Northern Michigan, and Northern Iowa - with three making the national playoffs.

 

Colonial Coast

Salve Regina has clinched the conference championship and will play in a play-in game against the New England Wide winner.

 

New England Wide

Springfield will play Westfield on November 14 for the conference title   has clinched (the playoff game was an old entry in an old schedule). Springfield will play Salve Regina.

 

Northern Lights

The playoff system is back for the Northern Lights Conference, with the top four playing off this coming weekend. In a bit of a surprise, North Dakota State edged MSU Mankato 24-17 to finish 4-2 and get the #3 seed. NDSU will play Winona State in one semifinal, while Mankato plays all-conquering Minnesota-Duluth in the other.

UMD is the prohibitive favorite to win the #1 seed out of Northern Lights. But the Runner-up will get a shot, too, against Colorado School of Mines.

 

Great Lakes

Grand Valley State plays Xavier University on Saturday for the Great Lakes championship and the right to play the WIIL #3 to get to the Round of 16.

 

Rocky Mountain

Colorado School of Mines clinched the Rocky Mountain last week and won again this week. 

 

Gateway

UMS&T has one more game to play to confirm winning the Gateway Conference. If, somehow, the Miners slip up against 4-2 Washington University, St. Louis University could take the title. Then it’s a date with the WIIL #2.

 

Tri-State

RPI edged NJ Institute of Technology and Molloy edged Sacred Heart to make the final next weekend. The winner will enter the Round of 16 against the Southern Conference winner.

 

Southern Conference

UNC-Wilmington almost lost their top seed out of the Southern-South with a loss to College of Charleston, but held on at 4-1, with Coastal Carolina #2. In the North it’s East Carolina and Appalachian State. Those four play off this coming weekend to get to the Round of 16.

The Southern Runner-up plays the Capital Runner-up in a play-in.

 

Cardinals

VMI, Old Dominion, Virginia Commonwealth, and Mary Washington will play off this weekend for the top seed. VMI is 5-0, unbeaten in conference play, while ODU is 4-0-1. These two teams were supposed to play each other but their game was rained out, so we’ll find out soon enough.

 

Already qualified for national playoffs: Salisbury, Towson, Colorado School of Mines, Salve Regina, Springfield.