NCR D1AA Quarterfinals Promises Nailbiters
NCR D1AA Quarterfinals Promises Nailbiters
A number of the games that decided playoff spots or seeds in NCR’s D1AA playoffs were very close, indicating, perhaps, that we might see much the same this weekend.
Consider Bowling Green’s comeback, one-point win over Louisville that put BGSU in the final eight and left the 2023 NCR runners-up watching from home.
Consider, also, the SCRC final, which finished up 8-7, or the SCRC 3rd-place game that finished 23-15, or the MARC final that finished 31-27.
Only the Liberty final wasn’t achingly close and 31-12 isn’t exactly a blowout.
Defending NCR champs Kentucky had all sorts of trouble with Clemson in their SCRC final, which the Wildcats pulled out, as we said, 8-7.
Clemson Head Coach Troy Hall was characteristically circumspect about his team’s improvement, but the Tigers, most certainly, have come along nicely.
“It was a battle; we hope to see them again,” he said. “It wasn’t meant to be.”
At the end of that game, Clemson went through about 18 phases trying to get that game-winning score, in any form. GRR asked Hall about the idea of maybe popping over a drop goal to win the game—sort of an all-or-nothing proposition but still an option. Clemson has players who can kick a drop goal.
The thought did occur to them, said Hall, but “we were making some gains with our forwards and we were hoping to sneak a penalty for the win.”
Didn’t happen as Charlie Baer ripped the ball out of a Clemson player’s hands—something the Wildcats practice.
As for Kentucky, Head Coach Sam Enari took responsibility for how close Clemson got.
“Clemson’s kicking game was well practiced and very precise,” said Enari. “Their kick and counter-kick were well-rehearsed. They kind of picked us apart and it was something I did not put into the training plan to prepare for.”
But they made adjustments at the second half, and the forwards carried the load for Kentucky. Jared Monnier remains one of the best, if not the best, props in D1AA, and in fact Kentucky boasts a couple of other players who could lay claim to being the best at their position—flanker Holden Hahn, flyhalf Jack Phillips for example.
Overall, Enari said, “we’re not as invincible as we want people to think we are.”
That may be the case for everyone in these quarterfinals.
UMass vs LSU
We’ve mentioned it before, and we’ll mention it again, UMass has a superb defense. They have been consistently stingy, instead of bolstering those stats with shutouts of the weaker teams, they were routinely good against everyone. Only Yale scored more than two tries against them.
LSU has pieced together their best season in a while, but they will struggle to find points against UMass.
Kentucky vs St. Joseph’s
St. Joe’s scores. They have a powerful forward pack and a backline that has speed. They can kick, and they can adjust different ways of playing. So this is not a gimme for Kentucky because the Wildcats are defending champs and the Hawks were 2nd in the MARC.
Boston College vs Virginia Tech
BC found their voice part way into the season but this game might be a bit too far. Virginia Tech is about a tough-minded a team as there is in the division. There’s some institutional memory in this and there has to be when you consider that of the lineup that played in last year’s NCR semifinal, only two starters played in the recent MARC final.
(They have a couple more holdovers, but not many). Still, the Hokies do not back down, and at home they should be favored here.
Clemson vs Bowling Green
This is a pick ‘em game. If Clemson can control the field and defend the way they did against Kentucky, they can cause Bowling Green problems. At the same time, don’t turn your backs, Clemson. BGSU is resilient enough to turn things around if they fall behind.
Again, it’s a pick ‘em. We expect this to be very close.
