D2
What was originally expected to be a relatively busy play-in weekend ended up with just one match. Loyola of Chicago beat Minnesota-Duluth to advance. Benedictine's match with SMU didn't happen as SMU was unable to make the trip, and Benedictine (of Kansas) advances also to the Round of 16.
Here are the matchups:
Northern Iowa (GRR #5) vs GVSU (#10)
Scranton (#6) vs Norwich (#11)
Chicago (#4) vs Benedictine (#21)
Colorado Mesa (#12) vs Loyola Chi. (#16)
Vermont (#3) vs Villanova (#14)
IUP (#2) vs Cornell (#7)
UNC Wilmington (#1) vs Salisbury (#8)
Coastal Carolina (#27) vs Memphis (#9)
Careful observers will see that GRR's rankings don't think much of this seeding, but that's a bit unfair. GRR can change our rankings week-to-week, while NCR has to plan out the bracket somewhat in advance. If you looked at GRR's rankings when the bracket was probably finalized, you would have seen Colorado Mesa ranked much lower, for example.
Still, the Vermont-Villanova-IUP-Cornell group is clearly the Group of Death.
D3
A little controversy attended this division as New Mexico Tech was penalized for playing an ineligible player, but only with said player being suspended for the rest of the season. Despite that player being instrumental in NMT's defeat of Denver University in the conference championship, NMT is allowed to move onward.
We asked NCR about this and essentially they said they felt penalizing the entire NMT squad for one mistake was too harsh. This was mostly because said player misrepresented some information on his waiver to play one more season, and that the team and the coaches acted in good faith, thinking they were following the rules.
Denver, for their part, weren't too happy and, unfortunately, didn't get a play-in as the High Peaks #2.
So ... on to the games. There were six play-ins this weekend, with Franciscan's 24-19 win over Susquehanna the closest. This a eek after Franciscan had been edged 26-20 by Slippery Rock in their conference final.
Most impressive probably was Richmond over a very good Loyola of Maryland side 48-19. Xavier 29 St. John's (Minn.) 29-12 was also a head-turner.
Colorado School of Mines rolled past St. Edward's out of Austin, Texas, and Holy Cross won big over SUNY Brockport to advance.
And finally, on Sunday afternoon Endicott ended the US Merchant Marine Academy's excellent season with an impressive 65-12 win. The Gulls have had their sights set on a D3 title for some time. They were 3rd two years ago and 5th the year before that, but hope to emulate their women's team with a 1st.
So all of that sets up this Round of 16 series of matchups.
Slippery Rock vs Xavier
UW-Eau Claire vs Richmond
Cal Poly Humboldt vs Colorado School of Mines
Montana vs New Mexico Tech
Springfield vs Holy Cross
Nichols vs Endicott
VMI vs Franciscan
Catholic vs Duke
There's a lot of talk about how good Duke is this year and had been ranked #1 by NCR, but they were upset by Richmond in the playoffs. Still they were able to grab the #3 spot from the Southern by beating The Citadel.
Now they face a very tough Catholic University side that beat Susquehanna on a last-second penalty goal to win their conference.
The Western bracket looks to be a tough one, and Humboldt vs Mines should be a barnburner. The thing about Cal Poly Humboldt is that they play a lot of D1-level teams and as a result come in sharpened against bigger opponents.
Slippery Rock is a strong side but will have their hands full against Xavier. while Nichols, aside from their conference final against Holy Cross (which they won) just don't give up points.
