Leading the weekend's top-level men's college activities has to be Army at Navy.
Calling this fixture a heated rivalry is a gross understatement. These two institutions go after each other with an intensity you rarely see in every sport. Rugby is perfect suited for the clash and the games are, generally, very close, physically demanding, and watched closely.
Most often this matchup is played later in the fall, but in recent years it has moved around. As a regular Rugby East league game it's just a normal late September college rugby game, except, of course, it's not.
Navy hosts and is favored, having been the top team in the conference the last two years. But Army surprised a lot of people last November 10, pushing Navy to a 23-21 result and being in an excellent position to win that game. On the road, in front of a largely hostile crowd, the Black Knights will have a tougher job ahead. Both teams are also relatively young, so we could see these same players face off again next year.
So, yes, it's Army at Navy, but there's another guest, and her name is Helene. The now tropical storm Helen has wide-reaching effects and today will be windy and rainy all day in Annapolis. Saturday morning will be more of the same and then it's going to dry out. So we might see a soggy track, but we won't see (according to weather forecasters) high winds and rain, so that's good.
Also on the slate:
Belmont Abbey at Walsh Friday Night is another big Rugby East clash and is NCR's Friday Night Game of the Week on TRN. After two conference losses, Walsh will be looking to rebound at home. Mary Washington feels like they are on a track to finish high in the Rugby East, and if they want to do that, beating Queens would go a long way toward that. Queens could be the best NCR D1 team this fall. So Queens at UMW is huge.
Everything seems to be on the line in the Big Rivers. We've got Rio Grande at Wheeling, Aquinas at Principia, Trine at Thomas More, and Marian at Iowa Central CC. These are all standings-relevant games and after Aquinas pulled off a big result last week, so they could put themselves in a semifinal position with another victory.
