NCR has indeed changed its playoff setup.
Earlier this fall GRR discussed this topic, looking at how many seemingly worthy playoff teams there are and whether there could be room for them all.
The old plan of five teams straight to the quarterfinals and six teams in a play-in round didn’t seem to give us enough options.
And so it is that NCR has opted for a plan with four teams straight to the quarterfinals, and that’s basically every conference champion—Big Rivers, Big 10, ARC, and Liberty.
Who will that be Well we don’t know all of those but we do have the candidates narrowed down.
Liberty Champion: Brown. Brown beat Syracuse 57-12 over the weekend to secure their undefeated record. There is no playoff in the Liberty so Brown has it sewn up.
Big 10 Finalists: Indiana impressed mightily with a 38-10 win over Michigan while Notre Dame put over 50 on a tough Wisconsin team 52-31. Both teams are now 4-0 in Big 10 Conference play and will face off next week. This is the clash. IU has been testing themselves, playing Kentucky, Lindenwood, and UCLA.
Notre Dame has played tough teams, too, such as Walsh. Both faced Wisconsin, with IU winning 15-5, and Notre Dame 52-31, and Marian, with IU losing 27-15 and Notre Dame losing 32-30. So if you judge those two common opponents, Notre Dame might have the edge. But it’s just an edge.
Big Rivers Finalists: Thomas More and Marian have made it to the final so it’s one of those.
Thomas More, Marian Through to Big Rivers Final
ARC Finalists: St. Bonaventure will play Queens in the final, and when they played last time it was SBU 32 and Queens 29, so, yes, this could be a close one.
Surprises Still Swoop In With ARC Final Regular-Season Weekend
As You Can See ...
The indications are that the top two teams in each conference are quite close. And NCR has announced that the four conference runners-up will be in the play-ins. So all of the finalists mentioned above will be in the postseason in one way or another. The Lilberty runner-up is Dartmouth, so we know they’ll be in the play-in November 15.
The Atlantic Rugby Conference has already been promised five seeds, so #3 and #4 (Belmont Abbey and Walsh) will be in the play-ins. So the in-or-out game will be Wheeling vs Kutztown.
