The SCRC has almost certainly become the toughest conference in D1AA.
That's a strong statement, because the MAC and the new Midwest D1AA both are pretty strong, too. However, with the slight realignment in the SCRC by having three teams play a lower tier schedule, the top six are all play-caliber teams. And some are championship-caliber teams.
Of course, that's pretty obvious given that SCRC teams have won NCR D1AA championships in the last three years.
Defending champs Tennessee comes back this year ready to repeat.
"We have hit the ground running," said Head Coach Scott Tungay. "We are grateful for last year's achievements, but must begin again from zero. There's no coasting or resting on our past. Re-igniting that hunger is always a top priority for winning teams, and we have a promising crop of freshmen and sophomores who are eager to prove themselves."
Eighteen players who took the field during the playoff run last fall return. Leading the way among those returners are senior lock Bailey Black, junior All American Nate Rawls, who moves from hooker to loose forward, as well as senior scrumhalf Zach O'Reilly and junior center Niko Zaharas.
Waiting to meet the Volunteers is Kentucky, which won the NCR title in 2023 and 2024 and did not like losing to Tennessee last year. A very solid returning group that includes flanker Holden Hann, flyhalf John Dardis, center Luke Keough, and prop Blaine Donlon.
But the Wildcats also have some players back from injury, which is going to be a nice boost for them, and a strong class of 2029 that has a season under their belts.
And finally, they remember their playoff loss to Tennessee last year; a game they felt they should have won.
Tennessee and Kentucky aren't the only ones. South Carolina, with new Head Coach Jason Paquette and a strong couple of recruiting classes probably have something to prove. The turbulence of the last couple of months might all settle down when the players hit the pitch.
LSU has a challenging schedule with the travel requirements they face, but they have a good buildup of matches before conference play, and were very close to causing teams significant problems. Clemson, meanwhile, is poised to shake people up, said Head Coach Troy Hall. And, in part, he credits the new schedule.
Basically now we have six teams all playing each other once: Tennessee, Kentucky, Clemson, USC, Alabama, and LSU.
All are strong. Alabama's big question is depth but they always play hard and have tough athletes.
Each game is difficult, and once you get to the end of October, you will have been through the wringer. In the old format, where you have two or three conference games, some teams would feel undercooked when the tough games came.
