We are enjoying seeing a few upstart Men's D2 College teams this season which is gratifying to us at Goff Rugby Report World Headquarters because it gives us something to talk about on the daily 90-minute bullet train ride from home to HQ.
Shaking up expectations is good for the competition as a whole.
So one of the shapeups is based on an annoying split in D2 last year. Most of the Men's D2 College teams played under NCR last fall, but not all of them. There was a challenge match between the SCRC champs Auburn and the Rocky Mountain champs Montana State, and that was a good game that demonstrated that both teams knew how to play. But it was very difficult to see where they fit in the overall rankings. We feel we got it right, but this fall we're seeing both teams win big early. Could we have gotten it wrong and could both the Tigers and the Bobcats be higher up in the pecking order?
Yes, yes they could. And it could be that both improved. Montana State's 76-5 win over Colorado School of Mines is a wakeup call that MSU might be even better this year. That idea is actually backed up by the facts. Head Coach Joe Williams knew he had a tough, physical side, but it was not sophisticated in attack. He asked Wayne DiMarco, a longtime coach and referee (whose daughter Alex was a Sorensen finalist a couple of years back) who splits his time between Montana and Pennsylvania, to help. Williams said to DiMarco, wipe it clean and start over.
He has taken a one-pass-and-ruck offense and made it more open and exciting. DiMarco brought two players into Pennsylvania for the summer to play with the Schuylkill River. One of those players, Lex Minnear, was new to rugby but has emerged not only as a talented inside center, but the team's backs captain. Meanwhile, flanker Jackson Ellbogen-Petterson, who was a force in that game against Auburn last fall, is the captain and brings a high work rate and a lot of understanding of the game. MSU was a good team last year. They have raised their game.
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