Who's Up, Who's Down DI College Rugby
Who's Up, Who's Down DI College Rugby
A quick look at who's up and who's down this week in Men's DI College Rugby; see the link for updated standings below.
Who's Up: Temple. Got to love bouncing back from a 1-2 conference season to beat one of the playoff favorites.
Who's Up: Cincinnati. Don't look now, but the Bearcats are undefeated in the MAC.
Who's Down: South Carolina. Or at least frustrated. Close losses to Kentucky and Tennessee put the Gamecocks out of SCRC playoff contention. They could reasonable say they'd be among the top two in the West Division, but they're in the East. Don't expect them to be anywhere near down for long.
Who's Up: Competitive balance. Well, in some places. We wrote a piece on which conferences have the most competitive balance, and we were surprised to find that a) it was the West D1A, and b) it wasn't even a competition between the West D1A and anyone else. Updated stats show that out of ten conference games, half have been within a try, and eight have been within 14 points; 80% within 14 points is pretty astounding.
Who's Down: Unbalanced schedules. It's not that it's bad that some conferences hold schedules where the teams don't play everyone else, it's just that it's got to be done right. Several in the Big Ten have complained that the inbalance is in itself unbalanced. "I've been at Indiana for five years and we've never played Minnesota" said on IU player. Ohio State hasn't played Indiana in some years, but will enter a period of four years where IU is on their schedule. Making schedules is tough.
