The ACRC Bowl Series mat chips have been finalized following the SCRC championship weekend.

South Carolina won, and perhaps the big news was that Tennessee, which had beaten South Carolina just two weeks ago, didn't make it to the final as they were upset by Alabama. The Crimson Tide did well to win that overtime game, but won't fill the SCRC #2 slot in the Bowl Series. Instead, their play will be taken by Mississippi State.

So the matchups look like this:
Friday Night there's a high school game between William A Hough and North Meck.

Then Boston College plays Iona, and Texas State plays North Carolina State.
BC is the 2nd-ranked team from the ECRC. Iona finished their Rugby East schedule 2-4 and 4th, but they also almost beat #1-ranked Army.

Texas State finished 2nd in the SWC, while NC State finished 3rd in the ACRL with a 4-2 record.

On Saturday, here are the matchups:
Mississippi State (SCRC West #1) v Western Michigan (MAC runners up)
Bowling Green (MAC champions) v AIC (ECRC champions)
Michigan (4th in Big Ten) v Kutztown (2nd in Rugby East)
West Virginia (Keystone champions) v Stony Brook (Empire champions)
UMass (4-2, 3rd in ECRC) v North Texas (SWC champions)
Army (Rugby East champions) v Life University (2013-14 DIA runners up)
South Carolina (SCRC champions) v Clemson (ACRL champions)

This is a phenomenal lineup at the Charlotte Rugby Athletic Center. To come up with a concept - no playoffs, just bowls - and get 18 teams to show up, including eight conference champions, one other division champion, and four conference runners up is astounding.

This is my opinion, and I know I've been touting the ACRC games and helping them vote in a coaches poll, but look at what they accomplished. Stephen Siano, who is the technical organizer behind this, and the conferences and coaches, should be commended. We all know how hard it is to herd 18 rugby teams into one place. It's supremely difficult, and requires teams from a variety of conferences and walks of life to buy in.

Why did they buy in?

First of all, because if you are shooting for a Bowl Weekend, you can make travel plans early and decide you're going. Planning and paying for it are slightly easier as a result.

Second, it creates a nice bow to wrap up the fall season. There's no wondering if there will be playoffs or not, or if the season will end with a bang or a whimper. It ends November 22. You get to play a team you don't play very often.

Third, it basically creates a championship.

Eleven of the last ACRC Top 20 (as voted by the coaches) will be in Charlotte, including #1 Army and five of the top seven. Army gets to play Life, which is clearly the top college rugby team playing any 15s games in the fall (with apologies to Arkansas State). This essentially creates a fall championship without a playoff.

If you look at the Goff Rugby Report DI Top 50 (which includes DIA, DIAA, ACRC, and Varsity Cup teams), 14 of the 18 teams at the ACRC Bowl Series are ranked. Only Iona, Texas State, Mississippi State, and UMass are not, and two of those might be ranked in the next version.

As fans and journalists, we get to see how different conferences matchup. The players get a new challenge. We produce something that matters.

I like this idea, and I'd like to see it expand. It would have been nice to see the Big Ten winner be there, and Dartmouth or Cornell would have been an excellent addition. I can think of two other non-ACRC teams who would fit in nicely on the Bowl Weekend, too - Navy and DIAA champs Central Florida. But more than that, I think this is one of those rare things in American rugby - an idea that makes a certain amount of sense that came to fruition because many different people agreed it was a good idea.

Nice to see that happen once in a while.