GRR: College Men
The Rugby East conference title may well be decided this coming weekend.
Both Life University and the US Naval Academy are 4-0, and they play each other in Annapolis on Saturday.
These are teams that have been winning, and in fact winning well, for the most part. Not that it's been perfect.
The Battle for New York State is back on this weekend as St. Bonaventure faces Army Friday night at West Point.
Yes this is a game between the top two college rugby programs in the Empire State, but it’s also a game that carries some significance for the teams in terms of their respective playoff prospects.
Some teams are poised, we think, to move up.
We keep an eye on Yale and Western Washington and perhaps Arkansas, too.
A note on Kansas State—it was a non-conference loss and we're not going to move them down for that yet. A note on Sam Houston State—their game against Texas State fielded their BearKats XV, which is their 2nd squad. So a close win but not their 1st 15.
We've talked about this before but it bears repeating—there's a haves and have-nots sense of the men's D2 college scene this year.
There is not a ton of movement and no movement at all amongst the top 15.
Towson edges up closer to Salisbury after a close loss there. Miami drops down mostly because we haven't seen them do much while other teams are playing and winning.
Coastal Carolina's win over East Carolina has them probably the main contenders to challenge UNC Wilmington coming out of the Southern Rugby Conference.
The 20-17 victory follows up on their 61-45 defeat of North Carolina Chapel Hill and a close win over Lander has people talking.
The key, said Coast Head Coach Thomas Petit, is experience.