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Cal’s into the conference playoffs. /// Photo: Jackie Finlan
This weekend will determine the 16 teams heading to the DI Elite/DI combined playoffs. Remember that the April 21-23 Round of 16 playoffs are setting up two competitions: the DI Elite national championship and the DI spring championship. After the quarterfinal round, teams 1-4 compete toward the former; while teams 5-8 compete toward the latter. Both competitions will culminate with semifinal weekends in Marietta, Ga., on May 5-6.
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DI ELITE
Five of the original DI Elite teams returned to the 2016-17 season and they are automatically included in the playoffs. Three of those original teams are serving as Round of 16 hosts: Life, Penn State and Stanford. BYU is heading to UC Davis (the fourth site), while Lindenwood returns to Palo Alto.
Notre Dame College will also compete at State College, Pa. The Falcons played a NIRA schedule but was ineligible for the varsity fall championship.
PACIFIC MOUNTAIN
Stanford hosts its conference championship this weekend, but the real battle is for the third and fourth seeds. The top-two conference seeds automatically go to the West #1 and #2 teams, which happen to be UC Davis and Stanford, respectively. But since both teams are Round of 16 hosts (they’re going to play at home), their single Sunday match seems perfunctory in terms of ranking.
The 3rd place semifinals pit Washington State against Cal, and Oregon against Chico State on Saturday, March 25, and winners play Sunday.
MASON DIXON
The conference semifinals occur this weekend in Charlottesville, Va. Host UVA won its quarterfinal by forfeit (Temple) last weekend and will play Kent State Saturday. The Golden Flashes defeated North Carolina 46-0 at home to advance (read more). Virginia Tech eked out a 15-7 win over Pitt and will play James Madison, which defeated East Carolina 50-5 in the quarterfinals. The conference receives three berths to the Round of 16 so both Sunday games are important.
GOLD COAST
Standings-toppers Arizona and UC San Diego will host their semifinals against UC Santa Barbara and Arizona State, respectively, on Saturday, March 25. Then on Sunday, the two finalists will contest the championship in Tucson, the Wildcats’ home. A two-site, final-four weekend when the teams are located hundreds of miles from each other? Sounds stressful and expensive.
The conference receives a berth to both the Stanford and UC Davis sites.
Brackets have been drafted; however, the final pool won’t be confirmed until Sunday when all of the berths have been allotted.
March 25-26: DI conference championships
April 21-23: DI Elite/DI spring Round of 16/8 (4 sites)
May 5-6: DI Elite National Championship (final four)
May 5-6: DI Spring Championship (final four)