A new DII champion will be named now that Davenport is DI.
A new collegiate season is underway, and thus the process of cataloguing conference updates and teams’ realignments have begun. Up first are the women’s DII college conferences building toward USA Rugby’s fall championship (with one exception). Division II as a whole represents the largest portion of women’s collegiate rugby, and the majority of conferences play fall-based competitions.
RELATED: DII College Conferences and Teams • Davenport: Different Build-Up, Same Title • 2016-17 Fall & Spring Playoff Results
• The majority of spring-based teams won’t play league games until the New Year or late 2017. In this linked document, however, the spring conferences are listed, but updates for 2017-18 have not been made. • “Hybrid” is a term to describe a competition that has teams from multiple divisions, a necessity due to travel distances and/or numbers. The teams take different post-season paths. • Finally, several conferences have tiers of competition, but we’ll focus primarily on the tier that is eligible for the USA Rugby post-season.
We checked in with ALLEGHENY (3) over the summer (read more) and it’s fielding a hybrid competition that combines its three DII teams with newcomer Kent State, which migrated from DI Mason Dixon. New program Youngstown State, coached by former Kent State coach Jeff Horton, will compete against the hybrid and NSCRO teams in a developmental season and look to join as a full DII member in fall 2018.
CAPITAL (15) is fielding North, Central and South pools, each with five teams. The difference this year is that the competition is no longer an NSCRO/DII hybrid competition and all participating teams have opted for DII this year. Remember that Capital contests its league and playoff season in the fall and then defers to the spring regional playoffs.
GREAT LAKES (8) has experienced a lot of change. Two-time reigning DII national champion Davenport University is now a DI program. After the Mid-American Conference’s Division I collapsed, its former members – Bowling Green, Central Michigan, Western Michigan – realigned with the DII league.
GREAT WATERS (15) added Michigan Tech this year, and then redistributed the teams into East, West and South pools. Teams will play their four pool matches and then two random crossovers, which won’t count toward overall record but aid playoff seeding. The three pool winners and best runner-up will compete in a final four weekend at Madison United Rugby Complex, where the conference has partnered with the men’s DII WIIL for a joint championship event. There are also four NSCRO-eligible teams competing, and there is discussion of hosting an NSCRO championship as well for the women.
ILLINOIS (4) is still four teams strong, with Illinois, Illinois State, Southern Illinois and Western Illinois playing each other this fall.
The MID-ATLANTIC (8) fielded a hybrid competition last year but has separated out its DII and NSCRO teams this season. Former DI Mason Dixon member Temple has moved down to DII. Bloomsburg has proven to be the team to beat the last couple of seasons and has added DI and varsity teams to its schedule this year.
NEW ENGLAND SMALL COLLEGE (4) is down to four teams, as former members Bowdoin, Tufts and Williams have sought out other competitions. Fortunately for the league, New England collaborates across conferences and divisions, so teams are never without matches.
NEW ENGLAND WIDE (7) operates three tiers of competition that include 20 teams, but only Tier 1 is eligible for the USA Rugby DII playoffs. End-of-season standings will determine the conference’s reps to regionals, and the remainder of Tier 1 and Tier 2 will compete toward their respective Bowl titles. There are also challenge matches, so there is promotion/relegation between the tiers.
Of the 16 teams competing in NORTHERN LIGHTS (6), six are eligible for the DII playoffs. Two NSCRO teams – Gustavus Adolphus and UM Moorhead – requested tougher competition, and so DII separated into eastern and western pools, and each includes an NSCRO team. Come post-season, the two small schools will rejoin the other eight NSCRO teams, which will be competing in an NSCRO-only league. All 16 teams will play crossovers, and the playoffs will get teams eligible for USA Rugby and NSCRO regionals.
OHIO VALLEY (10) is divided into North and South competitions. The league gained Cedarville and also accommodates a combined Dayton/Thomas More side. The latter is a new team that is still developing its player base.
ROCKY MOUNTAIN (5) Montana State and Utah State are now both in Division I, and Boise State has petitioned to join the DI Pacific Mountain Rugby Conference. That leaves Colorado Mines, Colorado Mesa, Northern Colorado, Idaho State and Wyoming in DII.
RUGBY NORTHEAST (6) runs two six-team tiers, one is eligible for the DII playoffs, the other is eligible for NSCRO playoffs. They play crossover matches with each other and the rest of New England. That coordination allows the schedules to accommodate more ambitious teams and/or those looking for more local travel across divisions.
TRI-STATE (10) operates three pools, with the North and South accommodating DII teams, and Central being NSCRO. The top five teams compete in the North and earn automatic berths to the quarterfinals, as does the #1 South team. The remaining four South teams will contest play-ins for the final two quarterfinal spots.
UPSTATE NEW YORK (8) lost the University of Buffalo this year but still has a long regular season. Teams play each other once and then the conference hosts semifinal play-ins in advance of the final four weekend, Nov. 5-6.