Photo: Carlisle Stockton of StocktonPhoto.com
Here’s one more rankings refresh before the USA Rugby DII Fall College Championship begins its Round of 32 stage. Another update will occur after this weekend’s results come through.
RELATED: DII Fall College Bracket (navigate spreadsheet via tabs at bottom of doc)
These rankings take a look at the teams’ bodies of work this fall. If a team actively sought competitive friendlies to supplement its conference schedule, and positive results followed, then that team was rewarded. If cancelations and forfeits saw teams go idle, then that lack of field time was also considered – and so forth.
The top three are prime examples of teams that are playoff-minded and add in competitive friendlies to ready for that pressurization found during playoffs. Vassar College played DI Princeton and NIRA finalist Bowdoin College to single-digit wins, before winning the Tri-State title against Marist (prop Meg Martin had a knockout day with four tries). Winona State joined (and won) the DI Midwest for the regular season and then beat Northern Lights Cup champion Mankato State 53-0 in the DII seeding match.
Bloomsburg moved up to No. 3 due to its aggressive schedule, playing NIRA finalist West Chester early on and then using those lessons to play Princeton to a near-win. The Huskies traveled to IUP last-minute and with two reserves for a win on the road, played a senior club side, and got games for its B side. Bloomsburg won the MARC title by a combined 166-10 over Temple and Delaware.
Cincinnati isn’t being punished for the inconsistency of the Ohio Valley conference so much as Bloomsburg is being rewarded for seeking out competitive opportunities. Although frustrated with the forfeits, the Bearcats used their field time to grow its new and younger players, and then went on to win a fifth-straight league title: 32-17 vs. Miami University of Ohio.
Marist moved down one spot after its second loss to Vassar, this one coming during the Tri-State championship. That said, a 32-14 loss to the Brewers is a good outcome at this point in the season. Should Marist and Bloomsburg win their Round of 32 matches this weekend, then they’ll meet in the Mid-Atlantic pool on Nov. 23. Fairfield also shifted a couple spots after its 17-point loss to Marist in the semifinals. The Connecticut side then rallied with a third-place win over RPI.
Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP) holds firm at No. 6 and benefitted from the DI/II hybrid Allegheny. The Scooters beat DI Kent State by 27 points and fell one point short of Bloomsburg in a friendly. And No. 7 Colorado School of Mines was named Rocky Mountain champ after winning the Colorado Mesa rematch in Grand Junction. No. 8 Mary Oglesby accounted for four tries in the 41-19 win.
The U.S. Coast Guard Academy made a nice rebound after losing to Vermont on the road. The Bears beat Hartford, undefeated at the time, 62-27, and saw outside backs Grace McInturff, Mary Sims and Hollis Roush account for the majority of points. The standings then dictated a Coast Guard vs. Hartford rematch for the New England Wide title, but the latter declined and the Bears took the trophy uncontested. Hartford wasn’t penalized in the forfeit and took the second seed; however, one wonders whether Vermont should have been given the opportunity to play for the title. Nevertheless, Vermont beat Maine in the third-place match and will compete in the Round of 32.
Bryant and Colby were both undefeated heading into their final match of the Rugby Northeast season. The Bulldogs pulled out a 19-14 win, and the teams reinforced their position beside each other.
SUNY Cortland made a jump in the rankings after winning Upstate New York. The team beat Fredonia 112-0 in the semifinals and then RIT 59-12 in the title bout. RIT moved to No. 20 and is heading to the Round of 32, as is third-place Syracuse, which dropped its semifinal 29-28 to RIT.
Great Lakes champion Grand Valley State also climbed the rankings after wrapping an undefeated season. Runner-up Bowling Green State played the Lakers to a 19-17 decision and is heading to the playoffs, and if the rankings was a Top 25, the Ohio squad would feature.
UW Oshkosh fell off the rankings when Marquette won the teams’ regular-season match, but the Great Waters champ peaked at the right time and retained the conference title. Oshkosh beat Marquette 17-5 in the semifinals and then beat UW Eau Claire 41-12 in the title match. Eau Claire advanced to the final with a forfeit win against UW Stevens Point and heads to the Nov. 17 round of playoffs. Marquette was originally penciled in for an at-large berth but has since withdrew.
Mankato is at No. 17, having won the Northern Lights Cup – a competition that involved the top-four teams, regardless of whether they were DII or NSCRO. So Mankato faced NSCRO’s MSU Moorhead in the Cup final and won 22-17 (Moorhead is heading to the NSCRO final four). Winona State is still DII despite playing the regular season in DI and shut out Mankato in the seeding match to regionals.
There was a wrinkle in the Mid-Atlantic post-season. Kutztown actually beat Temple 20-0 in the semifinals but a “clerical error” reclassified the outcome as a forfeit win to the Owls. The Bears evidently corrected that error for the next day’s third-place match, and the team won 32-27 against Delaware.
Finally, Illinois replaced Illinois State on the rankings after winning the Illinois conference championship, recompense for a 22-14 regular-season loss.
Click here for the DII Fall College Championship bracket and toggle between competitions via the tabs at the bottom of the doc.
