Photo courtesy Vassar Athletics
During the fall, four collegiate competitions name 15s champions, and they account for hundreds of schools across the country. NIRA (the NCAA league) and NSCRO (small colleges) name their 15s national champions. USA Rugby names DI and DII 15s fall champions (and then separate spring champions in May).
RELATED: 2018 national & fall championship brackets
The following is a list (which will be continually updated) of those colleges that are vying for USA Rugby’s DI and DII 15s Fall Championships, sorted by conference. Links to schedules are included where available. Several conferences are hybrid (marked by asterisks) that integrate DI, DII and/or NSCRO teams during the regular season and then separate out for the post-season. Lots of conferences also support developmental or 7s competitions that don’t culminate in a championship per se but keep teams active.
• NIRA: 19 programs divided into Tier 1, Tier 2 and Division II; see composite schedule
• NSCRO: More than 100 programs (2018 list); see more
Additionally, there are conferences that contain some or all of their regular season in the fall (e.g., DII’s Capital, DI’s Blue Ridge [formerly “Mason-Dixon”]) but compete toward the spring championship and thus aren’t included below.
USA RUGBY FALL 15s COLLEGES
ital – to be confirmed
* hybrid division
DIVISION I
Allegheny *
Kent State
Ohio State > not eligible for playoffs
Pittsburgh
* DI & DII teams (IUP, West Virginia, Youngstown State)
Big 10
Indiana
Michigan
Michigan State
Notre Dame
Penn State
Purdue
Independent
Navy
Princeton > is Ivy League but caught between the NCAA varsity teams and the Tier 2 teams, so independent status is a better decision. Tigers aren’t eligible for fall 15s playoffs this year.
Midwest
Iowa
Iowa State
Minnesota
Northern Illinois
Northern Iowa
Winona State > new from DII
Wisconsin
Northeast
Boston College
Boston Univ.
Northeastern
Rhode Island
UCONN
UMASS
Rocky Mountain
Air Force
Colorado
Colorado State
Montana State
New Mexico
Utah State
Utah Valley
Wyoming
Texas *
Angelo State
Oklahoma State
North Texas
Sam Houston State
Texas A&M
Texas State
Texas Tech
Univ. Texas
UT San Antonio
* Have not confirmed whether all of these teams are DI and/or this is a hybrid league
DIVISION II
Allegheny *
IUP
West Virginia
Youngstown State
The ARU also manages 10 NSCRO teams in their own competition.
Great Lakes
Bowling Green
Calvin
Central Michigan
Ferris State
Grand Valley State
Oakland Univ
Saginaw Valley
Western Michigan
Great Waters *
North
UW Eau Claire
UW Oshkosh
UW Stevens Point
Central
Marquette
UW Milwaukee
UW Whitewater
UW La Crosse
South
Northwestern
Loyola Chicago
DePaul
Univ. Illinois Chicago
Lake Forest
* NSCRO teams in the DII hybrid league: Michigan Tech, Northern Michigan, UW Stout, UW Platteville, Univ. Chicago
Illinois
Illinois State
Southern Illinois
Univ. Illinois
Western Illinois
Ivy League
Columbia
Cornell
Penn
Yale
Mid-Atlantic
Challenge
Drexel
LaSalle
Marywood
Millerswood
Shippensburg
TCNJ
Washington
East
Delaware
Rowan
Temple
York
West
Bloomsburg
East Stroudsburg
Kutztown
Scranton
St. Joseph’s
New England Wide
Tier 1
Hartford
Maine
New Hampshire
Smith
U.S. Coast Guard Academy
Vermont
Tier 2
Babson
Eastern CT
Mt Holyoke
Springfield
Tufts
Westfield
WPI
Tier 3
Brandeis
Central CT
Champlain
Conn College
Framingham St
Holy Cross
Lasell
MIT
Wellesley
Wesleyan
Williams
Northern Lights *
Tier 1
Mankato
ND State
North Dakota
St. Cloud State
UM Duluth
* MSU Moorhead is NSCRO but competing w/DII in regular season
Ohio Valley
Ball State
Cedarville
Cincinnati
Eastern Kentucky
Kentucky
Miami
Ohio University
Western Kentucky ?
(Marshall playing dev 7s in Allegheny)
Rocky Mountain
Colorado Mesa
Colorado Mines
Univ. Denver
Colorado College
Rugby Northeast *
Bryant
Colby
Roger Williams
St Michael’s
Stonehill
Southern CT
St Anselm
UMass Lowell
* NSCRO’s Bentley, Franklin Pierce, Keene State, Merrimack, Middlebury, Providence College are included in the DII hybrid season. RNE
Texas
See Division I
Tri-State
North
Albany
Marist
New Paltz
RPI
Siena
Vassar
South
Fairfield
Hofstra
Monroe
New Haven
Rutgers
Stony Brook
Upstate NY
Tri-State operates a five-team NSCRO league as well (Bard, Drew, Fordham, Manhattanville, Montclair)
Upstate New York *
East
SUNY Binghamton
SUNY Cortland
Syracuse University
West
RIT
SUNY Brockport
SUNY Buffalo
SUNY Fredonia
* NSCRO’s Colgate, Oswego, Rochester, St. Bonaventure & SUNY Geneseo compete in the DII hybrid league. Another 13 schools compete in NSCRO-only leagues.