Championship games are have been played and the stage is set. The college playoffs for the sweet 16’s are set across the country. And there are some surprises in the playoffs. We just want to give a very brief description of the layouts of these games.
Men’s D-IA College National Championship Playoffs
Life University, who won the Mid-South Conference, and Arkansas State University, getting bye weeks for the first round of the playoffs. This was about expected, we won’t really know what to expect from who they play after this weekend.
Men’s D-IAA College National Championship Playoffs
University of Central Florida, winner of the South Independent Rugby Conference (SIRC), and incumbent national contenders, will get the first seed for the D-1AA playoffs. LSU, runner up champion in the Southeastern Rugby Conference (SCRC), will get first bid at University of Central Florida. This is understandable for the initial round, considering that the playoff locations are still regionally based. Following UCF/LSU we have South Carolina, who won the Southeastern Rugby Conference, will face unexpected selection University of Georgia. The University of Georgia pick is offsetting, considering they neither were a participant in the SCRC championship games, nor did they have a winning record coming out of matrix play. Finally, the final southern team in the playoffs will be Middle Tennessee, who fell to Florida State in the semi-final rounds of the SIRC championships. Their selection over SIRC runner up, Florida State, is a bit more explainable considering that they had a better record coming at the end of matrix play. They also won the north division of the SIRC.
Women’s DI College National Championship Playoffs
If anyone had a chance to watch the women’s SIRC playoffs, having University of Central Florida (SIRC champion) and Georgia Tech (SIRC Runner up) one win away from facing each other again for a rematch, needs to be excited. But they will have to take care of business against West Chester and New Mexico. Considering that Georgia Tech and Central Florida will be playing in their region will give them the advantage in these games. University of North Carolina, Mason-Dixon Conference Runner Up, will have the tough task of facing a very powerful Harvard team.
Women’s DII College National Championship Playoffs
The Women’s DII Playoffs keeps the south teams fairly together with Lee University, winner of the True South College Conference; Florida International University, winners of the Florida Rugby Union; North Georgia, winners of the SIRC, and University of South Florida, runner up of the Florida Rugby Union. Appalachian State University, winners of the Carolinas, will travel the furthest out for their match up. The only team that could have been a possible snub was University of Alabama, who came in second in the SIRC, but based on the conference results, it makes sense that they would not have made it in.
The matchups will all start taking place on April 26-27. We will give greater descriptions next week as we feature each match up.