The premise of the Collegiate Rugby Championship is under the microscope, and it will continue to receive a battering in Pool B of the tournament this weekend at Talen Energy Stadium in Chester, PA.

The CRC was started in 2010 with the idea that colleges with strong athletic name recognition would draw fans each year. If you combine that name recognition with high-level rugby teams, you end up with a competition that is really compelling.

However, the rugby success and the name recognition don't always fit. The CRC's owners, United World Sports, tried to stick to the formula but also fold in some qualification opportunities. Repeatedly, those qualifiers have ended up being teams from smaller institutions that are good at rugby. Tellingly, most of them have received follow-up invitations because they also bring fans to the event.

In Pool B of this year's tournament, Notre Dame is a big-name school still working on building its rugby pedigree. New Fighting Irish head coach Justin Hickey is hard at work getting the program to be competition at a high level. However, this year might be more about fostering enthusiasm for next season's potential. Wisconsin is also a "name" school and one in which rugby is not an afterthought. But rugby is a club sport at Wisconsin, and this year the Badgers have been competitive but not dominant. They finished as the runner-up to Ohio State in the Big Ten, and the Buckeyes did well, but not astonishingly so, at USA Rugby Nationals. Wisconsin will need to up its game.

Because… Life University and Arkansas State are the powers in Pool B. While FloRugby has Arkansas State ranked only No. 20 among college sevens teams, we recognize that the Red Wolves could be much, much better. They have a ton of rugby knowledge and some special freshman and sophomore talent.

Life has to be favored in this pool right now, but the Running Eagles have been through a long and demanding 15s season. Turning around quickly to compete at this level is tough. At 3:49 PM ET on Saturday, Life plays Arkansas State. Both will already have played twice. Who survives those games unhurt will move on.

Our Pick

Life over Arkansas State, but we're not fully committed to that. Notre Dame will have flashes. Wisconsin will battle consistently, but the Badgers won't make the top eight.