Eight college games headline a busy weekend in rugby, with, of course, the Collegiate All-Americans back in action Saturday at Talen Energy Stadium in Chester, PA.

The All-Americans face Oxford University as the curtain-raiser for the Saracens vs. Newcastle Premiership game. If the 2014 two-game series between the AAs and Cambridge is anything to go by, this will be a tight game, with the All-Americans trying to expose Oxford in space and Oxford trying to stifle the All-Americans quick-strike mentality.

Also among the top games this weekend is Lindenwood-Belleville's road trip to Wisconsin. The independent Lynx are looking for a second shot at a top-tier Big Ten team, but the host Badgers are feeling pretty good these days. They are looking to try to beat conference favorites Indiana in league play this year or at least take down Ohio State to be among the top two.

"We're brought in some really good talent from Wisconsin high schools, and we're fortunate to have some new players from England and Australia, too," Wisconsin coach Nic Tyson said. "We have a very good mix and experience in our tight five. We know Lindenwood-Belleville is improving every year, and this will be a tough game."

The Lynx got hit with a few injuries in a loss to Indiana last week, but that game was really useful in spelling out how hard it can be to convert territory and possession into tries.

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For the Badgers, keep an eye on captain and hooker Ben Lehrmann as he leads the pack, and No. 8 Luke Henricks is a talent.

Brown is at Harvard in a game that could go a long way to deciding which team is really the threat to Dartmouth at the top of the Ivy League. Neither team has blown anyone away with preseason results, but this is conference play.

American International College plays New England College in a meeting of D1AA teams without a conference. Both teams are coming off games that didn't reveal a lot about their squads. NEC lost to St. Bonaventure, but the Bonnies are improved and a D1A team. AIC smashed UMass, but that wasn't unexpected. The winner of this matchup will have a much stronger argument for a playoff spot, if they want it.

James Madison at Virginia Tech could be the big one in the Chesapeake. JMU head coach Mark Lambourne was pleased with his team rebounding from some poor performances on a trip to New York, during which it lost to Iona and Fordham.

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That weekend, he said, "We played poorly." And then the week after? Lambourne said, "We went back to the basics and showed improvement in many areas. We're still a work in progress as we're trying to figure our where different personnel fit."

In the Liberty Conference, Binghamton has jumped out of the blocks nicely. Colgate had a good game, too. This is a big one between the two.

In Rugby East all three games are of interest, but one stands above the rest. That would be Penn State at Notre Dame College. NDC has star center Zach Forro nursing a bit of an injury, so we'll see how much time he gets this weekend. Marcus Tupuola is with the All-Americans, and he's a game changer. But it's easy to forget how many clutch tries RoNeill Reynolds scores for the Falcons and also easy to forget the strength of their back row.

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Penn State has a pretty good back row, too, thanks very much. The Nittany Lions feature one of the better halfback combos in the entire nation in Jimmy Ronan and Mike Dabulas. They've got one of the best flankers in the country, college or not, in Malcolm May, and they have a handful of freshmen who seem to know what they're doing. So, watch out for this one -- it could be good.

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St. Bonaventure at Kutztown is a pretty good game, too, and Army hosts Wheeling Jesuit. We all still wonder what's up with WJU.

Tennessee at Kentucky could decide the SCRC East. Just like that, we haven't even started conference play for either of these teams, and yet now we're at the crucial moment.

Our D1 picks for this week:

Air Force at Michigan -- Air Force by 40
Fordham at Delaware -- Delaware by 3
Iona at Rutgers -- Iona by 25
Oxford University (UK) at College All Americans -- All-Americans by 5
AIC at NEC -- AIC by 25
Purdue at Indiana -- Indiana by 45
Davenport at Buffalo -- Davenport by 20
Illinois at Iowa -- Illinois, maybe, by 2
Georgetown at Mary Washington -- Mary Washington by 12
Salisbury at Maryland -- Maryland by 3
Virginia at Towson -- Virginia by 10
James Madison at Virginia Tech -- Virginia Tech by 2 (basically a pick 'em)
Dartmouth at Cornell -- Dartmouth by 70
Brown at Harvard -- Pick 'em
Penn at Yale -- Yale by 6
Colgate at Binghamton -- Binghamton by 13
Syracuse at Brockport -- Brockport by 4
Albany at Cortland -- Cortland by 6
Uni. Notre Dame at Ohio State -- Ohio State by 21
Lindenwood-Belleville at Wisconsin -- Wisconsin by 6
St. Bonaventure at Kutztown -- Kutztown by 18
Penn State at Notre Dame College -- Penn State by 3
Wheeling Jesuit at Army -- Army by 35
Alabama at Florida -- Alabama by 9
Tennessee at Kentucky -- Tennessee by 5
Ole Miss at Mississippi State -- Mississippi State by 17