With the news that the D1A playoffs will expand and likely will be the only high-level game in town, it's time to check in on the standings.

Four D1A conferences are in business right now -- Big Ten, Rugby East, Rocky Mountain, and Liberty. Here's where things stand in each conference race.

Big Ten

Michigan State continues to win, but keep in mind, the Spartans are playing a second-tier schedule, which means that all of their victories have come against teams not named Indiana, Wisconsin, or Ohio State. 

And those victories have been close -- witness 17-12 over Purdue. But this coming weekend Michigan State plays Wisconsin, and a victory there will put MSU in a different conversation. Oh, by the way, the Badgers won 105-0 over Iowa on Saturday. Wisconsin kept subbing guys on but the tries kept coming.

Badgers head coach Nic Tyson said he's not so much worried about Michigan State but added his team won't take the Spartans lightly.

"They seem focused and driven, so we're expecting them to be a big step up from last year," he said. "We're not sure what to expect."

Indiana had no conference game this past weekend and plays a big one against Ohio State on Oct. 21.

Rugby East

Penn State still rules the roost and does so despite giving up over 40(!) points to Wheeling Jesuit in a 74-47 win over the weekend. The halftime score was 42-19, so PSU was making some second-half changes. Ryan McNulty was all over the scoreboard. Kutztown has been putting up some big scores and plays Army this coming weekend. 

Whichever team wins that game will then want Army to beat Penn State if the Nittany Lions are to be unseated.  

Rocky Mountain

Air Force won big this past weekend and so did Colorado State (over Colorado) and Utah State. Jason Kyles continues to be a wrecking ball for USAFA. Liam Wynne has been superb for CSU. There are no prizes for guessing the game to be excited about -- Colorado State at Air Force on Oct. 21.

*Affiliate teams not counted in standings but we're listing them here for kicks.

Liberty

Northeastern took down Fairfield 40-5 behind a player-of-the-game effort from prop Ben Keebaugh on Saturday. Tries from flyhalf David de Luzuriaga, fullback Deni Makhauri, and flanker Freddie Fennessy all within the first 20 minutes set the tone. The Huskies scored the remainder of their tries in the last 20... weird.

Following the victory, Northeastern sits at 3-0 along with UConn, which lost a non-conference game to Boston College. Iona also lost a non-Liberty game to Army 17-13, so the Gaels weren't taking the weekend off. Watch out for Cortland, which has been very impressive this season and shut out Colgate 26-0. 

Flyhalf Elliott Butler, outside center Nathan Butler, No. 8 Mike Cutrone, and hooker Mike Dotzler all scored tries in Corland's win and Dotzler converted three. 

These teams won't go into the D1A playoffs (by choice) but are expected to end the fall with some compelling bowl games.