The champions of the USA Rugby fall season have their trophies, and we at FloRugby have entered a long period of soul-searching in evaluating our own picks of this past weekend's title matchups.
How did we do? Let's look:
Men's D1AA: Mary Washington 37, St. Joseph's 13
Our Pick: Mary Washington
Not that hard. Nailed it. UMW won, and in fact we've been ranking Mary Washington at or near the top of D1AA for the entire fall. Did we get a little worried when St. Joe's went up 13-5? Well, we wouldn't say worried, exactly, because we're completely impartial and don't care which team wins or loses... but... no, we felt UMW would come back and it did.
Men's D2: UW-Whitewater 34, VMI 27
Our Pick: UW-Whitewater
Nailed it, sort of. We bailed on picking a Norwich vs. VMI winner, and that turned out to be wise because that game went into overtime. As for the final, kudos to the Keydets at Virginia Military Institute for not thinking this was a UW-Whitewater coronation tour and giving the Warhawks a game.
In fact, VMI led late, and only some superb back play won it for Whitewater. So, maybe we didn't nail it. We got the winner right, but it was all much closer than we thought it would be.
Women's D1: Davenport 89, Notre Dame 24
Our Pick: Davenport
Easiest pick all weekend. Davenport is an excellent team, with big size up front that the Panthers know how to use and then talent all through the backs. The halfback hinge of Olivia Ortiz and Hannah Tennant is smart and secure, and Danielle Ordway scored six tries (!)... really? Yes, really. She's good. Davenport is an elite squad and will be for a while.
Interesting that more than 50 percent of the Panthers' roster is from Michigan, and another quarter comes from neighboring states. It's a local Midwest program.
Women's D2: Winona State 38, Vassar 36
Our Pick: Leaning toward WSU
We failed hard because we didn't really pick a winner. Read between the lines and maybe we're leaning Winona State. WSU won by two over Vassar, which punched way above its weight.
So we'll take a 3-0-1 record. And we'll also make these early picks going forward: Winona State for the overall women's D2 championship, Davenport for the women's D1 title, and Mary Washington to win the D1AA final against the spring champs (Western Washington? Chico State?) next May, as well.