Penn State won the Rugby East it seems like an age ago, but the Nittany Lions have been building toward this weekend.

Fifth-seeded PSU opens the D1A playoffs by hosting No. 12 Arizona on Saturday in State College, PA.

Every fall-centric college program like Penn State says it’s tough to wait to play in the spring playoffs, and it’s true that no such team has made the D1A final. In fact, no fall-centric team has made it to the semis.

The Nittany Lions have a shot but need to get by a team that made the semis in 2017: Arizona.

Both teams enjoy a broad-based game. Both have tight five forwards who go overlooked mostly because they just get the job done. Both have good goal kickers, excellent scrum-halves, and exciting outside backs who are up for the Scholz Award for men’s college player of the year.

Arizona has had the better run-up to the playoffs. While that’s what the Northeast colleges usually say about warm-weather opponents, it's a correct observation. The Wildcats haven’t had to worry about snow or waterlogged field. Since January 12, they have played nine games, of which six were against ranked opponents and two of the remaining three were games on a tour to Argentina. Nothing insipid about that lineup. 

But there have been small hiccups for Arizona, including the last two games in which the Wildcats—thought by many to have one of UA's best teams in some years—almost lost to San Diego State (41-40) and Cal Poly (35-30). Against SD State, the Wildcats needed Kyle Rogers to set up Luke Thayer for the game-winner with nine minutes to go. Against Cal Poly, they needed a perfect kicking game from Anton Grigoriou to seal it.

Penn State? Not the same thing. The Nittany Lions have played three games—a blowout win over Buffalo, a close loss to the New York Rugby Club, and a 41-40 win over Army at West Point. That last one might be an indication that the Lions are ready. 

FloRugby Pick: Away team upset special. We think maybe Arizona has this one. It will be very close, so don’t mock if this pick is wrong, but Arizona has played more competitive rugby leading into this game.