Central Washington visits Life University on a 2,700-mile road trip to see if maybe the Wildcats can track down some Running Eagles.

CWU at Life University LIVE on FloRugby

Venue: Lupo Family Field, Marietta, GA | Kickoff: 2pm EDT

For Central Washington, making the playoffs was not a done deal until the Wildcats final two games - a win over Utah Valley and a close loss to BYU. That was enough to impress the rankings voters and get CWU a #15 seed.

"A massive challenge lies ahead of us," said CWU head coach Todd Thornley. "Taking on one of the best programs in the country is very exciting for our group. Life are an incredibly physical side and will be tough to play in their backyard. However, we continue to grow week in week out and want to put out our best performance of the year on Saturday. Playoff Rugby is all about executing your structures at a very high level, if we do that we have a good chance of knocking this formidable side over."

For Life, this has been on their radar all year. The Running Eagles have only really been in trouble once - a 22-18 nailbiter against Lindenwood. 

"We're expecting a lot from Central, and also from us, too, on the performance side," said No. 8 Maciu Koroi. "Our conference is bigger than it was, but we're still excited to play new teams."

Koroi said the keys for Life is focusing on the basics. 

"You get those right then you can move on to the other things, but we need to get the basics right," he said.

Life is confident, and has a right to be. Koroi said that's come from not getting distracted about what could be.

"We can look ahead and think about whether we get to play Cal or maybe Saint Mary's, but right now we have to worry about Central Washington and what they can do. They're pretty physical, so we need to bring the physicality, too."

FloRugby Pick: Life University. It's possible Central Washington will be a national title contender next year. This year Life, playing at home, will be too much.