The national D1A fall playoff picture is clearing somewhat; here's what went down this weekend:

Watch The Fall D1A Final LIVE on FloRugby Dec 2

SCRC

We’re waiting for the playoffs next week, with Kentucky to play South Carolina, and Alabama to take on Tennessee in the semis.

The final will be on Sunday. Kentucky won fairly comfortably this weekend 59-5 over MTSU. Freshman hooker Stu Earnhart (previously ranked by FloRugby) out of Royal irish had a huge game and prop Collin Burckle was dominant in the scrums.

The Wildcats have an excellent shot at winning it all, but Tennessee could well emerge as the top dog.

Ivy League

The semis are slated for November 3, with Dartmouth likely to face Princeton and Brown to take on Penn.

Dartmouth and Brown were unbeaten going into this weekend, and faced each other. Just to make sure everyone knows what the pecking order is, Dartmouth won 44-0, with prop Mason Koch scoring two tries. This is likely a preview of the November 10 conference final.

MAC

The key game is Bowling Green vs. Cincinnati on November 3. The winner of that game doesn’t have to play Western Michigan in the semifinal. Right now it looks as if the final will once again be a Bowling Green vs Western Michigan clash. WMU won by five on October 6, but BGSU has won the rematch before.

Chesapeake

The playoff chase comes down to this: Mary Washington is virtually assured of 1st place, and in fact only needs a single bonus point from the final two games of the season to clinch.

There will be a 2nd vs 3rd playoff, and that matchup will be decided by next week’s James Madison vs Salisbury game. Mount St. Mary’s hasn’t quite clinched, because JMU has two games to go. But one of those is against UMW, and will likely be a loss with no bonus points.

So … MSM is probably no worse than 3rd, and will see the winner of Salisbury vs JMU take 2nd.

Mid-Atlantic

St. Joseph’s plays West Chester for the conference title November 3. That decides who goes to the playoffs. 

St. Joe's smacked Pitt 77-7 on Saturday. 

Lindenwood-Belleville

The Lynx beat Arkansas State - what was billed as their second side - and even a loss would have done no damage to the team’s playoff. Wins over Wisconsin, Kansas, Kentucky, and Iowa Central were enough to secure an at-large.

Not For Fall

Kansas State and Iowa State are in a chase for the glory in the Heart of America. They will culminate in the spring, along with conferences such as SIRC-Florida, Pac West, Mountain West, and Gold Coast (who all are yet to start).

In the NCRC, upstart Oregon State went down 32-15 to Oregon in The Civil War rivalry.

Additional Seeds

Chesapeake almost certainly will send two teams to the playoffs, so the question is really whether the SCRC, MAC, Ivy, or MARC deserves that other spot. The SCRC #2 will undoubtedly be a strong competitor, it's worth pointing out that St. Joe’s made the 2017 fall final and barely beat West Chester in the regular season this fall.

So the eight playoff teams are probably going to be:

Mary Washington

Dartmouth

Kentucky or Alabama or maybe Tennessee

Lindenwood-Belleville

Western Michigan or Bowling Green

St. Joseph's or West Chester

Salisbury or JMU or Mount St. Mary's

And an at-large that could be Kentucky, Alabama, Tennessee, South Carolina, WMU, BGSU, SJU, or WCU