The D1A fall is coming to an end soon, and for some that means they have to wait several months for the news of whether they will make the playoffs.

Bommies On The Rise

It's an aspect of the D1A system that requires a lot of patience from the teams that play in the fall. For teams like Army (winner of Rugby East), and whoever wins the Big 10 final next week, there's no wondering. But after that you have to wait to see where you're ranked.

Penn State is likely to be the #2 team in the Rugby East and is virtually guaranteed a place in the Round of 16. Penn State beat Wheeling Jesuit 59-5 on Saturday behind three Luke O'Malley tries.

St. Bonaventure might be one of those teams waiting by the phone. Bonnies beat Notre Dame College 32-14 on Saturday with wings Charles Schwenk and Chris Bortuzzo getting tries. At 3-2, Bonnies could finish 3rd in the conference if they beat 3-2 Kutztown next week.

Red River Runaways

The big Red River showdown between Texas A&M and Baylor turned out to be all Aggies, with William Green, Preston Patterson, and Reuben Mikeska all scoring twice, and A&M running away with it 57-5.

At 3-1 A&M is in a commanding position in the Red River South. Arkansas is 4-0 in the North after slamming North Texas 97-29 (it actually takes some doing to score 29 points when you give up almost 100). Former Texas HS standout Tyson Lucas scored four tries.

Liberty

UMass, Iona, and Syracuse lead their respective divisions, and that's unlikely to change anytime soon.

Mid-South Movement

Navy, meanwhile, moved to 2-0 in the team's first season of conference play in the Mid-South, beating Davenport 45-15. Navy's pack did well and it was fitting that the first two tries were by locks - Philip Dalke and John Litjens.

We have yet to see Life or Lindenwood (who beat Lindenwood-Belleville in a season warmup), but right now, Navy leads the cofnerence.

Crossover Magic

Arkansas State beat Notre Dame in a game that probably helped Notre Dame more than ASU. The 32-17 scoreline was a fairly good one for the Irish.

“Notre Dame is a very good team,” said A-State head coach Blake White. “Their players challenged us physically throughout the match, particularly with their big forwards. The first half was some of the best rugby we’ve played all year, but we just didn’t capitalize enough.”
The score was actually 22-17 until tries from Romain Merlo and Thomas Montgomery put it away for the Red wolves.

Utah Valley got its first run-out, scoring 24 points in the first half before Utah State got anything going, and cruising to a 46-10 victory.