Since my last rankings there have been some very exciting matchups in the college rugby scene. Central Washington beat Arizona, BYU beat Cal, UCLA beat GCU, and top teams playing weaker competition continued to roll. Saint Mary's dismantled Boston College 74-7. Arkansas State pumped Mckendree 113-0. Cal Poly obliterated UCSC 112-8. I don't care how bad the opposition is, it's not easy to put up 100 plus points in a match. And #1 Lindenwood beat Mary Washington 39-0 at a neutral site.
Of course, the BYU vs Cal game was quite a surprise. Check out my article earlier this week to read more about that game. How did that game impact the rankings? Well the Cougars shoot up to #2 after their convincing win over the Bears. I think BYU has truly earned the number two spot. Against Cal their attack looked absolutely unstoppable. Every player knew their role and performed well. They had very few handling errors which gave them a big advantage over Cal. BYU plays a very loose and exciting brand of rugby within their attack structure. They looked to offload every chance they get and they are very very skilled at it. They have strong athletes across the board and will make you pay if you're defensive integrity is lacking. They also played Cal very well defensively. They aren't a team that will kill you with their line speed, but they will defend you for ten plus phases. BYU looked very disciplined and tackled very well on Saturday.
BYU is the obvious choice for the number two spot at this point in the season. They are peaking at the perfect time. With their upcoming matches against Central Washington, Life, and St. Mary's, they will either solidify or forfeit that spot. If they beat all three of those teams, there's no doubt that they will lock down the #1 seed in the west.
On the other side of that match, Cal drops down to #6 in the rankings. I have no doubt that Cal has already played their worst game of the year. Coach Jack Clarke will identify and fix the holes in his squad. The Bears are always dangerous come playoff time, so don't count them out yet. They're a team with unparalleled depth which is always advantageous to them come playoffs. Cal will really show up who they are in their upcoming matches against #3 Navy and #4 St. Mary's.
Speaking of Navy, Navy drops to #3 in the rankings. Fans might be scratching their heads here but here's why. The defending national champs have looked solid this year, but not special like the Navy squad last year. The Midshipmen really haven't done anything wrong. They put together an undefeated fall campaign. But, their last game of the fall was an absolute nail bitter against a 3-5 Army team. If you're Navy, you really don't want to go down to the wire with a team that has a losing record. Really their game against Life was their most impressive win of the fall. The Midshipmen could definitely prove me wrong though and will have their shot to do so this spring. But for now, they sit at #3.
Central remains at #8 in spite of a loss to Trinity Western and a close matchup with Arizona. Arizona is not a bad team, but they did lose to Saint Mary's 48-15. That's a pretty bad loss in my mind for Arizona. So what does that say about Central? In their last two matches Central really hasn't looked very shape on attack. Their defense has been solid, holding their opponents to 17 and 13 points respectively. But, their attack hasn't breached 20 points in the last two matches.
From what I've seen of CWU, they've made critical mistakes that deprived them of scoring opportunities and they've looked disjointed. They really have a pretty simple attack structure, but players looked lost when play gets into double digit phases. But with a win against Arizona, they retain their ranking. A win against BYU would definitely help their playoff quest, but looks unlikely based on both teams recent play. First things first, they have to take care of business with Cal Poly this weekend.
Cal Poly has looked very solid, keeping their game against BYU closer than Cal did, and notching two big wins over weaker opponents. I wouldn't be surprised if their game with Central Washington goes down to the wire. If Cal Poly desperately needs an upset win over the Wildcats this weekend to provide some momentum moving into the second half of their spring campaign.
One more team I want to talk about is Arkansas State. They keep their spot at #7 but that is subject to change very soon. The Red Wolves annihilated Mckendree this last weekend and are facing off against the #1 ranked Lindenwood Lions. The Ark State attack has looked deadly this season, vaulting them to an impressive win over Davenport in the fall. In the fall they averaged more points per game than any other team in the nation. As fans, we will learn a lot about Ark State this weekend. The very next weekend will take on the 5th ranked Running Eagles. Ark State is my dark horse team in the east. If they can manage to pull off two wins in the next two weekends, they will put themselves in a great position moving in to the playoffs.
Comments
Post a Comment