The men’s Division II playoffs commence this weekend across four regions. Friday’s opening round winners move on to Sunday’s quarterfinals, whose victors advance to the national semifinals Dec. 13 at Sabercats Stadium in Houston, TX.
Northern Iowa enters the West Region at Forest Park in St. Louis as the top seed, facing Gateway champion St. Louis University in the opening round. Northern Iowa spent most of the season ranked No. 2 behind defending champion IUP, leapfrogging the Crimson Hawks on the back end of a second-straight Great Midwest championship, comfortably beating 11th-ranked Loyola in the conference final.
Awaiting either the Billikens or Panthers in the quarterfinals Sunday will be the University of Chicago or Montana State. Chicago had to play an extra game to win its way into the postseason, defeating Minnesota State Mankato, 52-31, in the play-in round last week. The ninth-ranked Bobcats are undefeated champions of the High Peaks conference, holding their opponents under 10 points a game.
The Ramblers also find themselves in the playoffs, despite falling to UNI in the Great Midwest final, drawing MARC champion Towson in the Midwest Region at the Tennessee Rugby Park in Knoxville, TN. Loyola is making its third straight playoff appearance and The Tigers are coming off a gritty path to the MARC championship, where they entered the tournament as the eight seed and walked out avenging an early season loss to bitter rival Salisbury in the semifinal while downing Villanova in the final.
Playing either Loyola or Towson Sunday will be No. 4 Grand Valley State or sixth-ranked Memphis, who also meet in Tennessee Friday. Both just secured their third-straight conference title, Grand Valley State winning the Great Lakes with a 7-1 record and Memphis claiming the SCRC once again. This could be the matchup of the opening round with both teams playing relatively light league schedules.
The opening round of the South Region in Culpepper, VA features a clash of champions, as reigning winner IUP plays MARC semifinalist Salisbury, national champions in 1996, 1997, 2004 and 2013. The Sharks are coming off a cut-throat play-in win against Coastal Carolina last week, 29-25. IUP is undefeated against DII opponents (the lone loss to DI Rio Grande), returns a bevvy of All-Americans, and is a frontrunner again this year.
Fifth-ranked Vermont or No. 8 UNC-Wilmington will be waiting for the winner of Salisbury and IUP in Sunday’s quarterfinal. The Seahawks won the Southern conference this year in convincing fashion. After a bronze finish in last year's playoffs, Vermont went a perfect 6-0 during the regular season, losing the rematch with Norwich in the conference final.
For its success, Norwich is rewarded as the top seed in the Northeast Region in Fairfield, CT, taking on MARC finalist Villanova in the opening round. Awaiting either the Cadets or Wildcats in Sunday’s quarterfinals will be No. 13 Georgetown, also a MARC semifinalist, or 14th-ranked Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. RPI comes in as a newbie and champion of the Liberty conference, while Georgetown had to win their way in, beating New Hampshire 47-17 in last week’s play-in round.
Contributed to by Nick Berger, Event Marketing Intern.
