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By Alex Goff (Michael Ryan photo)
The South DI college playoffs kick off in earnest this weekend, and we get to see the fruits of a strange, but perhaps innovative way of running a league.
The South re-aligned this season, with DI teams mixing with DII teams in several conferences designed to mirror either college conferences, or more obvious regional alliances.
In addition, Arkansas State, which is in the South, but far away from everyone else, was given a bye to the semifinals. ASU played no league season, but instead loaded up with whomever they could find.
The end result has been curious. Tennessee worked hard to get some extra tough games in their schedule, and that seemed to set them up for a good league run. However, beaten up by their trip to Colorado, the Vols lost to Florida in their league match, and the Gators ended up being top reptiles in their state.
Tennessee and Florida get to renew their rivalry again this weekend. Florida had some close games through the season and seem set to handle Tennessee again. But this is a healthier Vol team this time. They have rolled through the Southeastern Conference, led by their outstanding center threequarter Benji (no relation) Goff.
Arkansas State has spent their season playing strong club teams, touring sides, and the likes of LSU. They’ve done well in those games. New head coach Matt Huckaby has the players firing and as a former USA international, knows how to prepare athletes when the there’s little to motivate you except the desire to be better.
“In some games we’ve just relied on talent, so the tough games have been important for us to rely also on our pattern and our teammates,” Huckaby told RUGBYMag.com. “The guys have been working really, really hard. We’ve had all these games where we’ve been developing our pattern and our players. We haven’t had to win those. Now we’ve got this game against South Carolina, and we have to win that. Don’t worry about the final right now, just win that semifinal.”
And South Carolina has nothing to lose.
“We have beaten all we have played but it is one hell of a climb against Arkansas State,” said USC head coach Geoffrey Mason. “Our schedule has included UNC and Clemson that are pretty solid and some very good DII teams. That being said it is hard really to gauge schedules across the country.”
USC has a hard-working pack that does a great job at controlling the pace of the game, led by flanker Ollie Fairbank, locks Calvin Storey and Steve Hengehold and back-rowers Anthony Hughes and Corey Benov.
In the backs they have a couple of good centers in Richard Pyke and Peter Boland. But Arkansas State has a solid pack, too, led by All-Americans Nardus Wessels at hooker and loose forward Roland Evans. And while ASU has a heavy South African influence, many local boys, such as wing Caleb Gragg, have been class as well.
Huckaby has them fit and hungry.
“This weekend we will need to play way above ourselves and keep control of the ball as much as possible,” said USC’s Mason. “I have worked on defensive patterns as much as possible to try and counter the speed and the backing up we will encounter against Arkansas State. We must get our tackles in and ensure that we try and wrap the ball carrier and slow the ball down. It is a bloody huge ask against them and I respect the program they have. The good thing for USC rugby is that I have over 70 guys showing up for practices and we are running three full teams.”
As for the South re-alignment, maybe this weekend we see how it works. Will ASU be as strong as always despite no real league season? Or will they in fact be tougher because they made up their own schedule? Will the regionalization of the leagues help Tennessee or hinder them?
And for the future, what about Life University? They will enter college DI next season, and will throw a monkey wrench into the works once more, leading perhaps to another change.
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