Critical Weekend For DIAA Conferences

This is a pretty important weekend in several DIAA competitions.

Heart of America

Iowa State leads the HOA North with a 2-0 record and they play Minnesota this weekend at ISU. A bonus-point win for the Cyclones and they clinch #1 in the North. Iowa has sewn up 2nd and a semifinal place.

Kansas should clinch the South—the Jayhawks need only a bonus point against Missouri. Kansas is coming off a good win over Arkansas. 

The Jayhawks are getting good contributions from younger players as the seasons progresses. Sophomore wing Jonah Dolphino has scored six tries over the last two games. A former football linebacker in high school, he is a strong defense as well. Freshman prop Conor Sexton out of the Kansas City Jr. Blues has stood out, also. He has scored three tries in the past two games and has become a force in the rucks.

Kansas State has a key matchup with a tough but winless Oklahoma State. All KSU needs to do is end up one point ahead of Mizzou, and since Missouri will be hard-pressed to beat Kansas, K-State is in decent shape to clinch 2nd and a semifinal spot.

Southern Conference

OK, the big game is likely NC State vs Belmont Abbey in two weeks. But NC State is back in the field at the Citadel and the Wolfpack has been playing pretty well. Led by a big, powerful pack that controls the momentum, they need to ensure Belmont Abbey keeps hearing footsteps.

Southern Nazarene

All alone as essentially an independent, Southern Nazarene has been doing pretty well. They have some young talent in their backline and ran out several of those in a very good win over Drury last week. Keep and eye on Drury's freshman lock Cameron Beavers, who has a ton of potential. But SNU exerted plenty of pressure. Veteran center Dayton Bradford is a dynamic attacker and he scored two tries while setting up others. Luis Camacho also scored a try and another ended up being a penalty try. 

"The forwards were strong and the backs were fast. We continue to improve and as a coach that’s really all we can ask," said SNU Head Coach Aric Gilliland. "We must continue on an upward trajectory.  We will face several strong opponents in the back half of our season, and if we want to be victorious throughout, we will have to elevate our game."

This week it's an improving TCU, followed by Oklahoma, Kansas, and Sam Houston State, which are all very strong.

MARC

The top two teams in the Mid-Atlantic's North Division, West Chester and St. Joseph's, face off this weekend, so that's fun. St. Joe's is 2-1 after a somewhat surprising 21-20 loss to Princeton. They can shake that off against 3-0 West Chester, which beat Princeton 28-7.

In the South, Maryland is 3-0 and Virginia Tech is 1-0 (their fall conference season is pretty much all about October), and those two play each other at the Terps' home field. This is a huge matchup, and is followed up next week by VT hosting 2-0 Delaware.

Liberty

We looked at that here: Liberty Update as Playoffs Loom in D1, D1AA

MAC

Cincinnati has been enjoying a nicely improved season this year and the Bearcats, boosted by some confidence, are working hard to improve. But this week they play a very tough Western Michigan side.

WMU has tons of potential and has been improving—hence their 55-point win over Pitt last week. Both teams are 3-1, and a victory here will probably ensure that the winner will secure 3rd in the conference, and avoid playing the top seed in the semis. Who that top seed will be is something we won't really know until a week later when Louisville visits Bowling Green. Chasing after everyone is Ohio, which started the season 0-3 and is now 2-3.