USA Rugby and D1A Rugby has named the 12 teams in the top men's college competition's playoffs.

We already knew two of the teams, as they played on Saturday (Penn State and Wisconsin). The rest of the first-round games will be held April 18.

Wisconsin was the Big Ten Universities champion, and were the lowest-ranked of the conference champs, and so played in a first-round game (won 33-8 by Penn State). The other four conference champions Air Force (West), Army (Rugby East), Life (Mid-South), and St. Mary's (California) all get byes to the quarterfinals. (The Red River champions are now Texas A&M after Oklahoma had to forfeit four of their victories due to eligibility issues, and A&M was not prepared to enter the playoffs, so Red River has no representative in the DIA playoffs.)

So with Penn State into the quarterfinals and the four remaining conference champs there, also, there are six more teams to be named to play in the first round. Those teams were decided based on the DIA Top 20, which is voted on by members of the media (Goff Rugby Report editor Alex Goff included) and DIA and USA Rugby staff.

Qualifying for the Playoffs and competing for a spot in the Quarterfinals will be Cal Poly, Colorado State, Davenport, Lindenwood, Utah, and Wheeling Jesuit. Cal Poly earned their way in with a convincing victory over San Diego State. Utah was an at-large team playing in the PAC Rugby Conference, but with competitive outings against the likes of BYU, and wins over UCLA, Arizona State, and Arizona, they did enough to be invited. Lindenwood and Davenport were very equal all season, and Davenport just beat the Lions. Wheeling Jesuit followed up a decent Rugby East season with a very solid spring that included wins over Navy and West Virginia. Like Cal Poly, Colorado State was a competitive 2nd in their conference.

Also absent from this playoff is Kutztown, which has opted to concentrate on 7s.

The higher-seeded teams will host the quarterfinals, and the same will be the case May for the semis.

 Fifth Third Bank Stadium at Kennesaw State will host the final May 9.

2015 D1A Playoffs:

Round 1 – April 11:
Penn State 33-8 Wisconsin

Round 1 – April 18
Colorado State at Lindenwood
Wheeling Jesuit at Davenport
Cal Poly at Utah

Round 2 – April 25
Penn State at Life
Colorado State/Lindenwood @ Air Force
Wheeling Jesuit/Davenport @ Army
Cal Poly/Utah @ Saint Mary’s