GRR: Northern Lights
Minnesota-Duluth dominated about as much as you could in the Men’s DII College playoffs this past weekend, overcoming a snowy field and two extremely difficult opponents to make the national semis.
The Des Moines bracket of the Men’s DII College Playoffs might well have been a forgone conclusion a few weeks ago, but maybe it’s not anymore.
The four teams in it have their own reasons for thinking they could get through to the semis.
Despite being put in a very tough position in the Northern Lights playoffs, Winona State Coach Jeff Noe is philosophical about his teams 64-0 loss to Minnesota-Duluth in the final.
The playoffs in the conference were supposed to provide a two-game weekend for all four teams involved. Duluth was supposed to play MUS-Mankato, while Winona took on the very tough North Dakota State.
The Northern Lights conference seems like such a foregone conclusion that USA Rugby and Goff Rugby Report both made the same mistake, penciling in Minnesota-Duluth as the conference champion before the conference playoffs.
While Minnesota-Duluth is the #1-ranked Men’s DII college team, the rest of the Northern Lights Conference is looking for a pathway through the DII playoffs by finishing 2nd.