It was an interesting weekend in D1A with some teams making major statements, and a couple of upsets.

FloRugby had a good weekend in the predictions, getting seven of nine winners right, with two winning margins predicted exactly.

Let's start with where we went wrong:

Red River Rundown

Oklahoma upset Texas A&M 20-15 to win the Red River Conference Saturday.

In a very tight contest, the Sooners led early through a try from lock forward Evan Morris, and added a try from No. 8 Robert Ogilvie and a penalty from flyhallf Richard Papenfus to take a 13-0 lead into halftime.

But A&M roared back, scoring a try early in the second half and two tries in the closing minutes to take a 15-13 lead.

Then, with time up on the clock, wing Jeremiah James raced in for the game-winner, and Papenfus confirmed it with a conversion. A&M had been ranked ahead of Oklahoma all season, but the Sooners had been steadily improving through the fall and winter. 

This was one of two games FloRugby got wrong in its picks last week. The other was the Red River 3rd/4th game, in which Baylor slammed Arkansas 53-26 thanks to three tries from center Taylor McGeehee.

The rest of the slate of D1A games went according to prognostications, sometimes exactly so.

Life Wins Big One, ASU Rolls

Life defeated Lindenwood 22-11 in a game that won’t count in the Mid-South standings—the matchup between these two in St. Charles, MO will be the conference game.

But it was still an intense contest. Two tries from inside center Harley Wheeler and one from scrumhalf Ryan Rees staked the Running Eagles to a 19-6 halftime lead. After that it was a battle and Life was only able to squeeze a Mitchell Wilson penalty goal. Lindenwood lock Emmanuel Albert did get over right at the death for Lindenwood, but the Lions’ offense was mostly stymied by the hard-nosed Life defense.

Watch Life vs Lindenwood On-Demand

In a game that did count in the standings, Arkansas State defeated Clemson 50-12. Lock Asa Carter scored twice — once midway in the match and again on the 80th minute — en route to receiving player-of-the-game honors.

“The guys played very hard,” said Red Wolves head coach Blake White. “We came in with a lot of injuries and the guys who played really well wanted to prove themselves. Clemson was a tough challenge and we’re happy to get past them.”

The teams were tied 7-7 early, but in the 25th minute Jake Ray put the Red Wolves ahead to stay.

“With key players out due to injury, these young players stepped up to get the job done,” said team captain Pedro Alvarez.

“Next week will be another huge challenge,” said White, whose team takes on Navy next week. “There’s no weeks off in this conference.”

Another Huge Score

The big winning margins rampant through this winter/spring season were a little less in evidence this week, but Saint Mary’s did stampede over San Diego State 116-0. There was little Saint Mary’s could do. You can only walk to so many scrums, or put in so many subs. 

Freshman Joe Marchant is quickly becoming a force for Saint Mary’s at tightwad prop—no surprise there, he was FloRugby’s High School (single-school) player of the year. Marchant scored two tries, as did his fellow prop Payton Telea Ilalio. Wing Vicente Cunha-Vaz scored three as did sub wing Diego Vasquez. Flyhalf Joe Yacoubian scored 29 points.

Saint Mary’s is now 4-0 in the California Conference with only Cal Poly and Grand Canyon left to play.

Watch Saint Mary's vs San Diego State On-Demand

Meanwhile, Santa Clara moved to 2-3 with a 30-13 defeat of UCSB.

Connor Collins made his first A-side start and scored a try.

UC Davis kept its D1A playoff hopes alive with a 26-11 defeat of Cal Poly to improve to 3-1. Lock Jalen Peeples scored two tries for the Aggies.

Cal Gets Tight Match They Were Looking For

Cal took on UBC and held off the Thunderbirds 24-22—oddly, exactly the winning margin FloRugby predicted. Cal ran out to a 24-5 halftime lead with center Adam Roeske scoring two tries and lock Sebastian Bader adding one. Flyhalf Elliot Webb converted all three and added a penalty.

But UBC stormed back with true from Nick Collett, Jacob Ikeda, and Ben Lasage to make it a one-play game. However, Lasage’s try came right at the end of the game.

"Really pleased for the boys that they got the result," said Cal head coach Jack Clark. "Slightly disappointed we weren't more clinical in the second half, but the match is meant to be a learning experience and it was."

PAC Roundup

Two of Cal’s fellow PAC Conference teams met up with Arizona defeating UCLA 35-24 (also hitting the FloRugby predicted margin of victory on the nose). 

Shane Barry’s try, with his brother Cian’s conversion, brought UCLA within a score at 27-24. But hooker Zachary Biggs scored for Arizona to build a cushion, and Biggs then iced it with a penalty goal. Cian Barry scored 14 of his team’s 24 points. Arizona got yet another try from the blazing hot Lucas Bartzis.

The Wildcats are now 2-0 in the PAC, and should be favored to beat Utah, which would guarantee them 2nd in the conference and almost certainly a D1A playoff spot.