The Mid-South Conference seems to be in the balance every week as matchup after matchup looks to be a conference decider; nothing's changed this week as Navy visits Life University.

Coming off a road victory over Arkansas State, the US Naval Academy is currently 3-1 in the Mid-South, while Life is 2-0. (LIfe did play, and beat, Lindenwood, but that game was a non-conference game; the Running Eagles and the Lions will face off March 23 in St. Charles for the conference game.)

Navy At Life LIVE On FloRugby at 1:30PM ET Saturday, March 9

"It's exciting that there's parity," said Life head coach Colton Cariaga. "Every game seems to be the big game, until next week, what that's the big game. We know that, because of that, we just have to be resilient."

Navy was very solid against Arkansas State, and the Midshipman scrum was a high point, shoving the Red Wolves off the ball and forcing a penalty try. 

Confidence

"Beating Arkansas State in Arkansas was a good win for us," said Navy head coach Gavin Hickie. "It’s a very tough place to play, but we executed the game plan pretty well and took a lot of confidence from the result."

Hickie said he was generally pleased with his team's defensive effort, and acknowledged that scrum dominance played a big role in the 19-14 victory (claimed on a last-second Spencer Craig try). But, he added, the forwards did more than just scrum.

"The vast majority for the second half we kept possession, and we had two sets of 20-plus phases," said Hickie. "The last one led to the game-winning try."

Running Eagle Shifts

Life, meanwhile, has been shifting some things around, especially in the backs, where Mitch Wilson was moved to center only to see fullback George Phelan go down with an injury that will likely keep him out for the season.

Wilson has moved back to fullback as a result. 

"We have to be flexible," said Cariaga. "And we have done pretty well. We know Navy's scrum is strong and we will need our entire pack, including the bench, to neutralize that. They run hard, they run right at you, and we've also seen them have success with some multi-pass movements. So Navy will be very tough."

Watch for Navy's Craig, the No. 8 taking over from graduates Connor McNerney, the 2017-18 Rudy Scholz Award-winner as the best player in the nation. John Magness emerged as a force at second row against Arkansas State, while Joey Hobbs has been tough to contain in the centers.

For Life, Wilson and unflinching hooker Brian Muntanga have been excellent. Watch out for lock Daemon Torres, who has been a key scorer for the Running Eagles.

"It seems like Daemon has to have a breakout season every year; he plays really well at every level, and then falls below the radar again. He's a smart player, crafty, and now he's been able to sustain those performances over the course of 80 minutes."

Something tells us that we'll need 80 minutes for this game.